The Arbors

The arbors marks Clayton Witmer's first directorial debut after two short films, I Only Smile in Pictures (2015) and That Kinda Night (2016). The Arbors, shot independently with what is thought to be a low budget, is not unworthy of today's horror films from the major film studios. Clayton Witmer, who co-wrote the script with Michael Samilow, delivers a rather effective monster film and at the same time a social painting of deep America far from the big American cities.

In a dreary little town, Ethan Daunes (Drew Matthews) is a reclusive locksmith who struggles to keep in touch with his younger brother, Shane (Ryan Davenport) . Ethan's life takes a disturbing turn after finding a strange little creature in the body of a deer that collided with his car on a small country road. By taking this little creature with him and locking it in a cage in his garage, he will establish a mysterious link with it as a series of unexplained murders take place in and around his town. As the true nature of the creature is revealed, Ethan will find himself at the center of the action and his paranoia will become uncontrollable.

The Arbors skillfully juggles the horror and social film showing that it is still possible to make films that are as original as they are successful despite the lack of a budget to bring a film to life that is ready to conquer movie theaters and go against an audience passionate about genre cinema and books by H.P Lovecraft and Stephen King. These two writers have successfully shown that you have to start from a realistic situation to gradually slide into fantastic or horrific situations. The Arbors goes in the same direction and as the creature grows, the situation becomes more and more uncontrollable to our great pleasure. As the only fantasy and horror film presented at the Austin Film Festival, The Arbors deserves to be on the program of many fantasy festivals around the world such as Fantasia Film Festival, Stitges Film Festival, Gerardmer Film Festival and others.

The Arbors benefits not only from a perfectly elaborated script, but also from equally successful special effects and impeccable direction, which is quite rare for a first film. Clayton Witmer thus brings to life here a complex and effective film that puts forward both troubled characters and a successful and truly disturbing creature. We can therefore only advise you to discover this film and we hope that it will have a worldwide video release allowing it to meet its audience.

The Arbors
Directed by Clayton Witmer
Produced by Clayton Aggeles, Michael Samilow
Written by Clayton Witmer, Chelsey Cummings
Starring Drew Matthews, Brooks Addis, Ryan Davenport
Music by Benjamin Hoff
Cinematography: Ayinde Anderson
Edited by Jeremy Darnell
Running time: 119 minutes

Seen on October 26, 2020 (online access Austin Film Festival)

Mulder's Mark: