Directed by George Henry Horton
Written by George Henry Horton & Ryan Scaringe
As a child, and even now as an adult, one of the most terrifying things are those that cannot be seen. Big open spaces, but is there something hiding in the shadows, something just around the corner that you can’t see, can’t hear? An ominous voice, unexplained movement. What filmmaker George Henry Horton has done is bottle that horror into his new film Project Dorothy, and he unleashes my worst nightmares with a tense new indie film available now VOD.
James (Tim DeZarn) and Blake (Adam Budron) are on the lam after a botched bank robbery that found James shot in the leg. Seeking shelter and a temporary safehouse from the authorities, the two slip into a massive abandoned warehouse/factory. With plenty to explore, the two begin to hole-up while also experiencing some strange things happening around them. In the office, they discover a suspicious video of a woman claiming “Dorothy”, some kind of government experiment, was taking over and they’re abandoning the facility. James and Blake suddenly find themselves trapped inside, at the whim of “Dorothy”, struggling once again to find a way to get away.
What’s fascinating about this film is that the basic premise is ingenious, I can’t quite believe I’ve never seen it before. There is so much potential and opportunity to utilize a space like this cavernous, abandoned factory, and filmmaker George Henry Horton mostly capitalizes on it. The best moments of the film involve exploring this space, the nooks and crannies, the unknown around the corner. It’s the star of the show, which is a strange thing to say. But the two leads, Tim DeZarn and Adam Budron are overmatched and unable to rise to the material they’re given. Luckily, there isn’t a ton asked of the duo, as again the scenario is doing most of the lifting, but even the little acting they’re asked to do is underwhelming, and subpar.
Ultimately, the storyline runs its course far too quickly, relying on some hokey staging which diminishes all the hard work and good graces that had been built up previously. The hardest thing to land in a horror film is the ending. Building the suspense and asking the questions is the easy part, but resolving things, finally revealing the truth, that is where most of these types of films fall on their face, and Project Dorothy is no different. The thought of an evil AI, and the way they execute her is good, but her methods, principally the evil forklifts, is where the film unfortunately lost me. For a low budget idea, this is good, but I will forever wonder what a bigger budget, better filmmaker, and more time to hone the script could do for a film like this one.
Throughout the year, a whole host of low budget indie films will come across the wire, mostly available VOD. The vast majority will come and go without any buzz or esteem, but among the heap of films that compile by year end, a few will break-through with interesting ideas, impressive execution, and memorable sequences. Project Dorothy comes close with all three of these categories, but ultimately falls just short, creating a tantalizing scenario that, under more steady, confident hands, might have the makings of a cult horror classic. It should be applauded for its ambition and creativity in the set-up, and we should be so lucky if a film like this were adapted into a Blumhouse type horror film, because the vacant warehouse horror movie is one I would love to see if done right, take some elements Project Dorothy does extremely well, and build upon it.
Corndog Chats 