Writer-director Chad Crawford Kinkle‘s 2013 horror Jug Face made waves in the indie genre. Now, he’s back with his arthouse horror Dementer.
In the film, Katie (Katie Groshong, A Measure of the Sin, Jug Face), a young woman determined to do something positive with her life after fleeing from a backwoods cult, takes a job at a center for special needs adults. Desperately attempting to live a normal life, she is overwhelmed by signs that “the devils” are after Stephanie (newcomer Stephanie Kinkle), a woman with Down Syndrome that she now cares for.
Using writings from a strange notebook, Katie creates rituals to ward away the evil while taking care of Stephanie at the center and in her home. But nothing seems to work, and Stephanie is becoming sicker with each passing day…
Building this special project around his sister Stephanie, who has Down Syndrome and plays one of the film’s leads, Kinkle has gone to great lengths to create a bold genre film that embraces and properly represents the developmentally disabled, while still being both thrilling and disturbing. The result is a singular, deeply personal independent feature unlike any before it.
Dementer also stars Brandy Edmiston, Eller Hall, and Larry Fessenden. It is produced by Ashleigh Snead and Chad Crawford Kinkle.
Dementer will make its World Premiere at The Nashville Film Festival on October 10th.
