Playing into the faux Cinemax aesthetic, Screen Media turns the channel to softcore porn, puns, and pornstars in Deep Murder, the comedy horror directorial debut of Nick Corirossi, which opens in limited theaters and on VOD platforms June 14th.

The film that is set in an alternate reality of a tacky soft-core porn film, where a group of increasingly self-aware stock characters are up against a mysterious killer offing them one by one.

We spoke to Corirossi who tells us that his transition from television comedy to horror was simple: “Take the laughs and add the death!

“I was trying to impersonate television director’s habits for a majority of the film, so I didn’t draw from my experience but how I interpreted a more seasoned television director would approach the ‘show,'” he added.

Inspired by Illicit Dreams, Bare Deception, Last Year at Marienbad, Night Cap, Scorned, Eyes Wide Shut and even Brady Bunch: The Movie(!), Corirossi also gave Deep Murder a very unique “fuzzy and daytime” look that’s also “zoomy slidey mixed with spurts of Polanski sliced in half by symmetrical pinky blue.”

As for the comedy, he talks about keeping the characters out of the joke, a trend he hopes goes away.

“Although the film could be interpreted as ‘aware’, I never wanted any character to be smarter than the conceit of the film. In comedies these days, the laugh line isn’t on the joke but rather on the reaction of an uber-aware character that replies with ‘Really?’ or ‘Is that a thing?’ to show how silly the joke is. My approach would never allow a character like that into the film, and I also hope that trend goes away!”

Deep Murder has some pretty brutal kills, which Corirossi tells us was “all practical so you could see the movie coming together in-camera!

“Audiences have never seen three of the deaths that occur in any film before,” he gleefully guarantees.

Deep Murder opens in limited theaters and on VOD platforms June 14th.