“frightening on a number of levels...bolstered by the great performances by its two young leads.” 3.5 Stars - Mark Bell, Film Threat PUBLICITY AND SALES CONTACT Erica Harrell, Producer (p) (323) 863-6577 (e) [email protected] www.theatticdoormovie.com 1 ABOUT THE FILM Genre: Drama / Thriller Tagline: We are all alone... Logline: Two abandoned pioneer siblings must confront their greatest fear in a haunting and romantic story about growing up. Plot Summary: A young brother and sister are abandoned in the vast and lonely landscape of the 19th century American West. Each day, they struggle to keep up the family farm, anxiously waiting for their parents to return. With nowhere to escape, the two siblings are about to discover that they are not entirely alone. As much as they try to deny the truth, something behind the attic door has awakened and they must now face their greatest fear. THE ATTIC DOOR is the story of love, loss, loneliness, and the truth behind childhood fears. www.theatticdoormovie.com 2 CRITICAL RESPONSE Review By Mark Bell Alone in the frontier desolation surrounding their family farm, siblings Caroline (Madison Davenport) and Darrell (Jake Johnson) wait for the return of their Mother and Father, who took off in a covered wagon. As the two go about their days, maintaining their home as best as two children can do, they find that they may not be alone after all; there are strange sounds coming from behind the boarded-up attic door. To make matters worse, Caroline continues to cough up blood. The Attic Door is a spooky mystery on a number of different levels. As the children are increasingly terrorized by the sounds from behind the door, and their imagination of what is making those sounds, so too does their isolation and abandonment issues take hold. The true horror may not be coming from what may be hiding in their house, but instead the reality of their situation. And unfortunately, the reality is that two children have to take on the roles of their parents, from milking the cow to killing the chickens; nothing new by farming standards, but still somewhat unique to the two youngsters. All the while without any news on when, or if, their parents will be returning. To extend these fictional responsibilities into the realm of the film’s production, just as the two children do the heavy-lifting on the farm, so too are the young actors required to carry practically the entire film. By no means is it a simple task for two children to be the main cinematic focus, without anyone else to play off of, and succeed. Massive respect and kudos to Madison Davenport and Jake Johnson for doing something that not even adult actors can necessarily pull off consistently. In the end, The Attic Door is frightening on a number of levels beyond its supernatural hints, and wonderfully affected beyond the explanations and turns in its final minutes. It achieves its storytelling strength through a simple tale of frontier hardship, bolstered by the great performances by its two young leads. Read original review: http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/65851/ www.theatticdoormovie.com 3 CRITICAL RESPONSE A Beautiful, Low Key Thriller THE ATTIC DOOR is a Must See Marina Antunes, Quiet Earth - Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Opening scenes are a little like first impressions: the good and bad stand out while the mediocre blend together into the background. It's been some time since a film's opening stood out. So long in fact that I can't recall a particularly memorable one in the last few years and then I sit down with a small independent film titled The Attic Door and I see an opening which, in its opening 5 minutes, mesmerized. The combination of framing, music and the confusion of the scene, seen out of context from the rest of the film, are so outstanding that it will be a long while before it dislodges itself from my mind. The same is true for the film. Danny Daneau's film, which he co-wrote with Eric Ernst, is set on a small farm in the American West in what appears to be the 19th century. Caroline and her younger brother Darrell are on their own, following the instructions left by their parents who they expect will arrive any day now. We see the children, I'd guess not over the age of 12, taking care of themselves and being self sufficient. We see them play, collect water and survive in the overpowering heat of the desert. When night comes, so does the terror. The attic door is boarded up, suggesting a monster on the other side, but we never see it. As quickly as it's introduced it retreats to the background but never quite disappears; night always comes and the horror behind the door only grows. But The Attic Door isn't a monster story or more accurately, it's not just a story about scary things in the attic. Daneau and Ernst's tale is a multi-layered one of childhood optimism, playfulness, self sufficiency, survival and the deep rooted bond of family. The potential for things going wrong when working with kids is great, particularly in a movie like The Attic Door which relies solely on the performance of the two children. There are no distractions here: no additional characters to deflect bad performances, little music or action to hide what doesn't work and they're unnecessary because both Madison Davenport and Jake Johnson do what many actors can't: they fill the empty, quiet moments of the story with emotion and depth. Their performances are wonderful and both give off an air of being wise beyond their years. I loved everything about The Attic Door, the low key score from Kristin Øhrn Dyrud, Scott Uhlfelder's gorgeous cinematography which captures the desert in both its beauty and menace, the performances and the delicacy of the story which reveals itself in small measured steps, building anticipation and dread with each passing scene. Danny Daneau's debut feature is the work of an assured filmmaker with vision and control. A story with this many layers could easily be derailed by one of the secondary story lines but Daneau delivers a film with purpose, one which stays firmly committed to the story. Read original review at this web address: http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2011/08/11/A-beautiful-low-key- thriller-THE-ATTIC-DOOR-is-a-must-see www.theatticdoormovie.com 4 PRESS COVERAGE AND AWARDS Awards • Best Feature - Danny Daneau and Erica Harrell for THE ATTIC DOOR. (Bend Film Festival 2009.) • Best Cinematography - Scott Uhlfelder for THE ATTIC DOOR. (Bend Film Festival 2009.) • Best Musical Score - Kristin Øhrn Dyrud for THE ATTIC DOOR. (Bend Film Festival 2009.) Press Coverage • Please visit www.theatticdoormovie.com/blog/press for a complete up to date account of coverage from production to distribution. www.theatticdoormovie.com 5 CAST BIOS Madison Davenport - Caroline At the young age of sixteen, Madison Davenport is already an industry veteran, having acted professionally since the age of seven. Madison is currently in production on NBC’s comedy “Save Me” in which she plays Anne Heche’s daughter. The show centers around a woman who thinks she is channeling God following a near death accident. “Save Me” premieres in early 2013 Madison just wrapped production on the Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic “Noah,” where she will share the screen with Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins playing the wife of Logan Lerman. Paramount will release the movie in 2014. She was most recently seen starring opposite Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgewick in Lionsgate’s supernatural horror flick “The Possession” which had a successful run achieving number 1 at the box office two weekends in a row. On the small screen she had most recently been seen on the hit Showtime series “Shameless” in which she delivered a memorable performance as an abused child- bride, the fan favorite character of ‘Ethel.’ At the age of five, Madison was inspired to pursue her love of acting and singing after being involved with her local community theater in Texas. Since then she has guest starred on “Numb3rs,” “Bones,” “ER,” “CSI,” “House,” the pilot “Close to Home,” and the TV movie “Amish Grace.” Her breakout performance as ‘Ruthie’ in the HBO films release “Kit Kittridge,” the first feature film in the “American Girl” franchise, garnered her the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in 2009. Immediately following “Kit Kittridge” Madison began working on a string of independent films kicking off with a lead role in the suspenseful “Attic Door” Born in Texas, Madison currently resides in LA with her family. www.theatticdoormovie.com 6 Cast Bios (Continued) Jake Johnson - Darrell Jake Johnson began his acting career at the age of 7. His mother saw that he had a natural ability for acting and took him to a manager, who thought he had an incredible gift. His new manager took him to an agent, who was thrilled to jump on board and complete his team. Johnson soon began to land jobs. His television credits include “I Carly,” “Little Monk,” “ER,” “Cold Case,” “Bones,” “Saving Grace,” “Without a Trace,” “Funny or Die,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, The Tonight Show” and “Gary Unmarried.” Film credits include “Holiday Heist,” “The Attic Door,” “Ball Don’t Lie,” “Let’s Play” and “Goal,” as well as Disney’s “Spooky Buddies” Last year Jake landed a lead role in ABC’s “Man Up!” Playing Nathan Keen.