Don selfishly justifies being attracted to and subsequently having sex with Sarah as something he’s “earned.” After all, he’s working hard on the house all by himself. And in the case of Girl on the Third Floor, which had its west coast premiere at Beyond Fest this week, the ghost(s) seem tailor made to make a particular person suffer. Eli was never sick to begin with. The girl, now a ghoulishly emaciated figure, begins searching the kitchen area, unaware of Ángela and Pablo's presence. I'm sorry couldn't get to more - my Wifi kept zonking out. The ambiance. During the last night of the camp, the last incident happened. The story offers up ideas and plot elements you don’t see in too many horror movies, keeping the audience guessing from the jump. But she might just be a dream. There’s a large degree of black humor inherent in watching this guy repeatedly examine a pipe or a floor panel and somehow end up covered in goo. Liz comes a day or two after Milo’s death and she is unable to find Don anywhere. As he begins renovating, Don finds all the bodily fluids – first on the floor, and then more disconcertingly, dripping from the walls and electrical outlets. – Go to bed. Men are lascivious and base, thinking only with their genitals or their alcoholic brain, while the women suffer around them. You might know me as CM Punk from my days with WWE. Ullstein Bild / … He plans to renovate the place for his wife and the child that they are bringing into the world very soon. Reality and hysteria begin to blur as Don’s past indiscretions seem just as omnipresent as any sort of ectoplasmic spectre. Some cause harm. Some rooms are painted in ’80s pastels. He also soon meets an attractive young woman named Sarah (Sarah Brooks) who is very clearly hitting on him. Ghost in the Graveyard ... Black Eyed Girl How do you tell a contemporary story in a house where the original horrors took place almost 100 years ago? We live a lifetime of choices. Over the past five years, as women began publicly sharing their daily experiences with harassment, shaming, assault and marginalization, the pattern that emerged was men simply acting without concern for how their actions impacted the women on the other side of the equation (whether willing participants or not). There’s this house, this actual location with its own history of trauma, and then there’s your job as an artist to assimilate those details in an attempt to create something new, and hopefully, something of value. Don Koch tries to renovate a rundown mansion with a sordid history for his growing family, only to learn that the house has other plans. Away, Ford, and Disney all had C-Suite shakeups this year. and – more recently – We Are Still Here. The sunlight dances across the wallpaper. 2 0 4 3 3402. A solid chiller, a loose, fun, gooey twist on a haunted house yarn, "Girl on the Third Floor" uses horror as a metaphor for toxic behaviors and relationships. Watch thousands of horror movie trailers, from classic to upcoming. It is made of metal. How does one honor the history of a haunted house without being exploitative? In the various broken pipes or bits of rotted drywall, he finds things that seem downright vascular. You can find his film and TV reviews here. All behind-the-scenes images by Travis Stevens. And suffer he does. The texture of the house as it is. Here's what that means: He wants to promise to sell orange juice in April for $1.42 per pound. The first person (olive green shirt) was the first to notice the girl is in danger. Her face had been disfigured. During that time, Sadie, a young girl who lived there, was murdered, her body found half-buried by the nearby train tracks. In the film, Don (played by CM Punk a.k.a. Uploaded to Reddit in 2016, the submitter explains this photo of his father was taken by his girlfriend in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. She’s dressed and acts like a cover girl from a 1970s men’s magazine. Greg wanted to make a movie there. A dark and atmospheric horror film, Girl on the Third Floor delivers more mystery than scares. I chose to focus on the power imbalance between the men who entered the house for pleasure and the women who died working there. He’s a man unable to see past his own weaknesses. And if nothing else, it forever solidified my desire to rent instead of own. “I guess we’d better …”. How these spirits engage with new arrivals to the house varies, depending entirely on the actions and nature of the person who walks through the front door. Except this mistake won’t leave him alone. Greg locked up the tomb and we drifted back into small-town America. The only chance we have at improving our lives (and society as a whole) is by taking the time to recognize the factors influencing our decisions and then consciously choosing a more responsible course of action. It lulls you into a gentle rhythm of startles for the first half or so just to finally spring its trap. With C.M. Howls of laughter followed shrieks of fear. His wife Liz is shrill and demanding, literally to be held at arm’s length. Give in to your lesser self and things are going to get very messy. The frayed remnants from when it was someone’s home. The story is initially told from Don’s biased perspective. That may seem a bit presumptuous for a low-budget horror film – to take a local ghost story and weave it into some sort of angry battle cry for a more compassionate and balanced treatment of women. He does a tremendous job of building tension and then undercutting it with a joke or funny moment. While Sarah died old enough to form an opinion about the dynamic between a man’s desire and a woman’s wellbeing (“All men really want is the power you give them,” she says, at one point), the second ghost Don meets was murdered before she even had a chance to form so sophisticated an understanding. Girl falling from the fourth floor, 8 couriers caught her with their hands. It is also unplottable and has been bewitched so that, if Muggles approach th… This explanation kills the mystery so effectively established up to this point In the Canalave Library from the Gen 4 games, a book on the third floor states that people and Pokémon were much closer, with no differences between them, once upon a time. It was my job to figure out what story to tell. Why are so many CEO's stepping down in 2020? Don't forget to check out Girl on the Third Floor! I was very excited about going to America in few days and had trouble sleeping. A Friday digest of the week's best Talks, picked for you by the editors. Full Review | Original Score: B One of the most delightfully creepy movies of the year is Girl on the Third Floor, starring wrestling legend Phil "CM Punk" Brooks in his feature film debut.This meticulously crafted haunted house morality tale also marks the directorial debut of Travis Stevens, the horror producer responsible for critical hits like Big Ass Spider! “Do you want to go inside?” asks Greg Newman, the film executive who has recently secured the property. Ghost stories are almost never about the ghosts. But throughout the writing process, as I thought about my first visit to the house, and remembered the feel of wrinkled wallpaper and the smell of sad debris hiding in the corners, I tried to ask, what was this house like for the women who actually lived and died there? It is my hope that by re-introducing her character on her own terms, full screen and autonomous, that the point of the film becomes clear. It’s a flawed man’s outlook on life, and hopefully one the audience will come to recognize as such. This idea may feel at odds with the film simultaneously encouraging men to take more responsibility for their own actions. Create an account or log into Facebook. Find out if a dog dies in Girl on the Third Floor from over 60 other people who have already watched it. And not all of them are smart choices. ... Investigators from Utah Ghost Investigation snapped the photo on the third floor which was once served as the hospital’s asylum. At one point it was a bordello. I got to see Girl on the Third Floor at Beyond Fest earlier this month, and I found it very effective, and with a deep thread of dark humor. Other than the sound of your feet, the place is quiet. The goo, slime, grease, “ectoplasm” and bile in this film are intended to be both metaphorical and biological. The interior of the house resembles a battered billboard, the discarded layers of various renovations from different eras peeling back to form an abstract collage. The attic is a design mystery. Stevens’ writing and directing debut, Girl on the Third Floor, stars Phil Brooks, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Sarah Brooks, Travis Delgado and Elissa Dowling. CM Punk) as Don Koch, a husband and soon-to-be father who buys a big ol’ house in the ‘burbs and decides to renovate it himself to prove to his wife Liz (Trieste Kelly Dunn) that he’s not a screw-up. This is a really fun, gleefully grotesque examination of the most insidious form of toxic masculinity and it’s got scares to spare. Up until this point in my career, I’ve only produced films. Sure, there’s usually a backstory for why this particular spirit haunts whatever place, but the best stories reveal more about the person being haunted than the one doing the haunting. Posted by 7 years ago. https://nerdist.com/article/girl-on-the-third-floor-review-beyond-fest Finding every combination and code, though, takes a lot of work and more than a little backtracking. Ángela picks it up and runs, only to trip and drop the camera as well. That statement goes for women like Liz Koch who handicap their own needs by supporting the fragile egos of their partners, it goes for the victims of childhood sexual abuse like Sadie, and the casual disposability of a sex worker like Sarah, a woman who was “loved by the town” but not enough that its citizens would investigate what really caused her death. People passing by still swore they would see her up in the third-floor window. Women should not have to live in fear of men. The local rumors about the place were fairly consistent. The castle is supported by magic (unable to be maintained or constructed by any other means), a good example being the moving staircases, a feature contributed by one of the four Hogwarts founders, Rowena Ravenclaw. – Use the same patern as the 3rd day to beat the 3 bullies – After winning the fight go straight to the bakery to work. The film relies on the audience’s inherent sympathy for a protagonist, helped immensely by the immediate likability and charm of star Phil Brooks (aka CM Punk), before it begins to slowly peel back his carefully constructed façade to reveal the rot beneath. Sarah keeps coming back to the house. Others overlook the needs of those around us. And that’s where the movie’s strengths lie. It was a shocking revelation to me, even though it shouldn’t have been. Press the button for the fourth floor. A 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL who fell from a third-story window in Brooklyn Monday escaped injury when she was caught by a hero neighbor. We explain the major resignations in detail. It premiered at SXSW 2019 and opens in theaters through Dark Sky Films on October 25. From the outside, everything appears normal and charming … but there’s an unpleasant intensity as you approach. She seems to know more about his house than she’s letting on. 3. This was the theme I wanted to explore with the character of Don Koch – a man who isn’t corrupted by the house, so much as he’s exposed by it. Seek this one out soon. Travis Stevens is the founder and CEO of Snowfort Pictures, a boutique production company specializing in the development, financing and production of commercial genre films. – Pick the first choice for the first two customers and the second choice for the third. The first trip was short, but the ambiance of the house provided the DNA to get started. Girl on the Third Floor felt like the most artistically and emotionally honest answer to that question. Browse nearly every horror movie ever made at All Horror. ... third … The toilets are waterless, lidless, porcelain skulls, their mouths frozen in mid-scream. (Image by Robby Klein/Getty; used with permission.). The house represents, among other things, the collected trauma of generations worth of women wronged by these simple, violent thugs. The first apparition Don meets is named Sarah (played by newcomer Sarah Brooks) who presents herself as an object of desire. He’s not unsalvageable, but doing so will require a lot of effort. Her face had been disfigured. One other cautioned: "DO NOT torture yourself by watching girl on the third floor." She wears her trauma outwardly and is more childish in how she plays with Don. Producer-turned-director Travis Stevens on how a real haunted house inspired his new horror movie about toxic masculinity. She searches for it but is unable to find it. Do not get out when the elevator reaches the fourth floor. It's a hard turn in the plot, but preferable to the "ghosts-versus-hallucination" dance most of Eli's horror movie peers belabor.The truth comes out. – Go back to your house. Resident Evil 2 is full of locks and puzzles. The house stands on the corner of a sunny suburban street like a high-school football star who also happens to deal hard drugs. My new film, Girl on the Third Floor, is not a retelling of the literal history of Sarah and Sadie’s experience in the house, but an exploration of the toxic dynamics that have caused misery and suffering in homes like it throughout history. The local rumors about the place were fairly consistent. Ellie observes that some families move in with no problems, while others don’t last long. Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. Turning it to the right or left opens the door to which it is affixed. During that time, Sadie, a young girl who lived there, was murdered, her body found half-buried by the nearby train tracks. He’s so expressive and so much of the weirdness of the situation comes through. The idea that we are owed whatever we desire – even if it comes at the expense of the wellbeing of others – feels sadly pervasive in our culture. You know something bad’s coming, either supernatural or otherwise, but it takes awhile. Share photos and videos, send messages and get updates. Phil Brooks) is a new homeowner with a mysterious past, who moves into a big, old home in suburban Illinois. Travis Stevens, longtime producer of genre faves like Cheap Thrills, Starry Eyes, and the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, makes his feature writing and directing debut with Girl on the Third Floor. Connect with friends, family and other people you know. In addition to the human seed seeping from the walls, Don also finds marbles – ones that seem to appear out of nowhere and roll around on their own. Enter the elevator from the first floor by yourself. Follow him on Twitter! Don tries desperately to make her leave, all the while experiencing strange occurrences and discovering boarded up, unknown parts of the house. Standing on the floor of the exchange, Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) yells out: Sell 30 April at 142! © 2021 Talkhouse, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Girl on the Third Floor ... in a flashback there's a young girl living in a brothel, there are child-like drawings on the wall of a man in a bird mask alongside her. My room had a beautiful balcony (I was on the third floor of a hotel). Don Koch lacks the ability to do that, and so he suffers. Her face is a contorted mess of deformed flesh, vaginal folds, metastasized green glass and taut rope. Sadly, as Girl On The Third Floor continues, it succumbs to over-explaining itself. One movie led in to the next and suddenly nearly a decade had flown by. Although I always intended to write and direct, the journey to get there took a long time because there were so many fun movies to make with other filmmakers first. Now I’m standing in the suburbs of Chicago about to finally write and direct my own film because a company who financed and distributed some of my previous projects had bought a house that turned out to be haunted. A protest has been staged by nurses at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State in the premises of the hospital over the alleged beating of their colleagues by some relations of a dead patient. I don’t want to give too much else away, but suffice to say Girl on the Third Floor keeps you on your toes. How do you say no to collaborating with talent like Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, E.L. Katz, Karyn Kusama, Mike Mendez, Steven C. Miller, Trent Haaga, Sarah Adina Smith and Ted Geoghegan? I crouch in the grass to get a more dramatic view of the third-floor windows. Bursting through the front door with a brand new set of tools and the bravado of a man who has no idea just how unprepared he really is, Don has convinced his successful wife Liz Koch (who’s his only income stream) that this dilapidated house is the perfect place for them to start over after his own career choices nearly result in him going to prison. Left: Outside Studio 54, someone arrives to the club on a horse for the third annual Halloween party in 1978. You both sympathize with him and realize he may have brought much of this on himself. The movie stars Phil Brooks (a.k.a. People passing by still swore they would see her up in the third-floor window. The house witnesses this behavior and decides to test his character further. The writer-director, who was in her third trimester at the time of filming, had informed the other producers a few months ahead of production. Punk, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Sarah Brooks, Elissa Dowling. It’s an allegory for crappy men thinking with their id at the expense of women in their lives. He also keeps running into a woman with no discernible eyes, but mouths all over her face. The unfiltered truth of it all. Richard Dawson’s Tales of Brexit and Brutalism, How Fatherhood Changed Me as a Horror Director. It seems the house knows who’s worthy and who isn’t, and though he seems all right at the beginning, we quickly learn Don is anything but worthy. Item #: SCP-7143-J Object Class: N/A 1 Special Containment Procedures: Due to SCP-7143-J being a doorknob, no containment procedures are necessary. And the audience may question how effectively the movie explores the idea of liberating women from the obligation of putting the needs, wants and feelings of men before their own in order to ensure their safety. Sign In. Pretty much, if you’re a crappy man who can’t keep it in his pants, maybe don’t buy a former house of ill repute for a starter home. Some are purposely destructive. It’s as though the house is breathing and its organs laboring. I’m Phil Brooks. The 5-year-old boy thrown off a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota has improved so much he's walking "perfectly" and attending … Sadie was a child, sexually abused and disfigured by her time in the house and that experience has warped her ghostly appearance mentally and physically. Girl on the Third Floor is essentially about toxic masculinity and women’s rage, two topics that have recently made the pop-cultural rounds. Act right and you’ll be fine. The audience at Beyond Fest–always the best festival crowd you could hope for–lapped it up. The house will not spill its secrets so easily. My roommate had left the camp the day before and I had the room to myself. Directed by Travis Stevens. At one point it was a bordello. Doesn’t he deserve a little reward? If you are not a current Alpha, First Trailer for M. 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Whether he’s hiding his drinking or his sexual kinks, Don casually lies to her, in ways big and small, without hesitation. Shreds of carpet cling to the hardwood floor like dried scabs. We watch him tear down and attempt to fix the house, often–ingeniously–from the point of view of the walls themselves. When you arrive, it’s probably not what you expect. Don’s not totally alone, though; he’s got his trusty Alsatian, named Cooper. Why tf is the house oozing c**." It’s an act, but one carefully crafted to elicit a reaction. The official cause of death was listed as “yellow fever,” but not everyone believes that story because the body went missing. Others feature wallpaper that nods to the Victorian heritage of the house. Pablo tries to escape, but trips and is viciously attacked by the girl, making Pablo drop the camera. So, how does one go about shooting a horror film inside an actual haunted house? Ellie comes over, and the two women talk about the history of the house. Don plans to fix the place up by himself, a proposal Liz is both supportive and gently skeptical of. And he’s got a weird-ass house fulla ghosts. Description: SCP-7143-J is a doorknob on the door to the third floor staff dormitory at Site-19. Soon Don meets his new neighbor, Ellie (Karen Woditsch), the pastor of the Presbyterian church across the street. And as with the actual home renovation, Don is not exactly up to the task – although he likes to think he is. The basement is pure Cronenberg, it’s pale fleshy walls looking like a set from Videodrome. Of course, he doesn’t know that right away. 7. GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR Is a Cautionary Tale for Stupid Men, Alpha will be closing on March 31. Make your own custom horror movie lists, … The layout. So much of the movie rests on Brooks’ face and reactions. I'm in a kick-ass horror movie called Girl on the Third Floor directed Travis Stevens (We Are Still Here, Cheap Thrills). – After work, go straight to your childhood friend house to eat dinner with his family. A third said: "The Girl On The Third Floor got SO weird SO fast. Sarah, another woman who worked at the brothel, also died. You stand in the dusty silence and wait for the house to speak to you. Right: A costumed partygoer hits the dance floor in 1981. And maybe don’t go buying any houses. He acquits himself quite admirably as well, playing the subtlety, strangeness, and occasional doucheyness required for a character such as Don. If anyone else gets on then understand that you cannot continue from the first floor and wait until the elevator can be taken alone. Add in some beer (which he’s not supposed to drink, following some previous dalliance) and he’s making a pretty large mistake. 2. You take in the colors. Close. Since 2010, Snowfort Pictures have premiered at Toronto, Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Tribeca, Fantastic Fest, AFI and many more. Girl on the Third Floor is in fact, so much more than a haunting film. In the original Japanese version, this apparently was much clearer, saying that they were the same species and used to get married before growing apart. It’s almost like the house is alive, and maybe it wants him dead. A clash of aesthetics and styles that don’t belong together.