Lewis (Short)

(Screener Copy)


Directed by Anthony G. Sumner

Written by Marv Blauvelt, Anthony G. Sumner, Trevor Wright


Stars: Deneen Melody, Jerry Murdock, Susan Adriensen






I was honoured to be allowed the opportunity to review Anthony G. Sumners new horror short Lewis (Soon to be released as part of the anthology movie Psycho Street) after being extremely impressed with his recent release Slices of Life – a witty, gory and fun anthology movie in its own right.


Set in the 1970s, Lewis features indie horror starlet Deneen Melody as Amanda, a young mother haunted by flashbacks to a childhood cloaked in mystery and terror. To make matters worse, Amanda has just caught her husband in a very compromising position and after some advice from a Priest (Jerry Murdock) on unlocking the secrets of her past, takes her young daughter Aubrey on a trip to the country.

Aubrey’s insistence that she has a new (seemingly imaginary) friend named Lewis who has come along for the ride, coupled with the very odd folk residing in the town of Kronanburg the scene is set for all kinds of strange and gory occurrences and it soon becomes clear, that Amanda’s childhood was bloodier and more disturbing than she could ever have imagined.

A strong, intriguing build up really elevates this short as it completely reels you in and all you can hope for is a fitting payoff, which I appreciate is sometimes difficult to achieve in a short film. There are no issues with that here though as the final minutes of Lewis provide one great big bloody, occult infested climax. Strong performances also really help the film particularly Deneen Melody who plays Amanda with just the right mixture of strong willed yet also hurt/confused. May I also say she looked absolutely stunning in this role and her 70’s style of dress and make up was just perfection? Also of note was Susan Adriensen as a rather ‘different’ kind of nun.

Lewis truly captures the spirit of the satanic horror movies of the 70’s with style and finesse (all in 35 minutes) and it will be a pleasure to see it again as part of Psycho Street on its release.


About Psycho Street:
Welcome to the small town of Kronanburg. On the surface, this quaint, little town appears to be the perfect place to settle down, relax and raise a family…but the core of this seemingly “perfect” town is dark and vile…and the residents of this town live in a world of deranged insanity. In Kronanburg, terror lies behind every door and death is only a heart-beat away.
Join Kronanburg’s happy home-maker, Leyla Barker (Tiffany Shepis) as she leads you through three tales of murder and madness that can only come from the dark nightmares of life in this town…but beware, Leyla might just have a dark secret of her own!