The Haunted Season: To Fire You Come at Last
The Haunted Season: To Fire You Come at Last
From boutique label Severin Films and renowned author, producer, and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse (WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR, HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN) comes new annual series THE HAUNTED SEASON.
Created by Janisse and executive produced by Severin Films, new episodes of THE HAUNTED SEASON will arrive on Shudder each December with chilling short form horror tales in the tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas. Future episodes will be announced each year as the holiday season approaches.
To Fire You Come at Last (2023)
The first of these original commissioned productions TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST comes from director Sean Hogan (director of THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS and author of England’s Screaming and sequel TWILIGHT’S LAST SCREAMING) and has just dropped on Shudder.
In 17th century England, near a rural village where unquiet spirits gather, a grieving Squire hires three local men to help carry his son’s coffin to a graveyard across the countryside. But as darkness descends upon their journey, disturbing secrets will be revealed. Violence will rise to the surface. As the hellhounds of local lore howl in the night, this quartet of the damned will discover a realm of supernatural terror that not even dawn – or death – can readily contain.
TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST is a nice, tight mini-feature dripping in gloomy atmospherics that remind one of those British supernatural television programs from the 1970s that one would chance upon and then remain totally gripped by throughout in my much younger years.
Shot, for the most part, in black-and-white writer/director Sean Hogan ensures that every single minute of his forty-three-minute short delivers the chills. The dialogue is smartly written and the foursome that the tale revolves around bring home the acting goodies. It builds up nicely to an unexpected pay-off, that is rare nowadays and it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of 2023’s FrightFest.
