Just a cursory Google search of “A Haunting IMDB” reveals lots of horror flicks that use those two words followed by a geographic location: A Haunting in Connecticut, Salem, Georgia, Gabriel Street, Silver Falls, etc. I prefer the “A Haunting” movies that use fictional settings because they don’t put a rigid image in your head of the place. Personally, I don’t give a shit about who’s getting spooked in Georgia or Connecticut. But Gabriel Street? Or Silver Falls? Where are those places? I bet they’re strange.
Enter into the ring writer-director Phil Wurtzel’s A Haunting in Cawdor. Blending Shakespearean tragedy flavor with psychological horror, Cawdor is a formidable indie film with a handful of tired plot elements made digestible by two solid leads and a great setting. While the town of Cawdor may be fictional, the Barn Theatre where it was filmed is not. A cross between summer camp and acting school, the Barn Theatre makes for a juicy locale ripe with horror possibilities.
The film is about a group of juvenile delinquents on some kind of work-release program where they’re forced to clean toilets and perform Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” What a bonkers way to serve time, huh? I know putting on plays is common in prisons nowadays, but this seems a little extreme. It’s like Band of the Hand but instead of becoming deputy vice cops, these delinquents have to become theater kids.
They even have to audition for the play in front of Cary Elwes (Saw), who’s the theater’s resident bitter Shakespeare snob. During their first session, Elwes asks the kids to raise their hand if they’ve heard of the Elizabethan bard and NO ONE raises their hands. That’s how badass these kids are. I bet a few of them didn’t want to look like cultured pussies, so they played it cool and kept their hands down.
The shining star of this ragtag group of thespian misfits (and the film itself) is Vivian (Shelby Young), a disturbed girl who’s been in and out of psyche wards. While the other kids are doing time for DUI and various petty crimes, Vivian is in for freaking murder. Wurtzel wisely provides the audiences small glimpses into her past, into what made her so mentally fragile. He handles her backstory very tactfully, which added great depth to the character. We’re shown just enough to let us know Vivian is on the verge of breaking down.
Vivian scores the role of Lady Macbeth and as her psyche starts to deteriorate, the Barn Theatre becomes like a waking nightmare for her. She hears voices, watches disturbing videotapes of past performances in which her name is called out, and is haunted by visions of three witches (Macbeth reference, duh). Alongside the psychological horror, Cawdor has a bit of mystery to it, as the fate of a former student of Elwes and his intentions for Vivian come into question.
The overall plot is interesting and mysterious enough to hold interest. It’s clear Wurtzel was going for something deeper than standard horror fare. There’s really only one scene of gore and the filmmaker avoids cheap clichés on which he could’ve easily relied on to make Cawdor more appealing to a general genre audience. Wurtzel’s ambitions are bogged down frequently by typical indie constraints: poor effects and B-acting from some of the cast, for example. Shelby Young and Elwes are the anchors though – distracting us from the film’s many shortcomings.
As the film rolls into its third act, the shadowy plot becomes a bit frustrating. The connecting thread between Elwes’ former student, Elwes himself, and Vivian is never effectively realized, so the climax doesn’t really pack the punch it should after such a nice buildup. It’s awesome that Wurtzel went the ambitious route, utilized his locale really well, and got some great performances out of his leads, but Cawdor ultimately left me feeling underwhelmed. The idea of being forced into theater camp may be the scariest aspect of the whole film.