Exclusives
Demonic “The Maiden” Short Film Will Whisk You Away! [Watch]
You can move in, but you won’t move out…
Bloody Disgusting is excited to premiere Michael Chaves‘ short film, “The Maiden,” which is being developed into a feature film.
In “The Maiden,” a real estate agent is pushed to the edge as she struggles to close on a mysterious estate. As she goes about her business she begins to discover that this house is not as deserted as it seems – and a very powerful and evil presence is working against her. The closer she gets to the sale, the more dangerous things get. Can she close on the house before its too late?
Chaves came up with the idea a couple years ago after the real estate bust.
“I was fascinated by the crash and how corrupt everything about it was,” he explained. “I’ve always loved haunted house stories, but I wanted some kind of a twist. I started wondering ‘what happens before the young family moves in? As a real estate agent, how could you sell something like that?’”
The film was shot on location in Los Angeles at the famous Beckett Mansion.
“Hopefully the short looks big, but in reality it was a really small, family run production.” Chaves enlisted his high school best friend Tristan Nyby to shoot it. Michael’s wife, Dina Buglione, did the casting. His next door neighbor David Moore and Lynda Pribyl produced. Chaves said, “My mom was even going to do craft service but she couldn’t get off work.”
Director of photography Tristan Nyby added:
“We wanted to anchor it in reality, so we shot primarily with natural light. Especially for a thriller/horror, the power is in believing this is real. The house had such an amazing structure that it shaped the light really beautifully.”
Michael Chaves is a commercial director who has worked with clients such as Sony, AT&T, Ford, Vodafone, Miller Light, and Disney.
A hospital stay grows more nerve-frazzling when memory loss distorts reality in our exclusive clip from This Tempting Madness, inspired by a true story.
The mind-bending psychological thriller will be released in select theaters and on demand on June 12 via Vertical.
Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”) stars as Mia, who awakens from a coma, grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions and her perception of reality.
In This Tempting Madness, “Mia awakens from a coma grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions, and her perception of reality.”
Jennifer E. Montgomery makes her feature directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with director of photography Andrew Davis, inspired by Montgomery’s first-hand experience with tragedy involving her best friend.
“Months before the incident, there were signals that her world was unraveling,” says Montgomery. “I could feel the pressure building, though I didn’t know what form it would take. I never could have known what violence would come, and I certainly never imagined making a film about it.”
Austin Stowell (“NCIS: Origins”), Suraj Sharma (Happy Death Day 2U), Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Amol Shah (“For All Mankind”), and Zenobia Shroff (“Ms. Marvel”) round out the cast.
Smoke Jumper Films and Mango Monster Productions produce in association with Catchlight Studios (Heretic, The Blackening).
This Tempting Madness is rated R for “language, violence/bloody images, and brief sexuality.”
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