Extramundane (2022) was written, and directed by up-and-coming film maker Joshua Sowden @joshuasow18. It's an independent horror film that, despite its low budget and limited resources-Sowden wrote, directed, and edited the film-it's an original and solid horror film that works on many levels!
Extramundane tells the story about a man named Trevor (Brant Rotnem) who takes a job managing an apartment building during the Covid pandemic. One by one, people in the building disappear. No one notices though due to the isolation everyone's facing. No one, that is, except for Trevor. With the help of a few other tenants, Trevor is determined to get to the bottom of the disappearances.
This film has many strengths. Sowden crafts his content carefully by using the pandemic as an effective backdrop. We see the effect that the stress and isolation have on the building's occupants, an effect that carries viewers through the film. Given that we all were affected by the pandemic, Sowden uses it to make viewers wonder if the mystery Trevor is working to solve is nothing more than the stress and paranoia we all felt in 2020. The film also forces us to consider those who've occupied the spaces we now inhabit. Without revealing too much about the plot, that theme isn't the only one that we see in the movie. While I don't want to say anymore, as a fan of horror, I wasn't disappointed at all with the film's climax.
I also liked how each actor in the film gave it all he/she had. They clearly cared about their roles, and in turn we grow to care about them, too.
There were a few points where the story overextended itself, but not in a way that's too distracting. There were also a few instances of dead silence in the film, but again, weren't too distracting. My one piece of constructive criticism is that viewers get a good look at the source of the mystery very early on; I'd have opted for a much slower burn and buildup to the climax.
Extramundane is the first of what will hopefully be the first of many films Joshua Sowden makes in what is a very promising career.
Extramundane tells the story about a man named Trevor (Brant Rotnem) who takes a job managing an apartment building during the Covid pandemic. One by one, people in the building disappear. No one notices though due to the isolation everyone's facing. No one, that is, except for Trevor. With the help of a few other tenants, Trevor is determined to get to the bottom of the disappearances.
This film has many strengths. Sowden crafts his content carefully by using the pandemic as an effective backdrop. We see the effect that the stress and isolation have on the building's occupants, an effect that carries viewers through the film. Given that we all were affected by the pandemic, Sowden uses it to make viewers wonder if the mystery Trevor is working to solve is nothing more than the stress and paranoia we all felt in 2020. The film also forces us to consider those who've occupied the spaces we now inhabit. Without revealing too much about the plot, that theme isn't the only one that we see in the movie. While I don't want to say anymore, as a fan of horror, I wasn't disappointed at all with the film's climax.
I also liked how each actor in the film gave it all he/she had. They clearly cared about their roles, and in turn we grow to care about them, too.
There were a few points where the story overextended itself, but not in a way that's too distracting. There were also a few instances of dead silence in the film, but again, weren't too distracting. My one piece of constructive criticism is that viewers get a good look at the source of the mystery very early on; I'd have opted for a much slower burn and buildup to the climax.
Extramundane is the first of what will hopefully be the first of many films Joshua Sowden makes in what is a very promising career.