New horror movie features a deaf actress in its lead role.
Soul to Keep tells the story of a demon harassing a group of friends at a secluded country house, but what makes it stand out from the crowd is that the film heavily incorporates sign language into its storytelling, with the lead character played by deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank.
“The Deaf element in this film came to me originally as something of a scare tactic, and it blossomed into an important statement about bringing communities together,” says director David Allensworth. “Our co-writer Eric Bram’s wife is partially deaf, as well as one of our producers, Matt Meyer, who has partial hearing loss.”
“I wanted to bring out the elements of a minority group - the deaf and hard at hearing - and showcase them as heroes. In addition, I wanted to tell a horror story with real proven metaphysical elements, not another horror-slasher film,” adds co-director Monière.
Soul to Keep premieres at Shriekfest in Los Angeles on October 6th.
Check out the trailer and a Shriekfest promo below.
The official synopsis reads:
ERIN, a cute yet timid 22-year-old, and her confident twin brother JOSH inherit their grandpa’s creepy country house. Rusty broken barn. Swampy pond. No better way to christen the home than to throw a party with their school friends. Josh brought his sweetheart, TARA, and their closeness is apparent. Tara is deaf, and all the friends speak with her through sign language. Everyone, except for BRANDON, the self-centered boyfriend of GRACE, Erin's childhood friend-turned-Dark-Wiccan.
It's all fun and games until the lights go out. Josh searches the dark and damp basement to find the fuse box, only to discover a secret ritual room, complete with animal bones, blood, and meat arranged in a large triangle. Not to mention the nearby grimoire - a demonic spell book. The group is convinced now that the sibling’s grandpa truly went crazy.
Grace, being familiar with it all, reads over the grimoire to discover a spell to conjure the very powerful demon, BEELZEBUB - one of the seven Princes of Hell. Drunk and high, the group thinks it's a fun idea to conduct a possession spell to see if it'll work. And to their surprise… it does! Beelzebub has finally arrived and he will stop at nothing to consume their souls.