‘Holes in the Sky: The Sean Miller Story’ Review
Starring: Sean Ed, Ash Hamilton, Chanell Hamilton, Douglas McDonald, Laura Richter | Written and Directed by Ash Hamilton
Holes in the Sky: The Sean Miller Story is a new independent film from the mind of Ash Hamilton and while it’s not available for a wide release yet, it is making waves on the American horror festival circuit. The film documents the story of Sean Miller (Sean Ed), an Illinois man that disappeared in 2013 without a trace and mysteriously reappeared four days later. Was it an alien abduction or something more sinister and why is it still happening?
Holes in the Sky may be classified as a “found footage” film but that is a disservice to what Ash Hamilton created as the film is shot as a documentary that becomes the subject of its own documentary film by a larger studio. Imagine if Netflix saw an unfinished documentary film about the disappearance of Sean Miller and decided to make their own documentary that not only shows Hamilton’s original film but also explores what happened behind the scenes of making of the film. Hamilton does a phenomenal job of pulling it off and the audience is left wondering if what they watched is a real encounter or just a twisted fantasy.
The film becomes a little “meta” as Ash Hamilton, the real-life director/writer of the film plays himself as a documentary filmmaker that becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Sean Miller and uncovering the mystery of the night he went missing. Ash’s documentary team is made up of his real-life wife, Channel, and friend/director of photography Brett Pearson, which adds to the realism of the film, so much in fact that it made me pause the film and look online to determine if what I was watching was real or not. Besides a few moments, usually when the Netflix-type host, Douglas McDonald, is interviewing Ash, the film looks and feels like a documentary film and not another cheap found-footage film.
As for the plot, Ash’s team, after weeks of negotiating with Sean Miller, sets off for Sean and his wife’s rural home to conduct a five-day investigation/filming in which Sean will explain what really happened for those four days he went missing. Ash realizes interviewing Sean is a tremendous opportunity as outside of a few news articles in 2013, Sean has not given any further interviews for fear of being branded “crazy” and having his life turned upside down. It doesn’t take long after their arrival for Ash’s crew to understand that they may be more to the story than what Sean originally told them.
I will not give spoilers as Holes in the Sky has several “surprises” for the audience but, weird things start to happen when Ash begins to film his documentary. During interviews with Sean, the lights turn off and on in the house, apparitions may or may not appear in the background, and even the documentary crew themselves start to feel and act weird. Adding to the issues is the rising tension between Sean and his wife as she wants Sean to tell the whole story of the abduction to Ash, but Sean is resistant, which only adds to the mystery of what is truly happening to this family.
The film does a tremendous job of taking parts of other found footage films and perfecting them to increase the creepiness and tension of the film. For example, the documentary crew is scheduled for five days of filming at the Miller’s house and just like the original Blair Witch Project, each day the tension mounts just a little more than the previous day, resulting in a truly intense and scary final fifth day. While most found footage films. and I still say it’s unfair to call this “just a found footage” film, use the tired cliché of a shaky camera to never show what the audience really wants, a monster/murderer, Holes in the Sky skirts this and reveals everything you could want.
While the independent film only had a budget of $4,000, per IMDb, it never feels like a budget-constrained film because Hamilton and his crew do a phenomenal job using everyday footage from doorbell cameras, cell phone footage and the documentary film itself to make the world and the scares look real. In fact, the small budget may have been a blessing because it creates a very organic and realistic world that allows the audience to get “sucked in” regarding the lives of the main five people in the film. With only having a few characters to focus on, the audience feels invested with each character as they each, through very natural conversations, slowly reveal very personal information about themselves. By the time the climax of Holes in the Sky arrives, the audience truly feels invested in the character’s safety and learning what truly is happening in a rural Illinois homestead.
This isn’t to say Holes in the Sky is perfect as there are a few issues but the good far outweighs the bad. The actor, Sean Ed, does a good job of playing the reserved Sean Miller but there are moments where his acting is just a little “over-the-top” and while it doesn’t take away from the realness of the film, there are a few moments it becomes distracting.
The other issue revolves around how another production company is attached to Hamilton’s documentary. It’s very relevant in today’s world to see a Netflix-like streaming service buy Hamilton’s unfinished documentary to create their own documentary about what happened but overall, the presentation is not quite perfected in Holes. These two minor issues are just that though…minor. Overall, it doesn’t take away from a very good film or the overall impact as the rest of the film is good enough to overcome any small shortcomings.
Final Grade: B+ (Very Good)
Holes in the Sky: The Sean Miller Story is truly a scary and intense film that blurs the line between reality and fiction, and it does it well. Outside of a few minor issues discussed above, there is a reason why the film is gaining attention on the festival circuit as it presents a unique take on not only pseudo-documentary films but also found footage films and alien abduction cases. Despite a small budget, the film uses creative ways to get around any issues the budget could have caused while still creating a realistic-looking documentary film that doesn’t hold back on any reveals. If you get a chance to see this film at any local film festival, do yourself a favour and see it as it’s an impressive independent horror film that will scare you and leave you with some truly haunting moments.
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