Dying Light

Our Film in a (Scary!) Nutshell

When Eddie Bowen hooks up with the beautiful and sexually aggressive Suze Phillips he thinks his luck’s in. But it’s a trap! Suze imprisons them both within a specially-prepared room and before Eddie can react he’s drugged and blacks out. When he wakes he finds a symbol carved into his chest and Suze lying unconscious on the floor with a dagger in hand.

 While Eddie desperately attempts to break through the room’s stone walls and securely-locked door he tries to get some answers from the seemingly psychotic Suze. What has she done to him? What the hell’s going on?!

 The true horror of his situation gradually emerges: despite how crazy it sounds, the room is growing darker and darker and there’s something in the shadows... something that’s coming to get him.

 Can Eddie escape in time? Or will the darkness claim him?

Dying Light is a feature-length psychological horror that plays out in real time.

The Film's Style

Dying Light is about the horror of the mind, the horror of the unknown. Darkness has a power over our imagination that nothing else can compare with. Nothing we can show on screen is as scary as what the audience will imagine is in the shadows.

 There will be no gore or exploitative content – the focus of the film is on constantly building up tension by ever-increasing the mystery of what’s occurring in the room. There will be hints and flashes of what’s in the darkness but it’ll never be explicitly shown, forcing the audience to fill in the void with their own fears and increasing the sense of dread.

How it Came About

“Imagine being trapped in a room, inside an ever-decreasing island of light in a sea of darkness that’s coming to claim you”: that was Gordon Mclean’s (writer) initial pitch to David Newbigging (director). It’s such a simple idea for a horror film and yet it offers so much potential for scaring the audience. We’re all afraid of the dark and the unknown. Point someone in the direction of a shadow and tell them there’s something hiding in it and they can’t help but imagine what.

 The ideas for the film quickly began to flow. Who’s trapped in the room? Why are they trapped there? And – most importantly – what is it that’s lurking in the shadows? From our answers came a script that we’re very proud of and can’t wait to put on the big screen.

Our Plans for the Film

First and foremost we want to make a very scary film that horror and thriller fans will love.

  Every production we’ve made so far has been shown at international film festivals and we will build on this experience to promote Dying Light at festivals across the world, with particular focus being on horror fests, of course. We will use this to acquire audience feedback, build a fan base that proves the film can be successful and hopefully get a distribution deal.

 We’re also researching alternative methods such as online distribution and a self-promoted limited cinema release with each screening becoming a ‘live event’ with cast and crew Q&As.

What We Need and What You’ll Get

We need your support and, to put it simply, your money!

 While Dying Light’s central premise calls for only two actors and one set we still have the difficult and costly task of putting together an experienced film crew that will enable us to produce a high-quality film that lives up to its potential and has the effect on the audience that we want it to. Of special importance are lighting, sound and set design experts, without whom we’ll never be able to bring the film’s atmosphere and visuals to life – they’re vital to the film’s success and we’ll need funding to get the best.

 Then there’s the additional costs of marketing materials, festival screeners etc. While we need so little funding in comparison to other productions, we still have a long list of costs that we cannot cover alone.

 In return for helping us to make this film we have a wide range of perks that we believe offer great value for money. Even the smallest donation gets you something in return, plus those with a little bit more to spend can obtain such special perks as their own private screening on the set itself or even an appearance in the film.

 So please consider donating to our project. Even if you can’t afford it, please pass on the link to our page via email, Facebook and Twitter and help us spread the word.

Why Are We Using Indiegogo?

We’re UK-based film makers and there’s very little funding available here. Also, horror is simply not a favoured genre among UK funders.  We could spend the next year or two struggling and grovelling to get this film made and, even if we were to succeed, we’d no doubt be forced to make changes that would leave us with an inferior, tamer film.

 So we’re taking it straight to you, our potential audience. We want to make the best film we can for you, not the ‘money men’. After all, the history of horror films shows that the less studio interference there is, the scarier the final film. Doing it this way enables us to make the best horror film we can directly for fans of the genre and film fans in general with no compromises and no enforced cuts.

Our Background

Based in Scotland, we’re award-winning film makers (2009 Bafta Scotland New Talent Award for Multimedia) who’ve produced a range of short films and TV content for the likes of BBC Scotland, Scottish Screen, the UK Film Council, STV etc.

 Dying Light will be our feature-length debut.