In 1840s Philadelphia, struggling writer Graham Corbett and his wife Lady Rowena find their marriage unraveling amidst a deadly epidemic. One night, after Graham receives a rejection letter for his latest novel, Lady Rowena drunkenly confronts him about her suspicions that he still pines for his deceased first wife Ligeia. As frustrations mount, a spur of ghastly horrors unfold that test both their wills—and their sanity—as Ligeia seemingly reappears to haunt their home. This film is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1838 short story “Ligeia” and utilizes much of its original prose.
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Director Biography – Kelly Murray
Kelly is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and visual artist based in West Chester, PA. She began her career in film as a Production Office PA on the film “Brotherly Love” directed by Jamal Hill and produced by Queen Latifah, and went on to gain set experience working on independent films and commercial productions in Philadelphia and New York before stepping behind the camera to tell her own stories.
In 2016, her directorial debut “The Astronomer” was awarded the Curatorial Choice Award (Best in Show) at The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, Delaware. She has since written, directed, and co-produced numerous several short films and documentaries (3:13, Your Wreckless Heart, A Renewed Spirit, Memories of the Great War) and worked on the production teams for independent films shot in the Philadelphia area (BLOCK, Americano).
Kelly is passionate about amplifying the voices of women writers and filmmakers and aspires to consistently offer original storytelling in her own directorial work. Many of her narrative projects focus on telling stories from the female perspective, and her work has been selected for multiple national and international film festivals.
Director Statement
When writer/actor John Reshetar approached me with the idea to adapt an Edgar Allan Poe story, I was excited at the chance to take on the work of a central figure of American literature. John had selected one of Poe’s more obscure works, an 1838 short story titled “Ligeia”, widely considered his first ghost story, about a man who is obsessed with his deceased first wife and starts to see her ghost after a drug-fueled evening.
John’s script pulled the main themes of the story—grief, lost love, and the supernatural—and framed them in a narrative that focuses on a struggling writer grappling with grief as he strives for career success. We set our ambitions high with this short, deciding to create a historical Gothic horror film set in 1840s Philadelphia—an homage to the short time Poe spent living in the city—and incorporating Poe’s original prose throughout much of the dialogue.
The talent of our cast served to strengthen the quality of this project. John Reshetar (Hulu’s Betrayal, ABC’s Philadelphia the Great Experiment) leads as the troubled writer Graham mourning the death of Lady Ligeia played by Emily Dale White (Mercy, Laced), and Barrymore Award-winning actress Amanda Schoonover (Netflix’s Candy Cane Lane, AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere) rounds out the main cast as the staunch and outspoken Lady Rowena, Graham’s second wife.
In collaborating with Director of Photography Hillary Hanak-Newman, we decided to shoot on a RED Komodo and utilize vintage Iron glass lenses and as much practical lighting as possible to give the look of a vintage horror film. From the cinematography, score, set design, and costumes, we really wanted to immerse our audiences into the Victorian world of Poe, with a few haunting twists along the way.
The Curse of Ligeia explores themes of obsession, madness, and the supernatural through a complicated love story set in Victorian Philadelphia. But beneath the horror, there is also the nuanced theme of female rage — exhibited in very different ways by both female leads. I hope that The Curse of Ligeia proves to be both entertaining and thought provoking, and a glimpse into the complicated nature of relationships that exist even after death.
Trailer
| Kelly Murray Director, Writer, Producer John Reshetar Writer, Producer Hillary Hanak-Newman Producer D.L. Cooney Producer John Reshetar Key Cast “Graham Corbett” Amanda Schoonover Key Cast “Lady Rowena” Emily Dale White Key Cast “Ligeia” Marci Ryan Key Cast “Servant” |
