I think to truly appreciate "Under the Raven's Wing", the viewer will need to understand what this film is. I saw the debut screening at the Full Moon Horror Con Film Festival, but this film is not "traditional" horror by any means.
The story centers around three young women and the young man chosen to document their collective story surrounding their disturbing spiritual philosophy. At different points in the film you can see the three women in many different forms. Sometimes they come off as evil, other times downright insane, but even in their darker moments there is still an underlying quality that makes you feel empathetic towards them. The young man documenting the story has his own agenda at times, most often being bedding one or any combination of the three females. If not for this character's actions towards the end of the film he would have probably came off to the viewer as a stereotypical college frat guy. Instead, he comes off as just a everyday heterosexual male who tends to put his sexual interests first, but when push comes to shove there is obviously a conscience lurking somewhere inside.
Each of the three women nail their parts. Kamilla Sofie Sadekova, playing the role of Angel, is the primary seductress for the group and this theme is enforced within several scenes of the film. Overall, her character comes off as extremely likable especially once the circumstances of her childhood have been revealed. She comes off as being The Director's (played by Coy DeLuca) primary interest which tends to create a lot of conflict between the three women. Jessica Palette plays the role of Jessie, who at first glance comes off as the shy one of the trio, but by the middle of the film becomes to come off as clearly the most psychologically fractured of the three. Her redeeming qualities are her smile and child-like nature, as it becomes apparent that she is clearly the one who is most influenced by Raven. In the film's lead role, Kimberly Amato delivers a strong performance as the ringleader of the group known as Raven. This film will have many scenes that make you want to dislike this character and perhaps think her to be borderline evil, however I found it impossible to do so when all was said and done. Raven is clearly the glue that holds her dysfunctional trio together, but it's the tragic flaws of the character and how those traits are performed on screen that make the character compelling. The best example I can give is a scene during about the midpoint of the film where we see Raven being interviewed privately by The Director. This is one of the few moments in the film where the Raven character has obviously let her guard down and chooses to open up. Her openness is met with rejection and you can tell this has been a reoccurring cycle in her life and thus has helped to create the guarded persona that is dominate through most of the film.
To enjoy this film, I think you need to watch it with an open mind. While I saw the film at a horror convention, I tried not to have a pre-conceived notion of what this film would be. Obviously, comparisons to "The Craft" and "The Blair Witch Project" will be made after viewing the trailer, but while this film may have been inspired by similar titles it does have a unique flair. Don't expect a traditional genre to be able to define it and instead just enjoy it for what it is. Mainstream cinema needs more character-driven originality such as this.
The story centers around three young women and the young man chosen to document their collective story surrounding their disturbing spiritual philosophy. At different points in the film you can see the three women in many different forms. Sometimes they come off as evil, other times downright insane, but even in their darker moments there is still an underlying quality that makes you feel empathetic towards them. The young man documenting the story has his own agenda at times, most often being bedding one or any combination of the three females. If not for this character's actions towards the end of the film he would have probably came off to the viewer as a stereotypical college frat guy. Instead, he comes off as just a everyday heterosexual male who tends to put his sexual interests first, but when push comes to shove there is obviously a conscience lurking somewhere inside.
Each of the three women nail their parts. Kamilla Sofie Sadekova, playing the role of Angel, is the primary seductress for the group and this theme is enforced within several scenes of the film. Overall, her character comes off as extremely likable especially once the circumstances of her childhood have been revealed. She comes off as being The Director's (played by Coy DeLuca) primary interest which tends to create a lot of conflict between the three women. Jessica Palette plays the role of Jessie, who at first glance comes off as the shy one of the trio, but by the middle of the film becomes to come off as clearly the most psychologically fractured of the three. Her redeeming qualities are her smile and child-like nature, as it becomes apparent that she is clearly the one who is most influenced by Raven. In the film's lead role, Kimberly Amato delivers a strong performance as the ringleader of the group known as Raven. This film will have many scenes that make you want to dislike this character and perhaps think her to be borderline evil, however I found it impossible to do so when all was said and done. Raven is clearly the glue that holds her dysfunctional trio together, but it's the tragic flaws of the character and how those traits are performed on screen that make the character compelling. The best example I can give is a scene during about the midpoint of the film where we see Raven being interviewed privately by The Director. This is one of the few moments in the film where the Raven character has obviously let her guard down and chooses to open up. Her openness is met with rejection and you can tell this has been a reoccurring cycle in her life and thus has helped to create the guarded persona that is dominate through most of the film.
To enjoy this film, I think you need to watch it with an open mind. While I saw the film at a horror convention, I tried not to have a pre-conceived notion of what this film would be. Obviously, comparisons to "The Craft" and "The Blair Witch Project" will be made after viewing the trailer, but while this film may have been inspired by similar titles it does have a unique flair. Don't expect a traditional genre to be able to define it and instead just enjoy it for what it is. Mainstream cinema needs more character-driven originality such as this.