The Weeping Woman is a Creepy Winter Romp

Poster Art by Mark Welser

Mark Steensland is a filmmaker friend of mine. He has made several creepy short films including Peekers, Lovecraft's Pillow, and the comicbook-based Dead@17. His latest film, based on a short story from UK horror scribe Paul Kane is titled The Weeping Woman.

Set in the rural snow-covered countryside of Erie, PA, The Weeping Woman follows the tale of Harry, a businessman who takes a shortcut and has a fateful encounter with the titular weeping woman.

The cast includes Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night's Evil Ed) and newcomer Melissa Bostaph with special effects from "Monster" Mark Kosobucki (Bloody Inheritance) and a haunting score from Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond).

As an avid fan of anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, I've always been a fan of short films. The format allows for some great creepy tales that wouldn't benefit from the feature length expansions. (Check out some of Stephen King's films  and you'll see what I mean.)

Steensland has proven time and time again that he is a master behind the camera. He gets shots into his short films that one would might expect from bigger-budget fare and The Weeping Woman is no exception. That great cinematography, combined with the snow-covered on-location filming and Frizzi's eerie score make for a film that the above mentioned shows would have been proud to include in their libraries.

There are not very many characters in The Weeping Woman but the few that are seen are very well done. The main character Harry is played by Stephen Geoffreys, best known for corny sidekick roles in 80s horror flicks like Fright Night and 976-EVIL. In The Weeping Woman, Geoffreys takes some leaps into a slightly more serious role, even though he lets that cornball side slip into the film's opening sequence. The creepy "weeping woman" is played by actress Melissa Bostaph in her premiere role. She does a great job of portraying a creepy, ghostlike hag that I definitely wouldn't want to run into on some lonely snow-covered night.

I won't give too much of the story away since The Weeping Woman will be making the film festival circuit throughout 2011, but if you get the chance to check it out, you won't be sorry.

Update: You'll get your first chance to catch the film with the world premiere at Motor City Nightmares (April 15-17).

Update 31 March 2011: Check out the teaser trailer for the film (with a blurb from "you know who")...


Related links:
Mark Steensland - official site
Paul Kane - official site
Mark Kosobucki - official site
Mark Kosobucki - Twitter
Mark Welser - official site