My latest short film went live on Youtube last week and it’s already getting some pretty crazy comments!
So let’s talk about it..
A documentary filmmaker follows the rendezvous of two separate individuals, both claiming to be serial killers, as they put their online friendship to the test and kill together for the first time. Written and Directed by Hypobifty and SPÖoÖoKY STEVE
What can I say about this film - without removing the elusive lore it holds or without making myself sound like even more of a creep than I come off as while in character. Well, I’ll say this - this is my clear and unabashed love of the horror genre on full display. I even went full found-footage and I wasn’t even a big fan of found-footage back then. You gotta remember, this is before my Hell House LLC years. I was just a kid out of college when I made this. I hadn’t even moved to NYC yet. Hence the cameo from Kmart (rest in peace).
What this film is, really, is an encapsulation of pure creative energy directly charged at one thing - filmmaking. They always say, don’t wait for the green light, just go out and make something. Well, we did, and it was weird as hell and sat on our hard drives for 15 years.
How it went down was this - I was bored, living at my mother’s house after college - in a desolate place we call Deltona, Florida - and I wanted to make something happen. It had been years since I made anything and I was tired of feeling dried up - especially at the ripe age of 24. So I called up my buddy Steven Duncan, or as we’re legally bound to call him SPÖoÖoKY Steve, and I said, “Do you have a camera?” And he says, “Yeah I got that flip cam I guess.” And I say, That’s good enough, we’re making a movie today. Two serial killers who met online are meeting in person for the first time. Don’t think too much about it. Just come up with your character, I’ll come up with mine. Let’s meet at my place around 1 and start shooting. We can improv the whole thing. Make it up as we go along.
And that is it kids! That’s literally all it takes. An idea and some initiative. You too can make your own found footage horror film! Because really, that’s what the genre is best for. There’s no setup, no planning, no preproduction needed. Of course, it’s a lot better if you have those elements, but like I said… not needed.
So what did we do? We met at 1pm and we just started rolling.
I said, You be camera when we’re interviewing me. I’ll be camera when we’re interviewing you, and then we’ll figure out who can be camera later when we’re both on screen.
Throw some blood on ourselves and let it rip. I went for a Jeffery Dahmer vibe - visually - and I brought a charming and shy personality to make for the comedic element.
But Steve… damn he really impressed me. He went for a Leatherface cross-dressing vibe visually and then he just brought the hammer down on that personality making his character such a stark contrast to mine - terrifyingly real. It worked perfectly.
Our first shots were in the bag, but we needed some help. So we called up Steve’s girlfriend at the time to see if she could film the rest for us and not only that, but she also plays my wife in the film.
And also my dog, Jake, he was in the film too. I miss that little guy.
When you ask a girlfriend to help you film your found footage slasher film, you really don’t think it will go well, but Ally was so excited and she had a blast, and I think you can see that come through on camera.
We took our shenanigans to Kmart and Target and eventually, as the sun was setting, we realized this film would need an ending.
So we called up some other friends to help us find a location for the finale and Steve and I thought long and hard about the end…
Our characters had to go through some kind of transformation - an essential element to any storytelling medium. There needs to be growth.
In our case it wasn’t so much growth, but a reveal.
Who is the real danger here?
So where do we go from here? What did we learn? What’s the point?!
The point is that anyone at any time can make a film. You just need to see it through. For me, it took almost 15 years to finish this one. And maybe that’s important too - letting ideas gestate and allowing your footage to age isn’t always a bad thing.
What has happened since I made this? I became a minor horror celebrity in the found footage world. Does that help me? I sure as hell fucking hope so. (Hell House LLC Plug) And I’m currently working to produce a feature length version of another short film I produced/directed/edited last year - LOCATIONS. It’s kind of on the opposite end of the genre spectrum, but it scratches every other itch that this one fails to scratch.
What are the three pillars of success? Timing, Luck, and.. hard work! That’s right. And yes, this was hard work - relatively. In-the-love-what-you-do-and-you’ll-never-work-a-day-in-your-life sense.
This right here ^ this comment… this is what we’re hoping for. We want this to be a feature length production.
We need the internet to rally around this film because we want nothing more than to get back to what we love and expand on these characters.
And let me tell you something… it would be amazing! We’ve cut our teeth on found footage, we’ve made movies with little to no budget, and we’ve shot on film, this is right in our wheelhouse and we can make these characters and this story shine.
So Shudder, if you’re listening… let’s get some backers here and let’s make this thing come true.
To be honest, I was a little scared to put this one out. It’s just so odd and we really do commit to the bit that I thought people would flip out a little after watching it. In fact, one of the comments on the YouTube video right now is about us being satan worshippers who eat babies, so I think we hit that threshold of exposure.
Last lesson: commit to the bit. Don’t hold back your art. Maybe choose your timing wisely, but overall don’t be afraid to put yourself out there there because there’s really only one way to know if something is good or not.
So, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the short film. Like and Subscribe. Give Steve and I a shout on Instagram or YouTube and keep up with us as we hope to turn this into a feature film one day!