Placevine

"Stage Fright": putting the hearse in rehearsal

Stage Fright is a new horror web series set amid an amatuer Grand Guignol theater production, "amatuer" being the more operative world than "grand." Still, despite the bare bones production values and merely (sometimes barely) adequate acting, it does manage to evoke a compellingly sinister, spooky atmosphere, and considering the context - newlyweds are bequeathed a haunted old theater - credible creepiness counts more than thoroughbred thespianism, so these threadbare thrills suffice. The series is directed, co-written and co-produced by Missouri filmmaker Jason Brasier, who has also produced the low budget "mockumentary" Zombies of the World and the indie horror flick The Sky Has Fallen, so he's on familiar turf.