Indy Film Fest -- Hum

Two years ago, a strange chest suddenly appeared in the woods next to a river. No one has been able to open it, move it or destroy it. As time has gone on, the object has become the subject of both intense reverence and revulsion.

That's the premise of "Hum," an eerie and contemplative science fiction thriller from writer/director Henry Johnston.

This is the sort of movie brimming with originality if perhaps not a fully realized vision. It feels like an amazing story that isn't done cooking. It's the rare film I see these days that should've been longer, needing more time and space to fill out the frame.

It's a gorgeous-looking film, shot with clear bright colors by cinematographer Allen Chodakowski, who zigged when everyone else would've zagged and photographed with a shadowy, indistinct quality. Somehow the sharp lines and brightness makes the movie even more disquieting.

Tyler Ross plays David Parker, a trainee with the local police department who's been assigned to guard the chest on the second anniversary of its appearance. Why a college-age kid is given this duty, alone, without even the benefit of so much as a pair of handcuffs or a phone, let alone a weapon, is one of those things we have to just file under "because then there wouldn't be a movie."

His supervisor, a crusty detective named Powell (Andrew Oliveri), is disgusted with the duty and repelled by the chest. An entire religion has sprung up around the object, cult-like followings dressed in purple, who promise that answers are coming and hint they will arrive from space.

For his part Parker is a little more open to possibilities, since his sister Grace (Sierra Miller) was a member of the worshipers. We soon learn she passed away in a terrible accident, but he still sees her all the time, following him around as a smiling but voiceless companion.

The leader of this religion, a quietly charismatic man played by Bradley Grant Smith, hints at knowledge he can't fully reveal but absolutely believes in. He appears to have all the qualities you'd expect in a cult leader, and yet his piercing gaze is somehow comforting.

Things start to go weird at the chest. Ellie (Sonaz Izadi), one of the purple folk, appears in a trance next to the chest. She eventually wakes up, but she and David find they can no longer leave the area around it. There seems to be some kind of invisible force pushing them back, and strange humming sounds come pulsing out of the woods.

Parker begins to slide between periods of consciousness and unconsciousness, waking up with a desperate thirst, for both water and understanding. Eventually the very underpinnings of the narrative become untethered, so we're unsure if what we're seeing is real or remembered, prescient or hallucination.

There's a lot to like about "Hum." It's nice to see young filmmakers making things outside the box. It's hard to compare this film to others for reference, though if pressed there are elements of early Werner Herzog and modern horror fables like "The Blair Witch Project."

You watch this movie and don't really understand it, but find yourself both puzzled, and moved.

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