What started as a script for a horror short called “Lonely House” in a screenwriting class back in Fall 2015 turned into a year long pre-production process of rewrites, location scouts, and budgeting; a six day shooting schedule; and five months of editing, mixing, coloring, and scoring. In the end, we had Hinterland: a short suspense film which takes the clichés of the genre and turns them upside down, concluding with a disturbing spin that will leave viewers thinking and trembling.

 

Acting alone for most of the film, Kelly Figley stars as Sarah, a newly pregnant woman who is home alone after her beloved Ash (played by Alex Westrick) leaves the country to visit family. Before long, dread and paranoia creep up on Sarah as she awaits a call from Ash, and something insidious begins to follow her body and mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the screenwriter for Hinterland, Nicole Lehrman doesn’t consider herself much of a writer at all. The inspiration for turning her class assignment into an actual shooting script derived from her love of slow-burn horror. Working primarily as a Director of Photography before the project, Lehrman knew what she wanted visually and stylistically, therefore took the helms of both shooting and directing the film.

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The atmosphere and life of the film would have been lackluster without the pinpoint precision of camera operator Shane Dresch’s hand, Matt Cutshaw’s bone-chilling sound design, and a hauntingly Hermmannesque score written and performed by Joshua N. Kattner. Colorist Jeff Spott treated our RED Scarlet footage like a canvas; fine-tuning every aspect of every frame, and visual effects artist Blake Conner along with makeup and special effects artist Eliza Sandlin pushed the limits of reality on set and in post-production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The efforts of many others went into making sure the project took off. With over $3500 raised on Kickstarter ($1000 more than our initial goal), the production team, led by Executive Producer Jac Kessler and Producer/ Assistant Director Abigail Urbik, spent countless hours scheduling, budgeting, and promoting the film throughout the process.

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Hinterland has already begun its festival circuit in the hopes of reaching more horror fans who can appreciate the film for the weird little twisted thing it is.