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The below is also
available on DVD, which is packed with extras.
 STRAWBERRY
ESTATES (Sub Rosa) Horror/ thriller. 100 minutes. NR. Jason is hired by
Dr. Jonathan Laurel to video-document his expedition into a long
abandoned, and rumored haunted, mental asylum called Strawberry Estates.
Legend has it that Strawberry Estates is located on Indian spirtual
grounds that are very high in energy. Along for the ride is Sarah, a young
student of the Dr.’s, and Jennifer, a psychic whose mother died while
committed to the asylum. Dr. Laurel hopes to have Jennifer channel some of
the haunting spirits to prove his theory of Heaven and Hell. After a few
incident free nights, Jennifer is able to see some visions and becomes a
bit agitated. At about the same time, Dr. Laurel starts to become
incoherent while filming and seems to suddenly be distracted by something.
The crew also finds some strange writings on the walls, which no one
claims to have written. As things grow creepier, Jennifer is overcome by a
channeled spirit and begins to say things that disturb the rest of the
crew. As he and Sarah try to get out of Strawberry Estates, Jason is able
to call the police for help.
However, when the police arrive, they only find Jason’s film.
This movie is shot similar to The Blair Witch
Project, but Strawberry Estates was originally shot way before Blair
Witch. This video simply depicts the happenings on the grounds of the
asylum. This “found footage” movie is loaded with dialog. The
characters spend a lot of time talking about Strawberry Estates and its
legend, as well as some of the people who were affected by its
hauntings. The characters also heavily discuss their beliefs in religion,
the paranormal, and other spiritual stuff. We also get to watch as a
little love affair blossoms between Jason and Sarah.
Overall, the acting is pretty good, although the Dr. kind of
annoyed me. Jason and  Sarah
are perfect, while Jennifer really didn’t make her mark on me either
way. I found the dialog to be interesting because I love discussing the
stuff I mention above. If you’re not into that kind of chitchat, you may
find ¾ of this movie dull. However, when the action near the end of the
flic picks up, it is pretty creepy. The use of a night vision camera is
great and adds a neat twist to the visual aspect of the movie. Strawberry
Estates will surely be compared to Blair Witch, but it really shouldn’t
be. There is more intellectual meat to sink your teeth into with
Strawberry Estates than Blair Witch. Strawberry Estates deals with your
mindset, and then squashes you visually. There are more than a few “jump
out of your seat” scenes to be seen here. In fact, after I was extremely
startled by one scene, I almost fired off an email to Director/writer Ron
Bonk (The Vicious Sweet) calling him an asshole for scaring me. Great
camera work, creepy shooting location, and cool plot makes Strawberry
Estates a great video to watch on Halloween, or any other night. – Denis
Sheehan
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