When a disabled war veteran discovers the dead body of a beautiful singer in his back yard, his fascination with her photographic image soon turns to obsession.
Diane is a horror – thriller film directed and written by Michael Mongillo. The film stars Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers, Margaret Rose Champagne, Dick Boland, Jim Thalman, Kathy Searle, Kathrine Barnes and Davis Mikaels. The film released for February 1, 2017 in çhe United States.
Film Review for Diane
Mongillo, whose previous films range from the youth-horror film THE WIND to the sci-fi drama WELCOME TO EARTH to the mock-doc satire BEING MICHAEL MADSEN, scripted DIANE from a story by Matt Giannini. The cast is headed by Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers, Margaret Rose Champagne and Dick Boland, and the synopsis is as follows: “Steve’s lingering injuries and regret from the war in Afghanistan plunge him into a soulless routine until the dead body of a beautiful singer, Diane, is dumped in his back yard.
Steve takes a digital photo of her before reporting the murder to the police and soon he becomes obsessed with the dead girl’s image. Now the prime suspect, Steve is scrutinized by the police, hassled by Diane’s widower, and attacked by self-righteous neighbors. Before long, the malevolent ghost of Diane begins to work a dark spell that leads Steve to strange and startling revelations.”
It has been 15 years since Mongillo last explored scary territory with THE WIND, and while the ghost-story landscape is a heavily populated one, he aimed to forge his own path through it. “DIANE is informed by probably all of my favorite thrillers and horror movies in one way or another,” he tells Fango, “but when writing and directing it, I never found myself pulling from cinematic influences. The photographic essays of Roland Barthes and the more frightening illustrations of Edward Gorey were bigger inspirations than any specific film or cinematic reference point. I find myself describing it in literary terms: To me, it’s Stephen King meets Elmore Leonard.
“For me, the goal, in addition to producing something entertaining, is to create honest work about the human condition,” Mongillo continues. “Horror, mockumentary, sci-fi—whatever I’ve written or directed, the genre has always served as a backdrop to telling character-driven stories. DIANE is a supernatural thriller, yes, but it’s not really. I read somewhere recently that ghost stories are all actually tales of atonement, and that’s DIANE in a nutshell.”
Diane (2017)
Directed by: Michael Mongillo
Starring: Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers, Margaret Rose Champagne, Dick Boland, Jim Thalman, Kathy Searle, Kathrine Barnes, Davis Mikaels
Screenplay by: Michael Mongillo
Production Management: Andrew J. Saxe
Cinematography by: Anthony E. Griffin
Film Editing by: Michael Mongillo, Jeff Reilly, Taylor Warren
Art Direction by: Suzanne M. Marquis
Makeup Department: Jackie Zbuska
Music by: Austin Wintory
Studio: Mean Time Productions
Release Date: February 1, 2017
