About the film

When John Klein, a respected Washington Post journalist, and his wife Mary find the dream house they have been hunting for, life could hardly get better. Then on their joyful ride home the dream is shattered when Mary crashes the car and is killed. While removing Mary’s possessions from the hospital, John discovers a sketchpad covered with odd drawings, variations of the same eerie apparition. John is haunted by the unsettling images.

One night, while driving from Washington, John loses his way and ends up on a deserted country highway in Point Pleasant, West Virginia — four hundred miles from where he thought he was. When John decides to stay in Point Pleasant to explore the reports of unexplained phenomena in the town, he soon realizes that they may all be related – not just to each other, but also to the strange sketches Mary had been obsessively drawing just hours before her death.

About the series

Following the success of the full capacity screening of our 50th anniversary of Appalshop’s STRANGER WITH A CAMERA screening in 2020, the Athena Cinema and partners present an exciting new film series on Appalachian culture and depictions in film.

The mission of the series is to connect Athens and the university community to the surrounding region by examining the different ways Appalachia has been represented through film. We seek to develop cultural competency and humility by showing viewers the way both the assets and challenges the region faces have been viewed by those who have the power to represent it on screen.

Short introduction/lectures will provide context for the film and introduce the underlying issues represented in film and other media. All events in the series are presented with free admission.

This series is sponsored by the 2023 Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Ohio Honors Program, Center for Campus and Community Engagement, Multicultural Center, Black Student Cultural Programming Board, Hocking Athens Perry Community Action Program, Athens County Public Libraries, University Libraries, Honors Tutorial College, Center for Advising, Career, and Experiential Learning, and OHIO Fellows.