Maria's Tale, The Demise of a Web Show

A funny thing happened on the way to the insane asylum... Actually, funny isn't the word...ironic...no, horrific! Yep, the insaniacs are no longer locked up in these draconian institutions. The more crazy among us dwell among us...or if you watch slasher films, in the woods and the cabins in those woods. Hence 2018's "Maria's Tale." Again, not the feel good film of the 21st Century, and an early twist will seal a most terrifying fate for three members of a popular paranormal-web show.

Recent high-school grad Maria (Saorise Stuhr) has a web TV show called "Old New Expeditions." Her and two buddies, Mario (Zachary Chase) who is also her lover, and Jake (Joel Hair) find abandoned places to explore and document paranormal activity. Our hostess is well liked and we are told she is genuine, kind, and sincere. The web show enjoys heavy viewership. Uh oh, as the story begins we are told we are watching the last broadcast and the tone is of a eulogy. Yep...on the way to an abandoned insane asylum our trio meets up with the ultimate irony. Perhaps a maven on paranormal entities and haunted locations, Maria's judgment of the living proves to be unfortunate.

Enter George (Michael Ciesla)...who will eventually be Georgina...you'll see. He's weird, anxious, and overly friendly and domineering. George is interviewed by the trio about his knowledge of the asylum. His motives are obviously (at least to us) twisted when he invites the trio to spend the night. They accept...fools! What follows is a twisted (there's that word again) slasher film in which our trio is beset by an evil that probably would blow anything that ever happened at the asylum away. Ironically, the found footage film we believed we were watching changes in tone when it becomes...oops...no spoilers here...you'll see.

What does the twisted and anxious George have in store for the nubile beauty and her two mates? Other than George, do any other surprises and humiliation await Maria, Mario, and Jake? Is the abandoned and haunted asylum a mere metaphor for the world we live in and work in? This may look like an amateurish horror film, but remember, the web TV show it presents is done by amateurs, too. Enjoy a dark and ominous found-footage film, "Maria's Tale," directed by Robert A. Trezza and Zachary Chase.