BOY, ALONE IN WOODS
A 10-year-old boy with real and imagined demons takes a wrong turn and finds himself lost in the woods with his terrified mother on the other end of his dying cellphone.
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Joshua ButlerDirectorVLOG, RED ROOMS, THE MAGICIANS, THE FOLLOWING, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, LIMITLESS, TALES, MATADOR, STATE OF AFFAIRS, TALES, HOUSE NOT HOME, DOGHOUSE
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Joshua ButlerWriterVLOG, RED ROOMS, HOUSE NOT HOME, DOGHOUSE
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Gretl ClaggettWriterSTORMCHASER, FLIP THE SWITCH, HAPPY HOUR
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Gretl ClaggettProducerSTORMCHASER, FLIP THE SWITCH, HAPPY HOUR
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Owen DockeryKey Cast"Boy"
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Gretl ClaggettKey Cast"Mom"
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Socially Relevant Horror, Horror, Gaming
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Runtime:8 minutes 30 seconds
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Completion Date:October 1, 2021
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Black Magic
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
JOSHUA BUTLER is an award-winning independent filmmaker and one of the most prolific writers and directors of his generation, with over 60 hours of content to his name. Joshua wrote and directed the cult horror feature VLOG for the producers of SAW; produced and directed acclaimed LGBTQ+ short films HOUSE NOT HOME and DOGHOUSE; directed multiple episodes of Syfy's THE MAGICIANS, FOX's THE FOLLOWING starring Kevin Bacon, the CW phenomenon THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, Disney/Freeform's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, CBS’ LIMITLESS produced by Bradley Cooper; El Rey’s MATADOR for Robert Rodriguez; BET’s TALES; and STATE OF AFFAIRS for NBC starring Katherine Heigl and Alfre Woodard. In recognition of his humanitarian and activist work, Joshua was awarded the Scenarios Real Deal Award and The Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians' Director's Prize. Most recently, he has created, written and directed the streaming horror series RED ROOMS, which will premiere in 2022.
BOY, ALONE IN WOODS is both a young boy’s dream and a single, working mom’s nightmare. It’s a story about losing oneself in fantasy to escape the brutality of an abusive world. At the same time, it is a dark fairy tale that speaks to a new generation who have grown up in virtual realities.
I've always wanted to make a movie about the horrors of childhood — from my own experience with real demons and imagined ones. With my co-creator Gretl Claggett, we're turning genre conventions on their heads to find the creepiest scares where they so frequently occur: in real life.
BOY, ALONE IN WOODS is a standalone short and a proof-of-concept for the feature that Gretl and I are currently co-developing.