Indie
Paul Hyett Details Carpenter-Esque New England Horror ‘Unnatural Selection’
Paul Hyett, who directed The Seasoning House, Howl and the festival horror Heretiks, is taking on the sci-fi genre with Peripheral, which is set to be digitally released in the UK courtesy of Blue Finch Films on August 3, 2020.
Ahead of the release, Hyett has been doing interview rounds where he’s revealed two of his forthcoming projects, one of which he described as a conspiracy-fueled “atmospheric [John] Carpenter-esque New England horror story.”
Unnatural Selection is a “very much a sleepy, New England horror set in Cape Cod,” he tells Starburst Magazine. “It’s basically about a late night, sort of trashy TV show about conspiracy theories, you know, flat-Earthers, anti-vaxxers come in and talk.
“There’s a host and they try to debunk stuff and one day, a mysterious man walks in and he claims to be a fallen angel,” he adds. “He’s deeply charismatic, manipulative, extremely intelligent, and he starts talking about stuff that only historians will know and more and more they thinking, you know, is this guy for real? Later on, is his agenda comes and it’s very dark and nihilistic…”
He describes his other project, The Black Site, as Zero Dark Thirty meets Jacob’s Ladder, and says it’s the second part of his war trilogy, which began with The Seasoning House.
“[It’s] about an intelligence officer who gets back from Iraq – it was a particularly brutal tour and she’s got a traumatic injury – and she’s at home trying to revert back to civilian life in the UK [where] she’s having these horrible, bizarre, and violent hallucinations.” Hyett explains, “She puts it down to her PTSD, but as they get worse and worse and she starts to worry about her own sanity and that she could hurt her own family. So she goes into regression hypnotherapy, and that opens up all these memories that she just doesn’t remember actually happening, and the deeper they go, the darker they go.
“Basically, she worked at a black ops interrogation site – a black site – and she goes on this journey to find out what really happened. And obviously, it doesn’t go well.”
Hyett’s “sinister and unsettling sci-fi horror fantasy” Peripheral will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Google, Sky and Virgin.
Her House of Horrors, the horror division of Independent Production House WOMXNOGRAPHY, has launched its Bite Size Short Grant Program, ahead of its film festival Dollhouse of Horror, which will take place in March 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
The Bite Size Short Grant Program awards $2,000 film grants to female-identifying and queer horror filmmakers. Shorts must be able to be made for $2,000, with a minimum runtime of 8 minutes. Submissions are now open on Filmfreeway, and are being judged by a panel of horror lovers and content creators.
The 2024 Bite Size Short Grant Program judge lineup is as follows:
“James H. Carter II- A documentary director, film producer, podcaster, marketing specialist, and writer. James is the founder and co-owner of Creepy Kingdom. Creepy Kingdom was founded in 2011 and is a multimedia website, and production studio specializing in creepy content. Their primary focus lies at the intersection of childlike fantasy and the macabre, covering horror films, theme parks, haunts, and much more. Beyond their extensive media coverage, Creepy Kingdom hosts events, offers original merchandise, and engages in film production under the Creepy Kingdom Studios brand producing original films like “Foolish Mortals”, exploring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” fan culture, and “Georgie”, featuring Tony Dakota from the original “It” miniseries.
“In addition to founding Creepy Kingdom, James has won awards for his documentary work, including the award-winning “Foolish Mortals,” which has earned him recognition. He has been featured on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween special.
“Ashleeta Beauchamp is the editor-in-chief of Peek-A-Boo! Magazine, a cheeky horror magazine created to uplift marginalized writers, artists, models and other creators within the horror community. She also runs The Halloween Coalition, a community group to provide support and marketing for horror and Halloween events around the Southern California area.
“Titeanya Rodríguez is a multi-hyphenate creative, and the founder and owner of HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, home of DOLLHOUSE OF HORROR and the horror division of WOMXNOGRAPHY. As a fellow storyteller and a self-proclaimed artivist, Titeanya’s mission is to create opportunities for women of color and queer women, across film, tv, sports, music, and beyond. She is also the creator of the BITE SIZE SHORT grant program.”
Winners will have a one-night theatrical screening at Regal Cinemas. Submissions Close April 8 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on May 27, 2024. Shorts must be shot and through post-production by June 30, 2024. The screening will take place on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.
WOMXNOGRAPHY, HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, and Rodriguez are represented by Azhar PR, Granderson Des Rochers, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.
To submit your short to the Bite Size Short Grant Program, go to the FilmFreeway link here.
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