How an upcoming film reveals a terrifying and true American history.
Something terrifying is coming out of New York University. Writer/Director Chris Allan has a story to tell- only it’s not a story at all.
“HOLLOW is a historically accurate short horror film taking place during the 19th century cholera outbreak- it’s an era of time that nobody really learns about”.
During this time, many victims of Cholera exhibited symptoms of death (undetectable heart rate, unconsciousness, etc.) before they had actually died. As a result, these victims were often buried alive.
Later, when graves were unearthed to make room for new victims, scratch marks were found on the inside of the coffin’s lids. This lead to the invention of the “Safety Coffin”, a contraption consisting of a string tied around the corpse’s finger that extended to the surface, where it wrapped around a small bell. If the corpse was buried prematurely, he could ring the bell to alert those on the surface that he needed to be rescued.
“That’s what sets the film apart from the rest- the horror of the film really did exist in the past. We want to immerse the audience in the world as it existed 200 years ago.”
The film follows a lonely, drunken grave keeper as he tends to the ‘graveyard bells’, making sure that anybody who needed to be rescued from this gruesome fate received help. The grave keeper soon realizes, though, the position of power he is in. He, and he alone, decides who gets rescued, and who is left to suffocate beneath the earth.
HOLLOW is a short version of a much bigger story that writer/director Chris Allan hopes to tell.
“The world of the script is drenched with horror, and while this short is going to be terrifying on its own, we hope for it to provide an idea as to what we’re going for in the feature length version. In the longer story, the entire town descends into panic as they try to discover the source of the disease. It really must’ve been a confusing and hellish time to be alive”.
Chris and his team are seeking support to make the short, which they intend to submit to the biggest horror film festivals in the country. The project is massive by student-film standards, and any support they receive goes a long way to making the film a reality.
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Categorised in: Independent Horror Film
This post was written by Nadia Vella