Star Light is a 2019 American horror film in which a teen’s life is put in peril when he helps a pop star on the run to escape her violent pursuers.
Directed by Mitchell Altieri (The Night Watchmen; The Thompsons; The Hamiltons) and Lee Cummings from a screenplay co-written by Altieri, Jamal M. Jennings and Adam Weis, the movie stars Scout Taylor-Compton, (Room 9; Feral; Rob Zombie’s Halloween; et al), Rahart Adams (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Cameron Johnson, Liana Ramirez and Garrett Westton. Horror icon Tiffany Shepis has a cameo role.
Plot:
While skateboarding, a kind-hearted teenager, Dylan (Cameron Johnson), crashes into a beautiful young woman who secretly turns out to be the world-famous pop star, Bebe A. Love (Scout Taylor-Compton).
Keeping her identity under wraps, Dylan takes Bebe to his best friend’s house for help. While he and his group of friends try to help this mysterious woman, unexplained events begin to occur within the home. And they only intensify when Bebe’s handler, Anton (Bret Roberts), shows up at their door and demands the teenagers return her immediately.
When Dylan refuses fearing for Bebe’s safety, he unleashes a barrage of dire consequences that turns a fun graduation party into a night of living hell…
Reviews:
“Star Light has many flaws, but for some strange reason, it manages to keep itself interesting. Its low budget movie nature makes it stay in a safe and known environment, making its plot predictable and unable to offer anything new to the horror genre. This is another horror movie destined for the dark pit of mediocrity.” 10th Circle
“The acting throughout is amateur at best, and it’s not helped at all by a scattershot script that has cringe-inducing dialogue and a plot that doesn’t ever fully make sense.” The Artswire Weekly
“Star Light stays messier as a narrative than as an overall production. Technical elements like lighting, cinematography, and such are unremarkably serviceable. Acting, editing, and structure on the other hand? Ay, there’s the rub. The movie wobbles and weaves between subplots and dead ends like a driver after downing a bottle of Boone’s.” Culture Crypt
“The movie seems to leave several questions unanswered, such as what exactly was that thing in the trunk? But it delivers with crisp camerawork, and a mix of seasoned and new actors all delivering beyond its modest budget, making Star Light a rote but worthy mix of horror and supernatural.” Film Threat
“Star Light feels like a Frankenstein’s genre monster also means it never really hones in on one element enough to do anything all that interesting with it. By the time the cast started getting offed in increasingly bloody ways I’d long-since stopped keeping track of why things were happening and was instead just enjoying whatever loopy idea the film came up with next.” Ready Steady Cut!
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Background:
Co-director Lee Cummings told Dread Central: “Cinematically, this film is gorgeous with a simplistic pallet of earth tones along with primary pops to aid the story. I wanted to make a film that moves like a thriller but has moments that leave you feeling unsettled, something I always enjoy bringing to the screen. This was also easier to execute when you have two horror vets on your team like [Texas Chainsaw Massacre producer] Jeff Allard and Mitchell Altieri, one of the Butcher Brothers. This not only gave me great insight into the genre but enabled me to make a film I’m passionate about.”
Cast and characters:
Scout Taylor-Compton … Bebe
Rahart Adams … Nick
Cameron Johnson … Dylan
Liana Ramirez … Casey
Garrett Weston … Tex
Chandler Rachelle … Sara
Hagen Mills … Monty
Tiffany Shepis … Dorothy, Dylan’s mother
Bret Roberts … Anton
Geoff Callan … Officer Jeb Roberts
Jamal M. Jennings … Rahem
Kevin Jiggetts … Reverend Charles Gil
Victoria Graham … Dakota
Gregory Dean French … Man
Daryl Phillipy … Officer Mills
Filming locations:
Kentucky
Technical details:
90 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2.35: 1
