Diane is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Michael Mongillo (Silent Hill: The Unauthorized Trailer; The Wind), based on a storyline by Matt Giannini. The Mean Time production stars Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers and Margaret Rose Champagne.
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 backyard. 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 scrutinised 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…
Diana has its world premiere in London at the Horror Channel FrightFest on 26 August 2017.
Commenting on the film, director Michael Mongillo told Fangoria‘s Michael Gingold:
” …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. 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.”
Main cast:
Jason Alan Smith (Don’t Sleep; Before I Wake; Big Bad Wolf), Carlee Avers (Jekyll; Are You Scared?), Margaret Rose Champagne (Troma’s Monster Kill; Bikini Bloodbath Shakespeare; Rudyard Kipling’s Mark of the Beast), Dick Boland (Bikini Bloodbath Christmas; Bikini Bloodbath Car Wash), Jim Thalman, Doug Tompos, Ryan Barry McCarthy, Davis Mikaels, Kathy Searle, Sewell Whitney, Kathrine Barnes, Bob Bannon, Daniel F. Patterson.
