“One wants to forget. The other wants revenge,” reads the promotional material for Doug Greenall’s first feature, Sister Blue. It’s a reader’s digest summary of the essential conflict in this psychological thriller about the deranged Blue and her sister’s trip back to their childhood hell. The film takes us on a journey that is both physically and mentally intense with an ensemble cast that finds the story’s subtle and underlying tension.

     Blue’s sister, Lanalee (Clare Lapinskie), has a pleasant existence running a greenhouse in Vancouver. A picture of sweetness, Lanalee has been stressed due to a shadowy and elusive stalker, and her good-looking, ever charming fiancé, Buddy (Matthew Harrison), has been fighting his first case in court at the new law firm. An upcoming vacation is going to be the perfect getaway for the couple. But there’s just enough of a delay in their departure to bring her sister, Blue (Stacy Fair), and her boyfriend/former psychiatrist, Kurt (Bruce Dawson), into the picture with the intention to settle an old score. So begins the disturbing and twisted family saga that Greenall skillfully tells by shedding layers of detail in sufficient measure to keep the level of intrigue at a bubbling simmer. The guys in this story go along for a ride they will never forget.

     Ultimately, the film is disturbing, well acted, well scored, and well directed. Stacy Fair as Blue bites into her role in a way that makes it difficult to imagine anyone else playing it. Lanalee is played with a quiet depth by Clare Lapinskie, and Bruce Dawson and Matthew Harrison complete the lead cast with rich performances. Composer Daniel Ross creates just the right moods with haunting themes to underline the evolving evil and danger.

     Sister Blue also has its humor—just enough of it—as well as the rich look of a budgeted picture. That fact alone is a major miracle, as principal photography on Sister Blue was completed for less than one hundred thousand US dollars.

     But the making of the movie was far from easy. With an initial budget of less than the eventual cost of principal photography, Greenall says he and executive producer Peter Hill remember thinking that although they knew it wasn’t enough money to get the picture done, “We’ll jump of the cliff and somehow survive.” And survive they did.

     Why a story about warring females? Doug Greenall, who is based in Vancouver, says he was inspired by an old noir movie. “In the ‘20’s and ‘30’s, many of the great actors of cinema were women. In the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, the movies have leaned toward big action pictures, and movie stars became disproportionately male. It’s great to make a film that has that magical quality of women in the big roles, the meaty roles.” Sister Blue is also a story that could be told dynamically without a Hollywood budget—an ideal first film.

     A fan of dark dramas, Greenall says he hopes the movie-goer enjoys the intensity of the story.