Niagara Falls man thought he was done with the paranormal
But ghost Hunt music video drawing film festival attention for Peter Sacco
Peter Sacco was done with the paranormal — or so he thought.
The Niagara Falls man was the driving force behind “Niagara’s Most Haunted” and the “Paranormal Profilers” TV and YouTube series that detailed ghostly tales and hauntings around the region.
That’s when old friend Gord Deppe came calling.
Deppe — the frontman for Burlington New Wave veterans the Spoons — had hoped Sacco could help him out by helping the band create a video for the song “The First and Last Time,” a single from the band’s latest EP, “New Day New World,” released earlier this year.
“Gord got a hold of me a couple of years ago,” Sacco said. “He was interested in what I did with the TV show ‘Paranormal Profilers.’”
But Sacco had moved on to other projects, namely “Historical Niagara,” which examined the earthlier history of the region.
“Full disclosure, I was not going to do it but Gord talked me into it.”
Turns out it was a good decision. The video has been selected as an entry at this year’s Toronto Independent Film Festival and will be shown on Sept. 14 — the final day of the festival that gets underway Sept. 11 — at the Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton St. Seating is at 6 p.m.
“I had thrown it into some festivals for fun,” Sacco said, adding that he had also entered a pair of micro films (15-second shorts) in answer to a festival challenge.
The video casts Deppe as a paranormal investigator exploring a home and bassist Sandy Horne as a spirit. The video, Sacco said, is the first of a threepart series.
In addition to the Toronto festival, the video has been selected for the Virgin Spring Film Festival and the Jaipur International Film Festival in India, the Miami Independent Film Festival and the Cannes Short Film Festival in France among others.
Sacco, a musician himself, plucks out some atmospheric sounds on his guitar at the start of the video, using such tricks as playing beyond the bridge and nut for effect and tossing in a few pick slides for good measure.
“I kept playing around with effects,” Sacco said. “I mixed it up a bit.”
Sacco said he’s glad Deppe convinced him to work on the project.
“I actually enjoyed doing the video.”