Writer/director and videogame industry vet Levi Buchanan is taking his two loves and mashing them up in his new film, Sitra Achra (“Other Side”). Taking the trope of cursed media (such as the mysterious tapes in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome or the reels of Super 8 footage in Sinister) and applying it to video games is something you don’t see very often. Nor is it often that you create the video game found in your film that’s alleged to be cursed.
Buchanan has launched a Kickstarter for Sitra Achra, which stars Darius Pierce of PIG, Angela Chandra (My Ghoulfriend), Cecily Overman (Wonderland Murders), and Nathan Barnatt (also known as Keith Apicary). The story for the film concerns Andrew Goldstein, a retro game collector and podcaster, who comes across a mysterious Commodore 64 prototype, Sitra Achra, whose designer vanished not long after its creation. As Andrew’s friends and co-hosts, Natasha and Simone, investigate the occult origins of the game, Andrew becomes obsessed with beating Sitra Achra... which holds secrets that should’ve been left undiscovered.
As mentioned, Sitra Achra is an actual game being developed by Brandon Rodriguez of Salt & Pixel specifically for the film. The game captures the old-school aesthetic that you’ve probably more recently seen in Airdorf’s FAITH. In fact, Sitra Achra the film uses similar rotoscoping techniques to FAITH‘s cutscenes in certain parts.
You can actually get to play Sitra Achra by contributing to the campaign’s “Level Two” pledge of $13 USD. The game will be ready by December 2022, which is when the film is expected to be released. As it stands, the campaign has another 26 days to go, but has already amassed close to 50% of its $40,000 goal. There are multiple levels of contributions for the project, which will include physical versions of the film on Blu-Ray, its soundtrack by Moon Wiring Club on vinyl and more.
