The House on Mansfield Street from Mansfield Dark Productions (see my interview here) follows Nick, a documentarian who moves to a smaller city to advance his career. After moving to a quiet apartment, Nick meets his new neighbor Emma, an attractive, quiet woman who offers him a strange pouch for protection. While settling in, Nick starts to observe odd occurrences in his apartment. From there, things quickly begin to spiral out of control.
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After interviewing Richard Mansfield from Mansfield Dark Productions, I was interested in going through the rest of their discography to see what else they had to offer. I briefly discussed their film The Investigation: A Haunting in Sherwood in the interview and one of the points I made was about the use of cameras, specifically the different types of cameras that broke away from typical ‘movie style’ vibes. This is also the case in The House on Mansfield Street, as most of the film is shot on a handheld camera, a GoPro, or a cellphone (with some webcam footage). Not only is this an interesting way to shot an entire movie, but it also allows for a unique type of authenticity. As someone who watches a lot of YouTube, I am used to a level of personal connection with the person on my screen and in The House on Mansfield Street I felt that with Nick.
The footage does not look heavily edited and it doesn’t empale a lot of CGI or other computer effects that turn a convincing horror film into a cheesy mess. For instance, there is a moment where Nick witnesses a figure in his house, but because of the way the footage is compiled, it looks like something you would see on your own CCTV footage. It does not look far fetched or fantastical, but like something that could happen in your home (or mine). The House on Mansfield Street feels like two degrees of separation from our reality outside of the screen rather than a movie where death cults, reckless serial killers, and afterword curses thrive.
The plot is simple, interesting, and straight to the point, but in a way that deserves acknowledgement. The House on Mansfield Street knows the story it is telling, does not include a lot of filler and leaves just enough opportunities for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
Overall, if you are looking for something unique, refreshing, and want to support independent horror creators in the process, please give The House on Mansfield Street a try! The film is available for free on Amazon Prime or on the Mansfield Dark Productions YouTube channel (here).
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