One of the fun (if often unpleasant) aspects of plowing through independent DVD releases is never knowing quite what to expect.  When dealing with studio films, everything tends to be formulaic and tailored for the broadest possible appeal.  As one mainstream director has noted, however, independents have the advantage of aiming for maybe only a tenth of the mainstream audience—hence, they only need to spend one-tenth as much.  All too often, though, bargain-basement production values are all too obvious.

But I decided to gamble on Imprint in spite of its pedigree: a release from MTI Home Video, the outfit that has seen fit to also bring us the watered-down, R-rated porn-industry franchise Pirates.  But hey—guilt by association is a pretty poor way to review films, and MTI even offers a line of honest-to-gosh family films.

So I’m happy to report that I’m actually pretty glad I bit on the promotional blurb for this “supernatural thriller”:

Shayla Stonefeather, a Native American attorney prosecuting a Lakota teen in a controversial murder trial, returns to the reservation to say goodbye to her dying father. After the teen is killed, she hears ghostly voices and sees strange visions that cause her to re-examine beliefs she thought she left behind.

So here are some things I wasn’t expecting.

First, this isn’t the usual PG-13 horror flick.  Instead, it’s a far more sober-minded ghost story of the Sixth Sense variety.  Co-writer/director Michael Linn never opts for the lowest-common-genre-denominator, eschewing gratuitous gore, exploitive treatment of women, and hysterical mayhem.  The story—which involves murder, knife attacks, spectral intrusions, and familial tensions—certainly would allow for such indulgences.  But necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and Linn follows his low-budget plan down a nicely restrained story-telling road in a highly creative and refreshing fashion.

Second, this isn’t just one of those stories with a “Native American” setting, sensitively fronted by Anglos and, for all intents and purposes, nothing but a mainstream tale sensationally plopped into an Indian setting when any old locale would do (think, perhaps, of Thunderheart, or even Windtalkers).  No, Imprint is rooted in the American Indian experience and Indians are its stars.  While I’ve expected such casting from personal, cause-oriented films like Clearcut and Smoke Signals, I don’t at all expect it from a genre film like Imprint.  Whodathunk that Indians tell ghost stories, too?  Duh.

Third, Imprint tells a uniquely interesting tale of mystery and the macabre, one that reminds me a great deal of the collections of classic ghost stories I used to read as a kid: stuff from Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allen Poe, and Marion Crawford.  The emphasis is on creepiness, not gore. In this case, Shayla Stonefeather returns to her father’s bedside distraught over her brother’s disappearance years before, her complicity in sending a potentially innocent Indian youth to jail, and her father’s incapacitated faculties.  Upon taking up residence in a disused upstairs room, she also hears noises and sees shadows that no one else can.  What really happened up in her brother’s room?  What’s the significance of the block and tackle?  What’s that wolf doing following her around the res?

As a medicine man tells her, “There are messages all around us, but few are listening.  Few understand.”  And when Shayla finally decides she needs to start listening, we follow along as she tries to sort out the clues the spirits are sending her.  And unlike so many ghost stories, this one takes us in directions we can’t possibly guess… unless, perhaps, we’ve spent a little too much time dissecting the film’s trailer.  Don’t.  The ride is too fun to spoil.

Finally, I’m not used to being so pleasantly engaged by performance from relative unknowns.  Not since One False Move, perhaps, have I felt like I’ve spent quality time with so many actors of whom I hope to see much more in coming years.  Tonantzin Carmelo is particularly good as Shayla, and I’ve got to say that I’m monumentally grateful to Linn for letting her keep her clothes on.  He doesn’t even send her out in a rain storm.

About the only thing predictable about this film, given its setting, is that the scenery is beautiful.  Linn has captured South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in stunning detail, and he’s done a fine job of showing off the country in literally the best light possible.

The only reservations I have about Imprint are the lighting and sound quality for some of the interior scenes, and the musical score.  Most of the time, you couldn’t distinguish this film from its higher-budgeted counterparts; but Imprint is so captivating that I just wished that the cinematography, sound, and score were as consistently good as their finest moments.

Still, if you’re up for a very different ghost story experience—one that might let you shake off the grimy feeling with which Hollywood horror tales often leave you—take a chance on Imprint and cut it some low-budget slack.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

Imprint is rated PG-13 for “violence, some frightening images and drug references.”  Honestly, aside from the fact that this is a ghost story, there’s very little here that would be out of place in a PG film.  I wouldn’t hesitate at all to sit down and watch this film with my grade-school kids.  If I had any.

Courtesy of a national publicist, Greg screened a promotional copy of Imprint.