When four high-schoolers decided to take a trip to rural Vermont, it’s anyone’s guess what would happen next. But counter to what many imagine, these four teens took part in an experience that not only changed their lives but also thousands of others.

Have You Seen began principal photography on August 2004 in Richmond, Vermont, and Clarksville, New York.  The film involves four uniquely designed characters who navigate us through this dark horror story. Phil Berg (Josh DiMarco) is an intelligent and aggressive young man, Greg Diamond (Tavit Geudalekian) a shy loner; Chloe Ross (Dana Steinhoff) the mystical goth-girl, and Tessa Johnson (Alex Sevakian) her party-girl friend.

After deciding to take this getaway trip, these four characters discover a strange glowing object during one of their scouts. Not sure what it is, they decide to use it as a new business opportunity by making a website and a blog about “The Orb,” hoping to it will create a new and explosive cult following. Tons of money starts pouring in from all over the world to support the “camp site” near the Orb, and the teens feel like they’ve hit the jack pot.

However, there are always two sides to everything, and “The Orb” has a very dark one. Will the teens manage to escape it in time, or will they be faced with the inevitable consequences?

The making of this movie also has a unique story behind it. During one of the sequences inside the “Orb” cave, the cave suddenly started to shake and rattle. Not knowing what it was, the crew persistently continued filming to get their shot until they saw water quickly filling the cave from the bottom up. The cave had an unexpected flashflood, and the entire film crew was at high risk of being killed by the rapidly rising waters.

Luckily, everyone escaped unharmed.

This film was made on a shoe-string budget and shot on the DVX100, which back in 2004 was a revolutionary camera. Filmmaker Andrew Lyman-Clarke says that the “clincher to use the camera came when I was a Grip on a Vermont TV miniseries called Windy Acres, and they used the camera to shoot the show. I saw how they were using two cameras to shoot two different angles of a scene and thus saving a lot of time.  I took that approach and used it for Have You Seen.”

Although this movie took about six years to edit, the finished product is well worth the wait. Using natural light and practicals as its main light source and working with a cast of untrained actors, the film comes across as surprisingly entertaining.  

The screening of Have You Seen took place in the Magno Screening Rooms right in Times Square, and the event was well orchestrated and produced by Seth Panman and Jason Abrams, who work very closely with Lyman-Clarke and have a production company together called Witness Films.

With Have You Seen, Lyman-Clarke proves he has a clear vision for horror and thriller films. His filmmaking career should rapidly accelerate over the years.

(To learn more about the film and meet its filmmaker, please visit www.haveyouseenthemovie.com.)