Death Lay Here (Trailer)

Death Lay Here Director’s Note

I began writing this story after I came clean off of the surprise success of “The Little Chapel” and after it gained so much acclaim from critics and audiences, I wanted to do a follow-up. So I wanted to write a story that’s meatier and heavier with dialogue and plot threads.

The film is about a young man named Charlie Berry who meets a stranger at a local bar carrying around a mystical box. However, things take a turn for the worse when the stranger accidently leaves the box and Charlie takes a look inside.

During production, we shot primarily in the dorms of Tenney and in the Library chambers. When I made “The Little Chapel”, I already utilized the space of the chapel on my campus, which was named as one of the scariest places on the campus. To up the antics, I shot in another frightening location which was the library chambers, which I thought was the perfect location for me to film because there are narrow spaces in the halls which made the chase scenes more intense because it was harder for my lead actor to maneuver through the location because it makes the audience feel that he has nowhere to go.

I wanted to continue this theme of horror because after the success of “The Little Chapel”, I wanted to create a shared fictional universe that would have been the first ever at Manhattanville College and I wanted to create something unique at the school because horror movies were not that popular at the college and when they were made, they failed to break any ground, which compelled me to resuscitate the genre and hopefully set the standard for it.

While writing the script, I already had who I wanted to play in mind and when it came to casting Charlie, Christian Bourgeois was the perfect fit because I needed someone that put on a tough guy mask, but who was deep down vulnerable and guilty for whatever he did in his past and I’m a sucker for underdog stories.

Casting Nicholas Barbera as Steven the stranger was almost pitch-perfect because he gave off a vibe that makes you think that you're talking to this innocent man but, in reality, he has a hidden agenda.

As for my Director of Photography, it was obvious that the choice was Joseph Hughes, since the two of us collaborated on “A Certain Smile” and “Stolen”.

I want to thank my excellent crew and my outstanding cast, as well as the members of Expired Films run by my stunt coordinator Will Heese.

It only took two days to film but they were two very hard days. This is a chilling tale of sacrifice, curiosity, horror and the endurance of the human spirit.

Richard “Double R3” Schertzer
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor, Wyvern Studios