Paul Schattel

Paul Schattel is an American film director and screenwriter based in North Carolina. Known for his two feature films, Sinkhole (2005) and Alison (2010), Schattel is currently in development with a horror film, The Mourning Portrait.

Sinkhole, a rural noir about an ex-high school teacher who becomes embroiled in a small town methamphetamine ring, won 'Best Narrative Feature' at the 2004 Indie Memphis Film Festival.

Overview

Critical reception to Sinkhole was mostly positive. Film Threat Magazine said that it was "... a welcome addition to that most agreeable and fascinating of genres: The paranoid thriller … Sinkhole gets under the skin in a big way."

The LA Times called Sinkhole '... a highlight,' while Philip Martin of The Arkansas Democrat Gazette said “Sinkhole is a minor miracle of a film.”

Perhaps due to problems in Arkansas with methamphetamine use, the film seemed to play there particularly well. The Arkansas Arts Council said “... Winner of Best Narrative Feature at the 2004 Indie Memphis Film Festival, Sinkhole is the first film to grapple with the personal devastation wrought by the methamphetamine trade. Filmmaker Paul Schattel presents the rural South as it is, not as Hollywood imagines it.”