Oklahoma’s ‘Soderbergh of the Sticks’ scares up ‘nunsploitation’ with new movie ‘Agnes’ – Oklahoman.com

As his budgets get bigger, his releases get wider and his profile gets higher, Oklahoma filmmaker Mickey Reece plans to keep getting bolder.

"What I've done in this entire trajectory is, 'more money, more risk … which is kind of the opposite of like, 'The more money you get, the safer yougottaplay it, so that they can get their return on investment.' I'm just like, 'More money means we can do wilder things,'" Reece said byphone from New York City.

"Wild" is certainly one way to describe the Mickey Reece cinematic experience: The self-taught Newcastle native's movies range from a black-and-white reimagining of the tumultuous early years of Elvis and Priscilla Presleys marriage ("Mickey Reece's Alien") to a surreal comedy about a slacker who inherits his estranged father's mansion only to find it's already home base for several troubled women ("Arrows of Outrageous Fortune").

For the second December in a row, the prolific Oklahoma City auteur is closing the year by opening one of his movies in theaters: Reece's homegrown "nunsploitation" horror movie "Agnes" debuts Dec. 10 on VOD and in limited U.S. theaters, including OKC's Rodeo Cinema.

"That's what you do it for: The whole point was to eventually get movies in theaters. In a way, it's happened very fast. But then in a way, it's also taken forever," Reece said.

For more than a decade, the prolific writer-director has cranked out no- to low-budget movies in his home state. "Agnes" is the 28th film he has made since 2008.

Sometimes called the "Soderbergh of the Sticks" or the "Flyover Fassbinder" references to iconic auteurs Steven Soderberghand Rainer WernerFassbinder the independent Okie said he is becoming a better filmmaker with each project.

"If I was getting worse, that would be terrible, wouldn't it?" quipped Reece, who made music as a one-man band called El Paso Hot Button before venturing into filmmaking.

"Having made so many movies by myself, I was able to gain confidence and kind of develop my own style. Then when I learned how to work with other people… the results were much better, obviously, because I learned to share. And I just got really lucky on finding the best team."

He is revisitingsome of his previous work on his first trip to New York City. Alamo Drafthouse NYC has been hosting a multi-day Reece retrospective leading up to the opening of "Agnes," with Reece participating in several question-and-answer sessions.

"There are some choices that are made in some of the old films that I'm like, 'Man, I would never do that today and the movie would not be better for it,Reece said.

"I look at those ... and I go, 'Oh, I should have done this. I could have done this.' But I didn't know what I was doing at the time. But that doesn't matter. I still appreciate them. I still love them.

His second project to tap the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program, "Agnes" sees Reece reuniting with several local actors who frequently appear in his movies Ben Hall, Mary Buss, Ginger Gilmartin and Jacob Ryan Snovel, who also produces as well as working with more Hollywood talent, including Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), Rachel True (The Craft) and Molly C. Quinn ("Doctor Sleep"), who executive produces under herQWGmireproduction shingle.

"Of course, Ben Hall hasgottabe in there. ... He's my secret weapon," Reece said. "We can have everybody in and still include new people."

Filmed in central Oklahoma in early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic "Agnes" is considered by Reece the spiritual sequel to his previous movies Strike, Dear Mistress, and Cure His Heart," about a famed pianist reuniting with her estranged newlywed daughter, and Climate of the Hunter," which centers on two rival sisters vying for the affections of a writer who may or may not be a vampire.

"They're these female-centric stories kind ofinspiredby Ingmar Bergman as far as the blocking goes and some of the themes," Reece said.

Penned by Reece and his frequent co-writer and fellow Oklahoman John Selvidge,Agnes" is set in a remote convent where a small enclave of nunslivesa quietly regimented life until a young sister named Agnes (Oklahoma native Hayley McFarland, "The Conjuring") abruptly bursts into a bizarre, blasphemous fit at supper.

This strange turn of eventsleadsto rumors of demonic possession that are especially disturbing to Agnes' friend, confidante and fellow novice, Mary (Quinn). To the displeasure of the rigid Mother Superior (Buss), the diocese sends Benjamin, a well-meaning priest-in-training (Jake Horowitz, Oklahoma filmmaker Andrew Patterson's "The Vast of Night"), and his disgraced and cynical mentor, Frank (Hall), to investigate.

Their attempts to engage with Agnes lead to shocking and frightening results, but instead of sticking to the familiar formula of other possession-themedhorror movies, "Agnes" veers in a much different direction. The film morphs into an intimate portrait of a woman struggling to deal with profound trauma, isolation and loss of faith.

"I don't know if I've ever seen a horror movie that explores what it's like after the big event," McFarland told The Oklahoman. "It's a great opportunity to grow. ... It's freeing, but it's also a little bit scary for me, at least, just because it's new. But it just felt like such a safe and fun creative environment that I was able to really let my freak flag fly."

After marking its online world premiere this year as part of New York's 20th anniversary Tribeca Film Festival, Reece's convent creep show made its international premiere at Canada's 25th Fantasia Fest and its Oklahoma debut at OKC'sdeadCenterFilm Festival. Critics consistently expressed surprise at the tonal and narrative turns "Agnes" takes.

"Agnesis an exercise in something that I have not really got to play with in the past. ... Some folks will call it a bait and switch, but to me, it's just kind of adding a whole new element to a horror movie," Reece said, likening the structural shift to 1990s movies "The Crying Game" and "Dead Presidents."

"As far as it just being a unique piece of work as far as the structure goes, I'm proud of that. ... think it's the best cinematography we've had. I'd say it's very different. I think it's the most interesting, disciplined movie I've ever done."

Since he continues to find what he needs to make movies in Oklahoma including a large OKC house that was formerly an actual convent and the bakery and deli Someplace Else, which added local flavor to a scene of sandwich philosophizing in "Agnes" Reece said he plans to carry oninhis home state.

The relentless auteur has already completed his next homegrown movie, a musical fantasy called "Country Gold" that is set in the 1990s and spins a wild tale in which a despondent George Jones (Hall) decides to be cryogenically frozen. The legendary singer invites an up-and-coming country star (who will be especially familiar to Oklahomans) to go out on the town with him before he is literally frozen in time.

Plus, Reece and his various co-writers have three other scripts finished, and he expects to start filming one of them next spring.

At this point, he may not know which movie he is going to make next, but Reece knows what he's not going to make.

"I don't really know how to make it by the book.Yeah, there's always something unexpected, but I don't really know any other way to make these. I wouldn't write something that I've seen before and be like, 'Oh, OK, this works,'" he said.

"Obviously, one day, I'mgonnarun out of ideas to do, and I'm going to make a really normal movie. And then that will be the unexpected turn, that you came to see one of my movies and you knew exactly what was going to happen and it did."

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Oklahoma's 'Soderbergh of the Sticks' scares up 'nunsploitation' with new movie 'Agnes' - Oklahoman.com

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero