“McNaire Manor” is the first film by Richie Rio, and tells the story of a priest named Father Mark who decides to exorcise the spirit haunting McNaire Manor. Unlike haunted house films like The Haunting or House on Haunted Hill, the specter in question doesn’t bide his time or hide out. Instead, he walks right up to the priest and the two begin to have a conversation. The priest is confident he will be able to cast out the spirit, but the spirit has heard this before and is not too worried about it.
Content
First films are tough to critique because their real function is to educate the filmmaker. Richie Rio has picked a good premise to start with, taking a familiar scenario and getting into it in his own way. Father Mark (Kevin Greer) is not particularly alarmed when he encounters Watson McNaire (Eric Henninger); there is a pleasant, casual nature to their interaction that sells the conceit of their discussion. This isn’t going to build up to any shocks, but I didn’t get the feeling that the film was trying to frighten me as much as it wanted to examine themes like the arrogance of faith, the nature of evil, and the flaws of “holy” men.
Rio’s writing is sharp, though a little over-written in places (a common problem with first time filmmakers, I’m guilty of it myself). It’s very telling how the dialogue seems to flow easily out of Henninger’s mouth, but seems to get stilted when Greer gives it a go. Henninger’s performance is far more effective, while Greer's lacks a true sense of conviction and authenticity. When Henninger says he’s going to win this standoff, you believe him. I wanted them to be more evenly matched, as though the priest had a fighting chance, but Henninger dominates the film easily. Maybe that’s the point.
Overall, the duel between the men is effective and atmospheric. McNaire knows a little more about Father Mark than the priest is ready for, and his assertion that he has been through this before with unnamed men of the cloth is confirmed in a nice cutaway toward the end.
Visual Look
The flick is shot well, getting a nice sepia-toned image out of the DVX100B. Because the whole film is this conversation between the spirit and the Father, we tend to stay in 3-point coverage for the duration of the film. But, Rio displays good forethought by giving us some very important, specific, and impactful cutaways toward the end of the film.
The one thing sorely needed was an establishing shot of the manor itself. I assume that this wasn’t an option with the filmmaker’s limited budget (VERY limited, we’ll get to that), but from the opening frames I just wanted to see the manor. I imagine it as a big, gothic, classic haunted house. But I could be wrong! (The menu frame for this DVD, which you can see in the cover picture, would also imply this, so I'm not certain why this wasn't shown at the beginning of the actual film! This would be a simple way to improve the film.)
