Demon

Writer/director Caleb Slain, through LA-based production company Eskimo, has released this newly Oscar-qualifying short film to the public, after a stint of successful film festival screenings.

This marvelously menacing film is as dark as a big dark dark thing. Prepare to be deeply unsettled as an injured man, Marco, stumbles upon an isolated shack in the pitch-blackness of the desert. Offered shelter by its inhabitant, Marco will soon uncover a secret to rival the darkness of the desert it lies in – a mysterious she-thing in a box!

Slain wrote and directed the film and decided to shoot it under a full moon, fire or lamplight and nothing else. Without the use of artificial lighting, the production schedule had to be coordinated with the moon’s orbital cycle to achieve optimal lunar ambience in the desert landscape surrounding Southern California’s Johnson Valley where the action takes place.

The project garnered the top Best Narrative Short honour at the 2017 Austin Film Festival, among others. The Oscar nominees will be announced 22 January, 2019.