PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Andy Stapp’s Destination Marfa was a film I jumped into without knowing anything about it. I didn’t even watch the trailer. I wanted to go in blind and let it just unravel before me.
Synopsis:
While on a road trip from a long weekend at the Terlingua cookoff, four lifelong friends decide to veer off road and venture into a small West Texas town known as Marfa. What attracted them to do so? Could it be the strange unexplained ghost lights that Marfa is known for? When they enter Marfa, Texas, they realize almost immediately that something’s off. Why is this town so odd? Why are very peculiar things happening? Why are the townspeople so secretive? Will Matt, Erik, Allie, and Eden discover the truth behind the mystery of the Marfa lights?
Destination Marfa was both written and directed by Andy Stapp and stars Kyle Cotton, Tracy Perez, Marcus Jahn, Brittany Jo Alvarado, and Stelio Savante. Candyman’s Tony Todd speaks a few lines as the Mayor of Marfa while Martin Klebba of Pirates of the Caribbean franchise fame makes an appearance as Marfa security.
What Works
The mystery of the Marfa Lights (a real Texan phenomenon that remains unexplained to this day) is interesting to say the least. Out in the desert, lights appear, flitter across the sky, change colors and zip away, and no one has been able to figure out what causes them. Basing a movie around this supernatural event is a great idea. Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long for someone to take it on. Unfortunately, if you’ve heard any of the otherworldly explanations for these lights, then you’ve probably already figured out what’s going on here. Still, it’s a decently original idea. Plus, the addition of the Hotel Paisano, where James Dean stayed while filming Giant, is a nice touch.
I think it’s interesting how the filmmakers changed the colors up throughout the film. I especially like the bright yellows as it’s not a color you usually see highlighted. Depending on the scene, all colors but one would be subdued but not overly done. I thought this was quite striking. The sound in Destination Marfa is also nicely done. There was never a time when I felt like I had to play with the Volume button on the remote. I don’t want to forget to mention the film’s soundtrack, which is fantastic. Almost all of the songs played during Destination Marfa are fitting and even beautiful in their own way. I have to admit that I downloaded Lindsay Boreing’s “Bury My Bones” as soon as I heard it played during the Day of the Dead scene. What a great choice.
What Doesn’t Work
Maybe I’ve just seen too many sci-fi mysteries, but I figured out the twist in Destination Marfa almost immediately. In fact, the entire film seems so heavy handed to me that I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the obviousness of it. The dialogue is eye rollingly clunky and awkward, especially one conversation between a freshly showered Erik (Jahn) and the other three travelers. He had just felt someone grab him in the shower yet he’s calmly standing there and talking with them. It just didn’t seem natural to me.
I would also consider Destination Marfa to be a slow burn, one that drags out across the spiky desert in a tumbleweed of twitchy proportions. I think the final product could have been trimmed down to a 30 minute short and still told its interesting story without feeling so overly bogged down. And what a waste to have Tony Todd as a secondary—or even tertiary— character and not utilize him more. His calm intensity would have added more weight to an almost fantastical film.
Final Thoughts
There are some pretty cool ideas going on in Destination Marfa. I would love to see it all pared down into a nice, neat package rather than a sprawling feature length film. But that’s just me. Destination Marfa won Best Horror Feature at the Manhattan Film Festival and will be screening at the Montreal Independent Film Festival. If you’re interested in checking this one out, the film releases through SP Releasing on August 3, 2021.
