About

Logline

As two couples leave their city life for the mountains, they discover their new home is not as welcoming as they first thought. Growing increasingly isolated in the vastness of the terrain, they find themselves marked by the trapped souls that haunt the forest and echo across time.

Synopsis

Newlyweds Mel and Ikenna abandon their bustling city life after inheriting a secluded family home in the Adirondack Mountains. They seek solace in its isolation but quickly find their dream of tranquility turning into a nightmare when they are joined by friends Taylor and Arjun, only to encounter a sinister force that preys upon them one by one. Mel and Ikenna must confront an eerie presence that seems to entrap them in the forest's haunting past. Struggling with their growing paranoia and the forest’s chilling echoes of time, they must unravel whether they are haunted by vengeful spirits or simply unraveling from the strain of isolation. Winner of the Golden Ring for Best Film at the Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest, Come Home is a meditative exploration of loneliness and the relentless power of place.

Directors’ Statement

Come Home was shot using only a 27mm lens in the vast and desolate Adirondack Mountains. Embracing a rigid set of limitations allowed us to focus on the film’s main themes: estrangement and exclusion, how we allow spaces to define our reality, and nature’s ability to create, destroy, and transform. By juxtaposing intimate human moments with large scale landscapes, we created a meditation on loneliness. The land itself emerged as a protagonist, its own violent history of ownership and retaliation becoming twisted into the tapestry of the characters’ sense of otherness. Our main influence came from the vast landscape paintings of the Hudson River School, the stark, detail-oriented filmmaking of Robert Eggers and Jane Campion, and the folk tales of the Adirondack region.

     Our movie is an exploration of what the land can contain; the history, the stories, the love, the loss, both real and imagined. It is not a picture of America, but a reflection; perhaps distorted, but one that makes us contend with the piece of land we stand on now, and who may or may not be trapped there. We are challenging the audience to confront not only their own alienation and discomfort, but the narratives of the terrain on which they live their lives. Our country is wild and has a story to tell if we are ready to listen.

     This film was generated in a time of desperation to create and connect. At the height of the Pandemic we, along with four fellow filmmakers (and friends), wrote and edited the script, and meticulously planned the shoot, from top to bottom, over Zoom. On set, the six of us comprised every department except sound; we were the actors, grips, craft services, camera operators, and everything in between. After filming, we continued to work primarily over Zoom with our editor, composer, sound designer and special effects collaborator. This remote approach to post production posed some unique challenges, but also allowed us to keep making art (and grow our families) without the necessity of living in New York. It’s a model we hope to continue as we progress in our creative journey. This project has been such an incredible labor of love, and we are immensely grateful to the COME HOME team for their dedication and for the opportunity to collaborate with friends in a period often marked by isolation. With almost no resources, we called in favors, worked tirelessly, and through many growing pains, produced a film we are so deeply proud of and excited to share with audiences. 

- C. Zoz & N. Pursell