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Northanger Abbey (2030 film)

Northanger Abbey is a 2030 found footage film directed by Kate Clark and based on Jane Austen's 1803 novel of the same name. The film depicts six college students who explore an old abandoned church turned hospital on a fictitious island off of Cape Cod. Helena Brigley stars in the lead role of Catherine Morland, while Meredith Smith plays her romantic interest, Eleanor Tilney. The film was released on 10 October 2030 in the United States.

Screenwriter and director Kate Clark deviated greatly from the source material, turning Austen's novel about the 19th century marriage market and the rise of popularity of Gothic novels into a supernatural horror film. Clark continued this deviation and set the film in present time Massachusetts rather than the United Kingdom in the Regency period and by changing the romance plot from between Catherine and Henry Tilney to Catherine and Eleanor. The film includes similar beats to the novel and the characters have similar characteristics, though updated for the 21st century. It was shot entirely on location in an undisclosed location on a 20-week schedule. The cast and crew have never spoken of the filming period, instead only saying, "It was a time."

The film also subverts known horror movie dynamics and conventions with the relationship dynamics between the six main characters. It was marketed to a younger, mainstream audience; with confusion coming from horror movie and Jane Austen fans alike. Despite the initial confusion, Northanger Abbey earned a worldwide gross of approximately $100 billion, which was considered a commercial success. Northanger Abbey earned a rating of 100% from Rotten Tomatoes, labeling it universally beloved. It earned twenty nominations and twenty one awards at the 101st Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Clark's work has led to a number of adaptations of older novels into new genres, including 2032's film Macbeth in which all the characters are mimes.

Plot
Catherine Morland is a twenty-two-year-old who just graduated from college. For the summer, she is invited by family friends (who are never seen on screen) to Cape Cod. As this is her first time outside of her small New Jersey town, where she attended the local community college, Catherine decides to start a video documentary and hopes to create a film at the end of the summer. Catherine is a big movie fan, having started with documentaries until finally finding her passion in horror movies. It is decided that her brother, twenty-five-year-old James, will go to Cape Cod with her.

In Cape Cod, the Morland siblings know no one and their family friends don’t help to introduce them to anyone. Catherine keeps seeing a girl and boy with dark hair around the town and while she is very intrigued by the pair, she cannot seem to get any more information about them. However, one day at a local juice bar, Catherine and James meet John and Isabella Tilney. We find out that John considers himself a film buff, citing Quentin Tarantino “the only director worth knowing the name of.” Isabella invites Catherine to a horror movie marathon that night.

Some time passes. Catherine's horror movie appreciation turns to obsession, thanks in part to Isabella’s influence. Meanwhile, it becomes apparent that Isabella and James have started dating and that John has asked Catherine out multiple times, with her only giving vague responses.

Catherine then meets the dark haired pair she had noticed several times before, finding out they are fraternal twins, Henry and Eleanor Tilney. The Tilneys and Catherine share many interests, including horror movies such as Jennifer’s Body and Teeth, both of which John had previously disparaged as “women trying to be scary and just being grotesque.”

The Tilneys grow closer to Catherine, who in turn distances herself from the Thorpes. Finally, the Tilneys invite Catherine to explore an abandoned church turned hospital off-shore called Northanger Abbey with them. They plan to stay overnight, trying to find evidence of paranormal activity. James hears of this plan and insists on accompanying Catherine, which leads to Isabella and John coming along as well.

Once in the Abbey, the group is initially disappointed. The building isn’t a ruin, nor is it very ancient. However, they decide to explore and stay the night anyway. The group splits up to cover the entire island and the Thorpes and James insist that Catherine go with them when it had previously been decided that Catherine would join the Tilneys. Catherine finds a locked chest that when opened has only receipts. The group starts to fight due to the lack of evidence. Catherine accuses Isabella of flirting with another boy back on the mainland, insinuating that she is only interested in money. James blames the other man as much as Isabella. John demands that Catherine date him and Henry defends her only to then assume she would date him. As the fight reaches a crescendo, Catherine notices that Eleanor is missing.

The group splits up to look for Eleanor, with them instead finding only shadows and figures and hearing more and more distressing noises. The group dissolves and each person is left on their own. The film starts to cut more rapidly between the characters. We see John sobbing, being cornered by a female figure while Isabella is stalked by a male figure. James is stuck at a crossroads of hallways, indecisive about which way he should go. Meanwhile, Henry is yelling, calling out for someone to stop “doing this” and to “reveal themselves,” with only laughter responding. Catherine finds Eleanor who holds a duffel bag and the keys to the boat. The two share a kiss and leave the island, leaving the rest of the group alone without a boat.

The final minutes of the film show earlier scenes, including James screaming and hitting Catherine before they leave for Cape Cod for speaking, Henry finding Eleanor with a Playboy magazine and berating her, and John and Isabella stealing valuables from the Morlands and Tilneys. More and more of these scenes flash and it also shows secret phone calls and messages, indicating that Catherine and Eleanor has been in touch for much longer than first shown. Finally, the camera cuts back to the Abbey, using security cameras to show several bodies. That image fades to black and we hear laughter. Another image arises and we see the last image of the film -- Eleanor and Catherine laughing on a beach, covered in sun.

Cast

 * Helena Brigley as Catherine Morland
 * Meredith Smith as Eleanor Tilney
 * Sarah Newport as Isabella Thorpe
 * Alexander Sands as Henry Tilney
 * Thomas Bennet as John Thorpe
 * Jeremy Caldwin as James Morland
 * Luke Wincher as Frederick Tilney

Production
None of the cast and crew have commented on the production beyond cryptic sentences and enigmatic references. Wild rumors have surfaced but none have been verified or refuted.

Major themes and analysis
Only Kate Clark has spoken publicly about the movie. Here is her statement:

"Austen’s Northanger Abbey looks to explore friendships and romantic relationships and it tackles pop culture and the marriage market and so so much. And though I do not follow Austen’s conventions, I believe this film follows her spirit. That is, that though this is a new century, we still have girls disparaged for their interests. We still have fake friends who use you. We still have men who assume every woman is interested in them or that want to “save” you by molding you into what they want you to be. And while Austen’s versions of these were different, I tried my hardest to get to the core of each character and bring that to the 21st century. Part of jumping into the 21st century was changing the characters love of books to a love of movies. This wasn’t because movies are outshining books, books are obviously still important, but rather because movies have replaced books are a more pop culture signifier. While novels in the late 1700s were looked down on and criticized, many movies are disparaged for no reason than that they’re popular! Especially movies women -and especially teen girls- like! There’s become a divide on Film and Movies which is really just ways to say By Men or By Women.

As for translating words into images, that was a bit of a challenge, but I really let my intuition guide me. Austen delves in and out of Catherine’s mind, using Free Indirect Discourse. Meaning that sometimes the novel, while staying in third character, will slip in and out of a character’s own mind. So, we get their perspective but still from a third person point of view. This is why I leaned towards the found-footage genre because while we see the world from the point of view of the person holding the camera, we see and learn so much about that person and about the outside world, including things they may be missing. We also don’t see everything and many characters are keeping from us, from the camera. The camera is the third person. It’s almost its own character!

This film is a testament to women finding themselves and each other. It also shows what happens when you push women too hard. We will snap and boy, oh boy, when women snap it is bad. I’m not uplifting violence at all, nor am I condemning Catherine and Eleanor from doing what they had to to survive and, dare I say it, thrive. I also intentionally left the end a bit vague. Was the Abbey actually haunted? Was it all special effects orchestrated by Catherine and Eleanor? What actually happened that night in Northanger Abbey? I don’t know. I know what I think happened. What do you think?"

Reception
The marketing for this film was sparse, with most promotional images simply bearing a black square with black lettering, reading, "the abbey the abbey the abbey." There were several versions of the trailer that spread in rather unconventional ways. No copy of the posters nor trailers still exist. This film won just about every award possible and been inducted into several Halls of Fame. Clark, already an established actor and director, catapulted into the realm of icons with this film, achieving a near-Beyonce status. The actors, unknowns when the film first premiered, have gone onto high levels of success, and several production members have won different lotteries in the years following. This wild ride of success for the entire team has since been coined "The Abbey Effect." When asked to comment on said name, Clark only smiled. Some scholars have debated if a deal with the Devil or some other demon occurred for these fortunes, but there have been no recorded weird deaths or dismemberments. Buzzfeed Unsolved recently did an episode concerning the making of this film, with the hosts calling it "The most haunted episode yet." It was set to premiere in October 2031, but never did. Neither host has commented on this.