If, like many of us, you missed out on a holiday in the sun last year and are suffering from extreme sunshine and beach withdrawals, we highly recommend that you seek out The Resort. Written and directed by Taylor Chien, The Resort is a horror film that places a group of friends in the desolate, but beautiful, surroundings of an abandoned Hawaiian resort. Lex (Bianca Haase) is about to begin work on her next book on the paranormal. The subject of her latest work is the eerily named ‘Half-Faced Girl’, a paranormal entity rumoured to have haunted a popular holiday resort on the island of Kilahuna. The building now stands empty with all visitation forbidden. Sensing her frustration about having to write about a place that she hasn’t experienced, Lex’s friends, Chris (Brock O’Hurn), Bree (Michelle Randolph), and Sam (Michael Vlamis), arrange a surprise tour of the area. It soon becomes clear however, that the warnings to steer clear are in place for very sensible reasons and the quartet find themselves face-to-half-face with the resort’s malevolent entity.
The film came into being after writer and director Taylor Chien stumbled across the deserted resort and realised that it was the perfect setting for a scary movie. He had to work quickly though, as the building was set to be demolished within three months. Typically, films can take at least double that time just to write the script, let alone generate financing and find cast. With such a tight turnaround to write and shoot, Chien has managed the impossible to realise his vision to fruition. We caught up with him to find out more about making a film in paradise against a forever ticking time bomb.
The Resort will be released on digital and on demand from 30th April 2021. It will be available on Sky Store, Virgin, iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft Store, Google Play, and Chili.
