Last year, I reviewed a film named “Berkshire County” which was later renamed “Tormented,” that takes place in a fictional town or county of the same name. The film, which is a 2014 home evasion film directed by Audrey Cummings, was shot outside Toronto and as such draws instant comparisons to my home county, Berkshire County, Mass., especially because of its Northeastern location and the fact that there is no other Berkshire County in North America (but there is one in England).
I contacted Cummings in an attempt to get confirmation on the film’s location, and earlier this year I got a response, which is as follows:
“This film is called Berkshire County because it’s a play on words for the ‘Berkshire’ pig,” Cummings said. “Someone also emailed me from the U.K. … apparently there’s a Berkshire County there, too!”
So there you have it. Berkshire County, Mass., was not a factor when she named her average home invasion film. She might not have even been aware that such a place even exists. It was a play on words, a nickname for her fictional location for the film, which is also described as a “historic market town” in the film, much in the same way New Jersey is called the Garden State or how New York is called the Empire State.
But that doesn’t mean that it is unintentionally set in my home region. But that’s a film theory for another time.
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