Samuel Dunning as Elliot Campbell in ” “Dead. Whisper.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

“Dead Whisper,” the new horror/thriller film from New Hampshire-born director Conor Soucy, will have its Maine premiere on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at Portland’s own Nickelodeon Cinema. Starring Brunswick native Samuel Dunning as Elliot Campbell, a man coping with unthinkable grief who travels to an isolated New England island community overseen by the mysterious Historian (Rob Evan), the film is a powerfully spooky meditation on death, mourning and the lengths one will go to reclaim what was lost – no matter the price.

“Dead Whisper’s” New England horror cred is beyond reproach.

Soucy, making his feature directorial debut, hails from northern New Hampshire, and the unnervingly misty and remote island that forms the pivotal setting for “Dead Whisper” was filmed up and down the Massachusetts coast. Dunning (profiled in this column in 2022 for his stunningly ambitious turn as seven versions of the titular character in the sci-fi comedy “Tim Travers & the Time Traveler’s Paradox”) was born and raised in Brunswick and frequently returns home to see his mom – and to attend the occasional Maine film premiere. “I’m going to try to be at the screening,” said busy working actor Dunning (“Blue Bloods,” “Titans: The Rise of Hollywood,” “A Royal Christmas on Ice”) – “unless a job comes up.”

The inspiration for the story came from a dream.

Soucy says that the films story of loss, sorrow and stealthily mounting terror was inspired by a particularly unsettling dream, as some of the best horrors are. “It happened about two years ago,” said the director and screenwriter. “I found myself waking up on an empty ferry and brought to an island that was completely desolate. I came upon a group of people who were talking only in whispers. It really creeped me out, and when I told people about the dream, almost everyone said, ‘You should turn that into a film.’ The fact that a close relative passed around the same time made me see it as an interesting metaphor for grief, and the whole film sort of metaphorically centers on that.”

The film’s slow-burn horrors are a throwback to the 1970s.

In the film’s creepily effective trailer, Soucy ably walks the line between showing too much and conveying his movie’s thoughtful, patient approach to the scares within. “It’s a hard movie to tee up,” Soucy said of the film’s unhurried march toward its carefully laid scares. “It requires a patience from audiences they’re probably not accustomed to.”

Citing classic horrors and thrillers in a similar vein, like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Conversation,” “Don’t Look Now” and the films of Stanley Kubrick, Soucy admits that some screening audiences have had to adjust to the film’s pace. “A couple of audience members have checked out around the 30-minute mark, not knowing that that’s right when the giant twist comes in and the film becomes completely different,” he said, chuckling.

Dunning was Soucy’s first choice for the brooding, subtly expressive Elliot.

“I don’t mean it as an insult to say that Sam was a natural fit for Elliot,” laughed Soucy about star Dunning’s turn as the emotionally distant, inwardly tormented Elliot. “I’ve known Sam for about six years (the two worked together in the 2020 short drama, “A Parable of Winter”), and he has this obvious kind of real heart to him. As a protagonist, Sam had the tough job of not expressing much but making you feel for him at the same time. Still, there are moments when the real Sam’s personality pokes through – like when Elliot’s drinking – where you see someone more emotional and fun.”

Samuel Dunning as Elliot Campbell in ” “Dead. Whisper.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

The filmmakers have reasons for wanting to scare you on the big screen.

For Maine native Dunning, long-ago trips to the video store and the Nickelodeon inform his hopes for “Dead Whisper.” “It’s like being back in the VHS days,” explained Dunning. “When you’d walk to the video store and pay your few bucks – you’d commit to getting your money’s worth. There’s something about the tangible, about looking over the spine and the back of the box. You’re connected.”

While noting that the streaming service takeover has offered independent filmmakers more outlets to have their work seen, both Dunning and Soucy agree that that model trains viewers to be less ambitious, and patient, with movies that aren’t all about action and jump scares. “It’s important to see movies like this in the movie theater,” said Soucy. “If you’re on your phone, you might miss an extremely important detail. With this movie, if you pay attention to the first act, you’ll see a lot of things coming back in the end. Seeing it in the theater is really the proper way to see it.”

The Nick, in particular, holds special meaning for the star.

Noting how trips to his parents’ jewelry studio in the Old Port meant the young Sam caught innumerable bargain matinees at the Nick, the actor cites one of his own movies playing there as a genuine thrill.

“I blame video stores like Videoport and theaters like the Nick as the reasons I got into acting,” laughed Dunning, who now splits time between acting hubs New York and Los Angeles. “Sneaking into a $2 R-rated bargain showing made so many formative memories, and it’s a wild experience to have something I’m in playing there. Added Soucy, “I hope people in Portland come out and give Sam a good homecoming.”

You can find the film’s trailer at RottenTomatoesINDIE on YouTube. For tickets to the Portland screening, go to patriotcinemas.com.

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.