The Sideling Hill
The Sideling Hill (2019)
Directed by: Nathan Hine
Cast: Nathan Hine, Tiffany Laskey, Mike Knapp, Damon Robinson, Bob Vresilovic.
Review by Mario Dominick
An underground splatter film fan and collector, Southwestern Pennsylvania native Nathan Hine has made a name for himself in recent years as an underground filmmaker, actor, and FX artist, collaborating with people like Ron Bonk, Jim Roberts, Brad Twigg, and others. Having given us the gory short film Last Days of Livermore (featured as a segment in Brad Twigg’s anthology Frames of Fear 2), Hine gives us his first feature length film, The Sideling Hill. Having worked hard to bring us this film from 2015 to 2018, Hine’s magnum opus has been something I’ve looked forward to for a while.
Hine stars as Adam, a tormented young man dealing with many demons. His friend Allie and Harry, her father, come out to his house in woodsy rural PA to convince him to come along with them to an abandoned tunnel just off the turnpike. The site of many accidents and believed by locals to be haunted, Adam’s venture on the road with Allie and Harry brings about creepy and haunting visions, some quite gruesome. During a stop for directions, the three have a run-in with some weird and perverted rednecks. Seems they have an interest in the tunnel as well. Upon arrival, Adam’s visions become more intense and horrific. The tunnel suddenly starts revealing some truths Adam appears to be suppressing in his subconscious. Night falls and the true horror begins.
The Sideling Hill is a superbly shot and edited film with wonderful locations (some including this reviewer’s neck of the woods), plentiful gushing blood and gore FX, awesome props, and a perfect music score fitting the bleak atmosphere. The film bears some similarities in style to the works of other underground gurus such as Adam Ahlbrandt and Eric Stanze and the gore FX (handled by Hine and others) have some Marcus Koch influence as well. No surprise since Koch himself was a consultant on the FX.
Hine gives special thanks in the end credits to many fine folks in the underground horror scene (filmmakers, actors, writers, reviewers, etc.) including Fred Vogel, Michael Todd Schneider, Brian Paulin, Ronny Carlsson, Andreas Schnaas, ExtremeHorrorCinema.com, and many more. (Yours truly gets a nod as well!)
The Sideling Hill has been released on a limited Blu-Ray via PSFilms Video. Limited to 40 copies, Blu-Ray extras include:
The Final cut of The Sideling Hill
The Directors cut of the Sideling Hill
The light at the end of the tunnel documentary
The Sideling Hill tunnel tour
Trailers
Visit the film’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/The-Sideling-Hill-528025190693597/ to order a copy.
