by I first heard of Raccoon Valley from the film the Blackwell Ghost 2. The director of both movies, Turner Clay, references it several times in his newest film and I was intrigued by what I saw of it. Sure, he got me hook line and sinker (and I’m sure this was his plan all along) and I did a little research on this unique sounding zombie feature. As a huge fan of undead cinema I decided it might be worth a shot, and the price was right (Raccoon Valley is currently streaming on Amazon Prime). The fact that this film is slow moving is a common complaint, and I thought it would cause me to lose interest. I was surprised that I enjoyed this low budget indie shocker as much as I did.
The first thing you should know about Raccoon Valley is that the protagonist is deaf. This means a couple of things. First off there is barely any dialogue. She encounters two characters in the beginning of the runtime who speak to her, watches TV, and a warning comes through on her smart speaker. That’s all the dialogue you get. Another thing you should know is that this film was made with a budget of just one hundred and seventy five dollars. It’s important to note that this is an indie film with few actors, limited special effects, and was written/directed/edited/scored etc by one man. How do I know what the budget is? It’s proudly declared in the end credits. With that said Turner Clay did wonders with such a small dollar figure and I was really impressed.
Raccoon Valley begins with a deaf woman (whose name we never actually learn) being left home alone by who we can only assume is her brother. She goes to her mother’s house for dinner, heads home, and notices a few strange things. First of all the neighbors are all loading up in their cars and leaving, and her cell phone loses service. Then the power goes out. Little does she know that ringing throughout her home has been a warning message declaring a state of emergency because of a plane crash carrying bio hazardous material. Anyone free of any infectious symptoms has been summoned for evacuation. The disease is highly infectious and turns people into zombies. It’s unfortunate then that our silent protagonist didn’t get the memo. In the middle of the night she is notified via her phone that the alarm system has sensed movement in the garage, and then the basement. She grabs her gun and checks it out. You can probably imagine what happens from here. She realizes she’s the only uninfected person in the city, and must find a way to get through the blockades to safety before she is maimed by one of her formerly living neighbors.
What I respect most about Raccoon Valley is that it doesn’t rely on jump-scares. Instead the suspense builds from scene to scene, and it can be downright scary at times. Pretty much every scene with a zombie in it involves a staredown between them and the main character before they start lurching forward toward her. The staring contest of sorts is quite creepy. As the audience I found myself wondering if the zombies actually eat their victims traditionally or just maime them. It’s never answered in the movie, and all the information we’re given is that the disease is communicable through even the slightest touch. I was disappointed though with the make-up. Rather than being made to look like simple dead human beings Turner Clay instead opted to go all out with too much white and black makeup. Some of the zombies look like poor KISS impersonators to be honest, but others (such as the farmer in particular) are pretty good.
One issue from which Raccoon Valley does suffer is its pacing. This movie moves incredibly slow, and because sensory deprivation is a big part of it (the audience can hear most things but not all) we’re left with a lot of long lingering scenes with nothing to fill the void. There is some music and ominous sound work, but it’s not enough to carry the especially slow scenes. I feel like total silence would have worked better in several instances. The film has a tendency to show close ups of the main character’s face too often. This wouldn’t be so bad but she always looks annoyed even in mundane scenes with nothing happening. It’s a little off-putting and makes the protagonist less likable, but it’s not a huge deal. Also, you should be aware that the first half of the film is much stronger than the second, and those of you who love to scream at people for making dumb decisions in movies will be infuriated in some of the later sequences here.
While using a deaf protagonist and sensory deprivation is nothing new in horror Raccoon Valley felt at least moderately fresh to me. The zombies, while ridiculous in appearance, have a very smothering on-screen presence and the use of indoor environments will make anyone feel claustrophobic. Unfortunately this one is a bit of a slow burn and most fans of the genre will probably get bored just minutes in. It’s not a landmark, nor does it break new ground, but Raccoon Valley is pretty darn enjoyable and managed to stick with me even after turning it off.
Pros
- Unique atmosphere
- Some genuinely terrifying moments
- The sensory deprivation works well
Cons
- Ridiculous looking zombies
- Slow pacing
