Barronesque Horror Films

[Corman]

I've been living in Los Angeles since January and, thanks to some of the fantastic arthouse theaters in the area, have been exposed to an amazing selection of rare films from the past and contemporary independent cinema over the last year. There are two movies I've seen recently in the latter category which (unintentionally) evoke the spirit of Laird Barron's primal Pacific Northwest landscapes (and the unseen, ravenous forces therein).

(I'm not linking to their trailers, because neither does justice to its respective film's bizarre atmosphere)

The first is called The Oregonian. Plot takes a backseat to flickering, disconnected scenes of hallucinogenic madness set in endless forest (despite the film's title, it was shot in Washington and California), experienced by a woman who's stumbled away from a horrible car accident.

The second is The Catechism Cataclysm, where a bumbling Catholic priest tries to reconnect with a distant high school acquaintance on a canoe trip through Washingtonian woodlands that goes nightmarishly awry. Unlike The Oregonian, which is petty much unrelenting unexplained imagery, The Catechism Cataclysm deftly blends its surreal weirdness with a low-budget indie comedy about two lonely, broken men confronting their past.

(However, both feature the actor Robert Longstreet)

The Catechism Cataclysm is supposed to be available on streaming and VOD services relatively soon. I'm not sure about The Oregonian but, considering the way independent film distribution is going, I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up on Netflix in the near future.