Halston House Pictures
written & directed by Shaina Halston
produced by Asher Halston
genre: campy vampire fantasy/action
starring:
- Summer Phoenix as “the feisty Princess Anya Sophia”
- Marc Hall as “the entrancing Count Ferdinand Von Windenburg”
- Lindsay Slough as “Brittany, friend/sister”
- Elias Kirkpatrick as “Leo, friend/detective”
***
INT. CASTLE, DAY. 1804.
Act I, Synopsis: Princess Anya Sophia, a feisty young heiress cries in distress over her unfortunate position. She is propositioned by the dashing Count Ferdinand Von Windenburg who offers to help her escape this dreadful politically arranged marriage. For a price. She accepts the offer and seals her fate.
***
EXT. CITY, NIGHT. PRESENT DAY
Act II, Synopsis: As the ages wear on, Anya finds that her hero has become her captor. She manages to escape, but after centuries in isolation, she needs help blending into the present day human world. She meets a friendly girl, Brittany, who takes distressed Anya under her wing, knowing only that she is fleeing a toxic relationship. Brittany’s brother is a detective, and they help Anya get a job as a cop. With this help from her new friends, Anya may find a new future, even if some fates are forever.
***
EXT. CITY, NIGHT. PRESENT DAY
Act III, Synopsis: She couldn’t hide from her master forever, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get what he wants. Epic battle ensues. Unfortunately, to stand a chance against this grand master vampire, she’ll have to fight with all of her true strength, in her true form. Her friends watch in horror, seeing the monster she truly is.
ENDING
Synopsis: Her friends have seen and know too much now. But Anya knows that the eternal life of a vampire is a solitary one. Their friendships meant everything to her, and she tells them so before she leaves the city to start a new life elsewhere.
***
Movie Review by Drew Bradshaw, Sierra Sun Magazine
4/5 stars
Summer Phoenix shines in her first feature leading role. Her athleticism and stunt work is exciting to watch. Her acting was fine enough for an action flick. She excels in the physical scenes, but some of her dramatic scenes fall flat.
Athletic superstar Marc Hall launches off the Olympic diving board and onto the big screen with a splash. He plays a surprisingly convincing villain in this action/drama, but it’s hard to be sure which parts are acting and which are pompous star quality of his own.
The entire cast has great chemistry together. While sometimes that lends to the performance, sometimes their friendships show through the acting.
The script was excellent! Fresh and snappy writing by debut writer and director Shaina Halston. It shines without taking itself too seriously.
Overall a fun movie to watch. And was that a hint at a possible sequel? I would watch it!
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notes: I meant for this film to be a one-off, but it turned out being a lot of fun (and also a bit of a pain at times) to shoot. Since I don’t generally play with vampires in my main gameplay, I kind of wouldn’t mind doing a sequel for these guys. We’ll see. Princess Anya Sophia the cop vampire turned into a whole franchise, lol!
Summer has no other work lined up on the horizon. The Halston siblings are producing another movie after this, but it’s a quieter romantic/dramatic role calling for a “soft and sweet” leading lady, and I don’t think Summer will get that part. Poor girl is becoming pigeonholed as an action star. Oh well, worse fates have happened.
Oh, this was so much fun...and it looked like it would have been a lot of fun to shoot as well (any kind of posing is always a bit of a pain, so that goes without saying, lol). Hopefully, Summer's pay from this movie will tide her over until her next role!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it! It’s a fun way to use some of the game features that I don’t use in my regular gameplay. I’m trying to see what else is in the game that I don’t use, and see what kind of “movie” I could make of it! :)
DeleteThat's a fun way to use vampires in the game for a short time! I don't know if you have Journey to Batuu but that could always add more for a science fiction action movie, lol.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh at the review mentioning Marc's pompous star quality, lol!
Thanks! I don’t have Batuu yet, but that one is ripe for a movie set! The Strangerville story, too, but I don’t feel motivated to play through that one again so soon. Maybe some day. Oh, and I guess we have mermaids, too! Mermaid movie on location in Sulani?!? That sounds fun! :)
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