Tennessee Gothic

From Ray Russell, fiction editor of Playboy Magazine, and author of horror classics such as Incubus, Sardonicus and The Case Against Satan, comes Tennessee Gothic, a feature-length horror/comedy photographed on 16mm film.

Adapted from Russell’s short story, American Gothic, and brought to the screen by multi-award-winning filmmaker Jeff Wedding, Tennessee Gothic is an audacious look at farm life told through the eyes of Caleb (William Ryan Watson), the teenage son of a dim-witted widower (Victor Hollingsworth).

When a beautiful young woman (Jackie Kelly) is found bloodied on a country road, a farmer and hisson offer her refuge in their home. This living situation quickly escalates from hysterical comedy to maddening horror once the woman’s true nature is revealed.

Playing on themes displayed in folklore (most notably the ballad La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats), Tennessee Gothic is at times uproariously funny while maintaining a dark tone throughout, including a healthy dose of debauchery and violence.