Beth (Danika Vandersteen) is an artist who finds herself alone to raise her toddler son Lowen (Woodrow Graves) after her husband dies. Her mother suggests that she spends some time at her seaside home in Shoal Harbour to regroup, and Beth, reluctant at first, takes her up on it before they sell the house. Beth concentrates on her son and her art by the soothing sea, but a strange neighbour, Joseph (Terrance Murray), appears, and he’s focused on little Lowen. Unsettling things start happening at the house, and when a neighbourhood girl Sam (Brit Loder), warns Beth about the area and some undead neighbours, things become more and more sinister.
The Crescent uses the art of paper marbling and isolation to lead Beth through her trauma as her reality swirls from sorrow to the horrific. Directed by Seth A. Smith, this eerie meditation on grief while trying to raise a child is heartbreaking and nightmarish with a touch of surreal body horror. The audience spends many harrowing moments with Lowen, an innocent left to the wolves, as Beth struggles with the inevitability of life and death. Ghosts, flashbacks and striking imagery keep you guessing with this gorgeous arthouse horror.
Review by Carolyn Mauricette
Talent:
Brit Loder, Danika Vandersteen, Terrance Murray, Woodrow Graves
