FIRST LOVE NEVER DIES
High School senior Fern Peterson (Jennifer Laporte) finds herself stalked from beyond the grave by her deceased boyfriend Robert (Vincent Martella), in the horror-comedy, "Clinger."
The film opens with Fern running on the track of her high school. She hopes to go to MIT to study neuroscience and join their track team after she graduates from high school. In the stands watching Fern, is Robert. Their eyes meet and unfortunately for Fern, she has a minor accident on the track. This leads to the meeting of our ill-fated couple. At first it appears that they have a promising relationship in their future. But then we quickly see that Robert is coming on very strong and in the process, making Fern increasingly uncomfortable with their relationship. She meets Robert one evening and while he is trying to show Fern a surprise he has for her, tragedy strikes and Robert is killed.
It doesn't take long before Fern begins to suspect that she is being haunted by the spirit of Robert. She searches on the internet and locates a local ghost hunter, who conveniently turns out to be her track coach, Valeria Kingsley (Alicia Monet Caldwell). Shortly after their meeting, Fern and ghostly Robert meet and it seems like they are going to try and make their very unorthodox relationship work. That is until dinner at Fern's house where her sister Kelsey (Julia Aks), spills the beans that Fern was going to break up with Robert, the night that he died. Robert seems to have somehow forgotten that part and as expected, does not handle the news well. The scene is entertaining with several funny lines. Fern's parents are played by Jeffrey Bean and horror icon Debbie Rochon. We also get to meet Kelsey's boyfriend, Dean (Paulie Deo Jr.).
It doesn't take Robert too long, to once again become too clingy. While Fern tries to find a way of dealing with Robert, he consults with one of his new ghostly graveyard friends and comes up with a plan on how he and Fern can be together forever, she has to die. That way she can join him in the afterlife and they can live happily ever after. The problem is that Fern has no plans to die anytime soon.
By the end of the film we are treated to a showdown between Fern, her friends and family, versus Robert and his ghostly pals. Who will prevail? Who will survive? Will Fern live and have her dreams of going to MIT be fulfilled? You will have to watch the film and find out the answers to those questions.
I quite enjoyed "Clinger." I found it to be surprisingly comical. Fern's friend Moe (Shonna Major), was great with her innocently spoken lines of dialogue that were filled with sexual references. Kelsey, Valeria and a few other members of the supporting cast also chime in from time to time with some humorous one-liners. You never know what to expect with independent films. They are often hit or miss, mostly miss. But I had a really fun time watching the film. As I am writing this now, I am watching it a second time. "Clinger" has a great blend of horror and comedy. I believe fans of the genre will have a good time watching the film. There was a fair amount of blood and gore present, usually used in an over the top manner, which I think worked well. For me, the comedy worked great. They weren't too heavy handed with it and spread it out nicely throughout the entire film.
Horror fans may recognize Robert's mother, Eugenia, played by Lisa Wilcox (Alice in "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5"). She is only in the film briefly which is a shame as it would have been nice to see a little more of her. The acting in the film was good overall. I thought Jennifer Laporte and Vincent Martella did fine in their starring roles. There was really only one actor that stood out as far as poor acting goes, but he did not have a lot of screen time and he actually made me laugh with some of his lines, so it wasn't much of a bother. The writers Gabi Chennisi Duncombe, Bubba Fish (who also co-produced) and Michael Steves who did triple duty by directing and co-producing the film as well, created a good script chock-full of funny lines. The film featured some entertaining supporting characters such as Kelsey (Julia Aks) the sock puppet entrepreneur, Moe Watkins (Shonna Major) the innocent and spiritual best friend, Jenny Bernstein (Rebecca Gail) the self-proclaimed best friend and Coach Valeria (Alicia Money Caldwell), the former ghost hunter. Supporting characters can often be easily forgotten by the end of a film but in this case, both the actors and writers helped make them memorable and a joy to watch.
Running Time: 1:20:18
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Here is some more information on "Clinger" including release dates.
CLINGER
In select cinemas and On Demand October 23
Paragon Releasing will release CLINGER in cinemas and On Demand October 23.
Michael Steves directs the supernatural horror he co-penned with Gabi Chennisi Duncombe and Bubba Fish.
When her possessive high school boyfriend dies in a gruesome accident, Fern Petersen’s life is thrown into turmoil. Things go from bad to worse when he returns as a love-sick ghost to kill her so they can be together for eternity.
Vincent Martella, Jennifer Laporte, Julia Aks, Lisa Wilcox and Debbie Rochon star.
Official Website