Dark Matter Presents Haunted Reels, page 36
Carl Lucas is U.S. Army veteran and has produced several independent features, including The Rambler (Anchor Bay), which was accepted in the Midnight Section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He recently produced the independent horror films Fender Bender (Chiller/ NBC Universal), The Field Guide to Evil (Neon), Slamdance award-winner My Name Is Myeisha (Shout Factory), the 2019 Fantastic Fest selection The Wave (Epic Pictures; also written by Carl), and the The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage.
Malachi Moore is an award-winning writer/director. He received his MFA in Writing for the Screen from Loyola Marymount University, where he refined his own voice by drawing from the distinct perspective of his past. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, his calling to self discernment has led him to live throughout the country, exposing him to an array of creative professions and candid experiences. His work aims to exhibit the internal effects of cultural paradigms on the Black male’s psyche, incorporating humor and romance within to make themes of existential dread and identity more palatable—you know, some real “Feel-Good, Family-Friendly” kind of stuff.
Aaron Moorhead is half of the co-directing duo behind independent films The Endless, Synchronic, Spring, Resolution, and their most recent, Something in the Dirt. With his friend Justin Benson, they have directed episodes of Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone, the Netflix series Archive 81, and Moon Knight for Marvel Studios. He is a founding member of boutique production company Rustic Films, which the two run with their producing partner David Lawson. He is an Eagle Scout and almost got his black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but gave up before he got there for some reason.
Jared Moshe is an award-winning writer/director who marked his transition from accomplished producer to the director’s chair with the indie feature Dead Man’s Burden, one of Paste Magazine’s “100 Best Westerns of All Time.” His most recent film The Ballad of Lefty Brown, released by A24, premiered to rave reviews at SXSW. The film starred Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, Jim Caviezel, Tommy Flanagan, and Peter Fonda in one of his final roles. Jared previously developed Aporia, with Neda Armian (Rachel Getting Married)—with Paramount, J. J. Abrams, and Bad Robot producing. Most recently, he set up his Hawaiian noir The Big Island, with Divide/Conquer and the white-knuckled action thriller The Father, with Record Player Films and Automatik. He is currently executive producing a TV show on the Colombo crime family, with David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge).
Wanjiru Njendu is an award-winning, Kenyan-American filmmaker. Her creative imagination earned her the nickname “Magic” at a young age. Wanjiru is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars), and her films have played in over one hundred festivals. Her award-winning short film Boxed, which has played over one hundred film festival selections, was selected for the 2021 Nuits en Or, Académie des César, and won Best Short Film at the Hague Global Film Festival, and the African Movie Academy Awards. In 2021, Boxed was also honored with the Abraham Lincoln Award for Best film on Liberty and Equality by the Chicago International Indie Film Festival, organized by the American Film Society. Wanjiru was honored by the Roxbury International Film Festival with the 2021 Rox Vision Award. She recently directed a horror short Stray, which was acquired by 20th Digital Studios, with a feature option. She was the shadowing director on the Netflix series Daybreak, under Mark Tonderai. Wanjiru has worked for Disney Studios and Universal Pictures’ Creative Marketing. She is currently filming a docs-series Built for Good, on Green buildings in Africa, and a documentary about a children’s S.T.E.M. (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) organization in Kenya.
Nick Peterson grew up watching MTV, sci-fi films, anime from Blockbuster Video, and playing video games. He graduated from the Experimental Animation program at Cal Arts. Nick’s films have been screened at festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. His award-winning music videos have garnered over five hundred million views, and his Chrysler commercial played during the Super Bowl. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
Brett Pierce & Drew Pierce are the writing/directing team behind 2020’s #1 horror hit The Wretched, and the renowned zombie cult film Deadheads. They have been obsessed with the horror genre, having grown up amid the production of Sam Raimi’s cult classic The Evil Dead, for which their father served as the photographic effects artist. Currently they are in development on multiple horror projects.
Cezil Reed is a WGA writer/director based in LA who prides himself on learning about character and plot via extreme, physical conditioning: weightlifting, yoga, running, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He’s directed two feature films within the horror sphere: The Taking and Not Alone. His next creative ventures will use the horrors of living in America as a backdrop, coupled with characters with supernatural abilities and challenges. He’s currently partnered with Neo Noir: a boutique production company focused on genre.
Russo Schelling is one half of a writing and directing duo with Janina Gavankar. Their first offering, Stucco, earned a Special Jury Award at SXSW 2020, an Academy Award Qualification, and has been seen more than forty million times online. Amongst their many projects are the feature Rakshasi, based on a Hindu myth, and a partnership with Soledad O’Brien on the docuseries Screw City. They recently announced their first podcast with HBOmax.
Gary Sherman is a director, producer, and screenwriter. He has more than a dozen feature length films, nearly three dozen dramatic television series, documentary, industrial, and music films on his résumé. His career began in Chicago with a documentary about rock and roll legend, Bo Diddly. His feature film credits include Death Line, named by the British Film Institute among the Ten Great British Films by American Directors; Dead and Buried, considered by many one of the foremost iconic zombie films of the ’80s; and Vice Squad, a critical and box office hit. TV credits include ABC-TV’s Missing Persons, starring Daniel J. Travant; A&E’s The First 48: Missing Persons, co-creator/Executive Producer; ABC-TV’s Sable creator/Executive Producer; and Showtime’s Poltergeist: TheLegacy. He is currently co-writing and Executive Producing a original dramatic pilot for Halcyon Studios.
Graham Skipper is an actor/writer/director/producer of genre films, best known for his work in Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator the Musical, the films Almost Human, Beyond The Gates, The Mind’s Eye, Bliss, Dementia I & II, and his feature directorial debut Sequence Break. He is published in Simon & Schuster’s Video Palace: In Search of the Eyeless Man, My Favorite Horror Movie, volume one. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his circus performer wife and their dogs, Mufasa and Dax.
A. T. White is a filmmaker and musician from the UK, who lives in LA. He likes wide-open spaces, empathy, watermelon juice, and driving across the entire width of America, two-to-six times a year. His favorite movies are Se7en, You Were Never Really Here, Buffalo ’66, Nine Days, In the Mood for Love, Lost in Translation, Princess Mononoke, and Swingers. His debut feature Starfish had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, and a theatrical run in North America in 2019. He made the film for his friend who passed away. He runs international boutique production house Dive Dark, takes 35mm photos for his alternative arthouse journal Neon Wolves, and he hosts the movie podcast We Are Geeks. He is also the lead singer/songwriter of UK band Ghostlight, who put out their new album Dive Dark in 2020.
Ariel Vida is a filmmaker of the strange and surreal. She is the director of the features Vide Noir and Trim Season, as well as several music videos, including Lord Huron’s “The World Ender.” She has also production designed and art directed over one hundred shorts, music videos, commercials, and feature films, including The Endless, She Dies Tomorrow, Synchronic, Archenemy, Shadow Kingdom, and Something in the Dirt. She lives in Los Angeles with her cat Sniffy, and it’s likely that while you’re reading this, she’s watching RRR again.
About the curator
David Lawson Jr. developed a love for film at an early age while living in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He served for over four years as an Airborne Radio Operator aboard the AWACS E-3 Sentry, deploying for both Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). There he not only met many people with the same affinity for cinema, but also took to heart their core values: integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all you do. He has since brought those values to Los Angeles, where since 2005, he has been working his way up the commercial and feature film ranks. After years of working as an independent producer, David joined Snowfort Pictures from 2015 until 2017. Then, along with long-time collaborators Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, he formed Rustic Films. His features include Synchronic, The Endless, She Dies Tomorrow, Afer Midnight, Something in the Dirt, Trash Fire, 68 Kill, 24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters, Spring, and Resolution.
About the Cover Artist
Oliver (Olly) Jeavons is a UK-based artist also known as artofolly. He works with many different medias and styles, and he is always pushing his creativity further. Comic book art, book cover art, and commissions of all types are included in his portfolio.
Permissions
“‘Natalie Fears Recurrence’ and Other Letter the Psychiatrist Recommend She Write ” by B. J. Colangelo, copyright © 2023 B. J. Colangelo. Used by permission of the author.
“The Gloom” by Jay Baruchel, copyright © 2023 Jay Baruchel. Used by permission of the author.
“Desire Path” by Malachi Moore, copyright © 2023 Malachi Moore. Used by permission of the author.
“It Stood Above Me” by C. Robert Cargill, copyright © 2023 C. Robert Cargill. Used by permission of the author.
“A Story with a Beginning and No End” by Aaron Moorhead, copyright © 2023 Aaron Moorhead. Used by permission of the author.
“Ilimu” by Wanjiru Njendu, copyright © 2023 Wanjiru Njendu. Used by permission of the author.
“The Beginning” by Izzy Lee, copyright © 2023 Izzy Lee. Used by permission of the author.
“Grim” by Graham Skipper, copyright © 2023 Graham Skipper. Used by permission of the author.
“Spells” by Gary Sherman, copyright © 2023 Gary Sherman. Used by permission of the author.
“Vox Canis” by Carl Lucas, copyright © 2023 Carl Lucas. Used by permission of the author.
“Hologram Store” by Brea Grant, copyright © 2023 Brea Grant. Used by permission of the author.
“The World Often Ends” by Justin Benson, copyright © 2023 Justin Benson. Used by permission of the author.
“FuGaZi” by Janina Gavankar & Russo Schelling, copyright © 2023 Janina Gavankar & Russo Schelling. Used by permission of the authors.
“Breathe” by Nick Peterson, copyright © 2023 Nick Peterson. Used by permission of the author.
“The Man Who Saved the World” by Jared Moshe, copyright © 2023 Jared Moshe. Used by permission of the author.
“Sprout” by Jordan Goldstein, copyright © 2023 Jordan Goldstein. Used by permission of the author.
“The Deception of Youth” by Sarah Bolger, copyright © 2023 Sarah Bolger. Used by permission of the author.
“Dead No Longer” by Owen Egerton, copyright © 2023 Owen Egerton. Used by permission of the author.
“This Is Not My Face” by Gigi Saul Guerrero, copyright © 2023 Gigi Saul Guerrero. Used by permission of the author.
“Roll the Bones” by Ariel Vida, copyright © 2023 Ariel Vida. Used by permission of the author.
“Weavers” by Gille Klabin, copyright © 2023 Gille Klabin. Used by permission of the author.
“Yeast” by Lola Blanc, copyright © 2023 Lola Blanc. Used by permission of the author.
“Detroit” by Michael Dunker, copyright © 2023 Michael Dunker. Used by permission of the author.
“Muzzle” by Brett Pierce & Drew Pierce, copyright © 2023 Brett Pierce & Drew Pierce. Used by permission of the authors.
“Midnight: A Series of Letters” by A. T. White, copyright © 2023 A. T. White. Used by permission of the author.
“The Fiancée Comes to Town” by Cezil Reed, copyright © 2023 Cezil Reed. Used by permission of the author.
“It Comes Back” by Elise Finnerty & Estelle Girard-Parks, copyright © 2023 Elise Finnerty & Estelle Girard-Parks. Used by permission of the authors.
“Strange to Me” by Kyra Gardner, copyright © 2023 Kyra Gardner. Used by permission of the author.
“Towards the Light” by David Lawson Jr., copyright © 2023 David Lawson Jr. Used by permission of the author.
Also Available or Coming Soon from Dark Matter INK
Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology
Edited by Sadie Hartmann & Ashley Saywers
ISBN 978-1-958598-00-9
Zero Dark Thirty: The 30 Darkest Stories from Dark Matter Magazine, 2021–’22
Edited by Rob Carroll
ISBN 978-1-958598-16-0
Linghun by Ai Jiang
ISBN 978-1-958598-02-3
Monstrous Futures: A Sci-Fi Horror Anthology
Edited by Alex Woodroe
ISBN 978-1-958598-07-8
Our Love Will Devour Us by R. L. Meza
ISBN 978-1-958598-17-7
The Vein by Stephanie Nelson
ISBN 978-1-958598-15-3
Other Minds by Eliane Boey
ISBN 978-1-958598-19-1
Frost Bite by Angela Sylvaine
ISBN 978-1-958598-03-0
Monster Lairs: A Dark Fantasy Horror Anthology
Edited by Anna Madden
ISBN 978-1-958598-08-5
Chopping Spree by Angela Sylvaine
ISBN 978-1-958598-31-3
The Bleed by Stephen S. Schreffler
ISBN 978-1-958598-11-5
Free Burn by Drew Huff
ISBN 978-1-958598-26-9
The House at the End of Lacelean Street
by Catherine McCarthy
ISBN 978-1-958598-23-8
The Off-Season: An Anthology of Coastal New Weird
Edited by Marissa van Uden
ISBN 978-1-958598-24-5
The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls
by Angela Sylvaine
ISBN 978-1-958598-27-6
When the Gods Are Away by Robert E. Harpold
ISBN 978-1-958598-47-4
Grim Root by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
ISBN 978-1-958598-36-8
Voracious by Belicia Rhea
ISBN 978-1-958598-25-2
Abducted by Patrick Barb
ISBN 978-1-958598-37-5
Darkly Through the Glass Place by Kirk Bueckert
ISBN 978-1-958598-48-1
The Threshing Floor by Steph Nelson
ISBN 978-1-958598-49-8
Available or Coming Soon from Dark Hart Books
Rootwork by Tracy Cross
ISBN 978-1-958598-01-6
Mosaic by Catherine McCarthy
ISBN 978-1-958598-06-1
Apparitions by Adam Pottle
ISBN 978-1-958598-18-4
I Can See Your Lies by Izzy Lee
ISBN 978-1-958598-28-3
A Gathering of Weapons by Tracy Cross
ISBN 978-1-958598-38-2
David Lawson, Dark Matter Presents Haunted Reels
