Holy Ghost People Director: Mitchell Altieri Screenwriter: Kevin Artigue & Joe Egender, Mitchell Altieri & Phil Flores Cast: Emma Greenwell, Brendan McCarthy, Joe Egender, Cameron Richardson, Roger Aaron Brown, Don Harvey, Buffy Charlet, James Lowe, Jayne Entwistle, Jalen Camp
Directed by Mitchell Altieri, Holy Ghost People follows 19-year-old Charlotte (Emma Greenwell) as she infiltrates a snake-handling Pentecostal church in the depths of the Appalachian mountains to find her missing sister with the help of Wayne (Brendan McCarthy), an alcoholic ex-Marine.
Holy Ghost People is no doubt inspired by the 1967 documentary of the same name by Peter Adair. Throughout his film, Altieri uses clips from Adair’s film, which explored the behaviors of a small Pentecostal church in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia, including faith healing, snake handling, and speaking (and singing) in tongues.
Altieri’s narrative, however, fails to be the disturbing, unsettling account that Adair presents in his documentary. This “psychological thriller” takes a pretty great premise and confounds it with subpar performances, and a script that often feels like a first draft.
Last Time on Skull-Face Island: Faithful robotic butler Mar-10 took Adam on a magical, mysterious journey to Austin, TX, to fulfill his destiny by visiting the South by Southwest Film Festival. David, worried that he may have inadvertently killed Adam using a voodoo doll, is searching the island for his lost companion. During all of this, Tim was drunk and hallucinating after drinking two-too-many Skull-Face Island Iced Teas…
Today’s Episode: We find Adam safe and sound in Austin, TX, where he is attending movies at SXSW. Mar-10 left to take care of some robot business, but gave Adam a special two-way radio to communicate with Tim and report his experience.
We join Adam now as he contacts Tim with mini-reviews of Spring Breakers, starring Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, and James Franco, as well as Mitchell Altieri‘s Holy Ghost People. We’ll also check-in on David’s Adventure: The Mystery of the Missing Adam….
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press