Sisters Angela (Jena Malone) and Emma (Chloë Sevigny) are at a low ebb: Mom has just died and now they have to deal with all the practical and emotional fallout that comes with the loss. But while they’re waiting with the body in their home in an upper-crust Oregon community, Emma receives a cryptic phone call from a psychic who insists that her deceased parent will come back to life. Emma becomes fiercely protective of the corpse, Angela thinks her sister has gone off the deep end, and several others, from a hunky neighbor (Luke Grimes) to the sisters’ rebellious younger brother (Devon Gearhart), seem weirdly affected by these events. And, sorry, did we mention there’s a rampaging forest fire in the distance? (Flaming metaphors!)
Where does one begin with this pompous doodle, the second feature from music-video and commercial director M. Blash? Probably best to dissuade the so-bad-it’s-good crowd: There’s nothing here to laugh at with the communal glee of a Rocky Horror or The Room; only a spectacularly bad composite shot of a fire-fighting plane induces any real giggles. Instead, we’re stuck watching two normally interesting performers moodily flail about, trying to lend weight to an enterprise that revels in tedious art-house opacity.
Follow Keith Uhlich on Twitter: @keithuhlich