Once again proving that being original isn’t necessarily synonymous with being good, Cassadaga flirts with conventions of both paranormal horror films and more traditional serial killer thrillers. The independent production, which debuted at Screamfest over two years ago, aims to be a more character-rooted chiller, but it mainly ends up being a boring slog that unconvincingly tracks into slasher territory in its final act.

Ostensibly named for a small, real-life Florida community of mediums and spiritualists, Cassadaga centers around Lily Morel (Kelen Coleman), a post-lingually deaf artist and teacher who, following the untimely death of her beloved younger sister, is trying to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. When she meets Mike (Kevin Alejandro), the handsome father of one of her students, Haley (Rachel DuRose), things seem to be looking up. After Lily participates in a séance and ends up making contact with the vengeful ghost of a woman murdered long ago, however, things take a turn for the worse, leading to a killer who likes to turn his victims into human marionette dolls. And is that killer named Geppetto, you ask? Yes, yes he is.

Writer-producers Bruce Wood and Scott Poiley succeed in keeping some of the more tawdry, base-level instincts of genre filmmaking at bay, and for a while that makes Cassadaga seem classy and interesting. But despite the humid and potentially intriguing backdrop it affords, their script also seems desultory, marked by listless characters and indistinct dialogue. From the moment welcoming landlady Claire (Louise Fletcher) says to Lily, “That’s my grandson Thomas — he keeps to himself on the first floor…”, Cassadaga springs a slow leak. The rest of the movie is one big, long deflation, marked by a few moments of menacing violence.

With his mannered, non-exploitative take on the material, director Anthony DiBlasi succeeds in large measure in delivering a film that stands in distinct opposition to the clamorous, boo-scares editing of a lot of horror product. It’s shot fairly flatly, though, by cinematographer Jose Zambrano Cassella. And despite its thin sheen of refinement, Cassadaga still somehow manages to build to a scene of Lily running through the woods in a negligee, plus… sigh… a car chase, as if viewers somehow require an action sequence to pay off the narrative. Coleman is an attractive and sympathetic enough presence, but can’t hold viewers’ attention through long fallow patches. There’s simply not enough meat on this film’s bones, narratively speaking, to merit broader, general audience interest.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case in turn stored in a complementary cardboard slipcover, Cassadaga comes to DVD with rather drab and unimaginative cover art that doesn’t expend much effort trying to make a case for the things that set the movie apart. Presented in a 16×9 widescreen transfer, the movie is anchored by a 5.1 surround sound mix and optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles. Unfortunately, apart from the standard chapter stops, there aren’t any supplemental materials herein. To purchase the DVD via Half, click here; to purchase via Amazon, click here. Or if brick-and-mortar establishments are still your thing, by all means, feel free to have a go at that option as well. C- (Movie) D+ (Disc)