{"id":19053,"date":"2024-04-26T17:24:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattshorroraddiction.com\/?p=19053"},"modified":"2024-04-26T17:24:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:24:59","slug":"leaving-d-c-plus-an-interview-with-director-joshua-criss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/?p=19053","title":{"rendered":"Leaving D.C., Plus an Interview with Director Joshua Criss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" src=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Leaving-DC-2012-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19090\" style=\"width:238px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Leaving-DC-2012-3.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Leaving-DC-2012-3-300x167.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Leaving-DC-2012-3-768x427.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>LEAVING D.C. <\/em><\/strong><em>(2012)<\/em> Desperate to leave city life behind him, Mark Klein (writer\/director Josh Criss) takes the plunge and moves from hectic Washington D.C. to serene Anole, West Virginia. Isolated country life agrees with Mark as he shares a semi-daily video diary with his friends to show off his seventeen acres of woodland\u2014but his quiet homestead is interrupted when he finds a totem of animal bones in the nearby woods. This is followed by visitations of someone (or something) banging on trees and even playing a flute in the dead of night. Mark finds the strange incidents fascinating\u2014until the noises increase in proximity, seemingly getting closer to his bedroom window. Criss wisely avoids the jump-scare cliches that have come with many found footage films in the wake of <em>Paranormal Activity<\/em> (2009) and instead places a lot of focus on Mark as a trustworthy character\u2014a smart move considering Mark is only one of two people in the entire movie. Much like <em>The<\/em> <em>Blair Witch Project<\/em>, <em>Leaving D.C.<\/em> remains grounded in reality and uses backstory, mystery, and a reliance on the viewer&#8217;s imagination to create an atmosphere of isolation and dread. A smart and suspenseful slow burn. <strong>B<\/strong>+ <em>(Currently available to rent on Prime.) <\/em>         <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Below is a link to a Zoom interview I had with filmmaker\/writer Joshua Criss in early 2021. He discusses his inspiration for <em>Leaving D.C.<\/em> and his love for truly unsettling horror films. Criss&#8217;s novel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Moving-Soul-Joshua-Criss\/dp\/1517435196\"><em>The Moving Soul<\/em><\/a>, is currently available on Amazon. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"An Interview with Joshua Criss, Director of Leaving D.C.\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mfSSOHj6Oss?start=26&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LEAVING D.C. (2012) Desperate to leave city life behind him, Mark Klein (writer\/director Josh Criss) takes the plunge and moves from hectic Washington D.C. to serene Anole, West Virginia. Isolated country life agrees with Mark as he shares a semi-daily video diary with his friends to show off his seventeen acres of woodland\u2014but his quiet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capsule-reviews","category-found-footage","category-interview"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}