BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

OGDENSBURG -- A locally made indie horror film shot in St. Lawrence County and the Adirondack Mountains is now available on several streaming websites.

Severance Mountain was directed and produced by Ogdensburg musician, tattoo artist and business owner Ethan Henry, the movie features local actors, music and production work.

Henry said work on the film has been underway for about two and half years and it officially went live, fittingly, on Friday the 13th. Some locals were also greeted with Severance Mountain “parking tickets” as part of a viral marketing campaign.

Henry said that while the film was made on a very lean budget, viewers can expect excellent camera work from John B. Sovie II of Sov's Media.

Henry said he sees the film as a way to highlight the North Country and the untapped talent that lies here. Although his interests tend to lie more in science fiction and drama genres, Henry said making an indie horror film allowed him to do more with less.

"We didn't have a big budget. So I thought let's do what we can and put everything we've got into this," he said. "We ended up with a really high quality indie horror film."

St. Lawrence County residents will likely recognize some of the cast members. Henry said drawing from local talent allowed him to write characters that leaned into the personalities of the actors.

Henry said having the local setting was important to him.

"First and foremost I wanted to do something here. I used as many local resources as possible. No one's really doing this stuff here and I thought it would be cool to do something made here, by people from here," he said.

Henry said his production company Ignorant Tourist Productions, LLC., was established with the hopes of creating a production company that can make movies here.

"It would be nice to say that movies on Amazon and Netflix were filmed here someday. I think that's kind of what we achieved here with this film. When you turn on the T.V. and you see people you know like Kim Snyder or Eddie Randle, it's really cool," he said.

The movie's namesake Severance Mountain is a real location in the Adirondacks in Essex County.

Henry said the name was too good not to use, but said a lot of the film was actually shot in the Adirondack foothills in St. Lawrence County.

Henry said Severance Mountain features some elements of classic horror and is paced to keep the tension high.

Henry said that nearly all of the movie is done with practical effects he fashioned by refurbishing and sculpting props he collected over the years.

He said only one scene is digitally altered and said that work was done by a friend in the Ukraine.

"It was actually pretty crazy," he said. "Oleksander was working on this for me when Russia invaded. And he would contact me on and off. He'd be in a bunker for days and then come back and work on this scene for me. It was pretty crazy that he was working on this while dealing with that," he said.

Henry said that so far he's hearing good things from those who watch the film. As an indie horror film, he acknowledged it certainly isn't for all audiences, but he thinks fans of the genre will enjoy it.

"People who watched it have said it doesn't let up," he said.

The film was the winner of the 2023 Hollywood Blood Horror Festival in Los Angeles and received an Honorable Mention at the L.A. Indie Horror Fest. It is also an official selection at The Strange Days Horror Fest.

The movie is streaming on Google Play, Amazon Prime and AppleTV.

Henry said he'd like to see the film screened locally on a big screen, but said that something's still being worked out.

Those interested in finding out more about the film should visit this website.

Trailers for the film can be found here.

About Severance Mountain

The film was written by Ethan D. Henry and Melissa Godin Hunt. Sound Recordist was Scott Clemesten. Director of photography was John Sovie II. Sound Design was by Ethan Henry and Shane Patterson.

The film stars Nichole Morgan, Jon Turner, Kim Scharff Snyder, Cade Guillory, Lydia Vaughan, John Mac Schnurr, Eddie Carl Randle, Kyle Rhodes, Ethan Henry, Josh Beaulie, Chris Beaulliu, Ethan D. Henry II, Melissa Hunt, Teka Jacobs, Aaron Armstrong and Dave House Jr.