While looking for true paranormal phenomena, a crew attempting to film a reality show stumbles upon more than they bargained for.
Written and directed by George Tsouris, for whom Totem Chaser is a feature directorial debut following a string of short films, the film here does have a few woes of ultra budget cinema and a few issues that a bit more experience would have likely resolved. The story is interesting and keeps the viewer involved and the direction works well for the majority of the film’s scenes with a few exceptions where either of these elements didn’t work or they didn’t work well together. Overall, this is a labor of love and a passion project brought to the screen with a clear want to do well.
The cast here gives valiant performances, doing their best which is something that deserves recognition. A good part of them is unfortunately not very experienced and it does show in their performances. There are of course a few that rise to the top performance-wise including Charmien Byrd and Marquevias Turner do the best of their parts and leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Ariel Hope also comes off really well here, giving a good performance that is right for the film.
The film’s look is where issues start cropping up that show the low budget (something many won’t mind that much) and a bit of a lack of experience. While the images are decently stable and not too shaky, the lighting is often an issue. The camera person or cinematographer (not listed on IMDB) did ok with framing the scenes, but the lighting seemed to stump them. Many scenes are much too bright, showing that no adjustment of the camera was done from indoor scenes to outdoor scenes or from darker to bright scenes. This goes from mildly annoying at the start of the film to a bit grating by the end of the film. It’s something that is easily fixed once one has a basic lighting class and knows how to measure light and work with their camera. This issue with the lighting is the biggest issue the film has and unfortunately takes its look down from professional to amateur in many scenes. Of course, the low budget may have had a lot to do with this, but a lot of it is a lack of experience either with light in general or with the equipment used.
Following this, the special effects are also low budget, but they work here. The look of these goes well with the story and shows creativity and an effort in making the film and its effects look as good as it can. The effects here are as solid as can be expected. The computer generated effects here are fun in a vintage sort of way, adding a bit of flare and nostalgia to the film.
Totem Chaser has some entertaining elements, plays like a fun modern “shot on video” film that those who love low budget horror should enjoy greatly. For those looking for high quality images, this will not be the film. Thankfully, most horror fans are ok with a few flaws and should enjoy this endeavor in paranormal phenomena.