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Penny Dreadful (2005)
DVD Review
Bryan Norton's Penny Dreadful (not to be confused with the Richard Brandes/After Dark Horror Fest film of the same name) is an atmospheric ghost story that doesn't reinvent the wheel but which skillfully builds through solid pacing and slick camera-work. The film follows a young couple, Jessica and David Clausen (Emily Vacchiano and Sebastian Lacause), who have moved from New Jersey into Manhattan where they take up residence in the townhouse that they've inherited in the West Village courtesy of Jessica's late aunt. The house needs a bit of work and the state is going to hit them with an inheritance tax - as such, they can't afford to keep it and so they decide to live in while they fix it up to sell.
Not long after they've moved in, however, Jessica starts hearing and seeing strange things in the night, most disturbingly, a spectral man with a shotgun roaming the hallway. She also hears things coming from downstairs and sees a small blonde boy appear in the front window. Jessica, understandably enough, begins to think that the house is haunted.
Rather than flee the home, she decides to try and figure out what they ghosts want. In order to get to the root of this she enlists the aid of an elderly woman skilled in communicating with ghosts (Betsy Palmer), but the woman swears up and down that there are no ghosts in the house at all. Jessica starts to wonder if she's losing it, until one night on Halloween, it all hits the fan...
Penny Dreadful has an ending that really pays off and makes you want to watch it all over again. Be sure to stick around through the end credits for a little extra clarification on the twist. Adding to the film is the slick cinematography and careful lighting. Norton's film is a good looking one, and a carefully shot one. The subtle camera work lets the shadows creep in and rather than bombard us with visuals of the supernatural early on, the story lets us move along with Jessica as she investigates - we never know more than she does. Performance wise things shape up fairly well with the two leads doing a fine job and with good work all around from the supporting cast.
The first extra is a commentary track courtesy of Bryan Norton and a moderator. Norton talks about the historical importance of the location shooting (Fulci fans may be impressed!) before going on to talk about problems that he ran in with his original DP. Norton covers casting and cinematography and explains how and why certain scenes were handled. Norton, a film teacher, talks about utilizing as many horror movie fans and friends into his crew as possible, as he feels it helps to use people who do not have contempt for the genre. It's an informative and well paced track that provides a detailed look at the creation of this short film. Up next is a featurette entitled Building The Bad House (11:10) begins by explaining what a penny dreadful is before taking us behind the scenes of the production while it was shooting. We see some storyboards and get some thoughts from the cast and crew members on how they feel about the project. Betsy Palmer shows up and dances an odd dance for the camera before sitting down for an interview. We see some of the green screen shots being set up and we see some of the effects work being created.