Private Project

Beckoned

On their way up to Bishop Falls to celebrate their anniversary, a young couple gets stranded on the road. Suddenly, their cell phones lose connection, their radio goes haywire-- their weekend trip turns into a nightmare as they must flee a horrifying apparition.

  • Richard Zelniker
    Director
    As Night Comes, Menage A Trois, Candy Apple Red
  • Callie Nguyen Zelniker
    Writer
  • Richard Zelniker
    Producer
    As Night Comes
  • David Mudge
    Producer
    Candy Apple Red
  • Callie Nguyen Zelniker
    Producer
    As Night Comes
  • Taylor Williams
    Producer
    Brave New Jersey, Lamb
  • John Lind
    Producer
    Alive, Soul Surfer, Shanghai Noon
  • Ciara Hanna
    Key Cast
    "Hayley"
    Power RangersMegaForce, Devil's Revenge
  • David Mudge
    Key Cast
    "Ryan"
    Candy Apple Red
  • PJ King
    Key Cast
    "Patrolman"
    Call Of The Wild
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 2, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    19,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    21:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Richard Zelniker

A Montreal native based in Los Angeles, Richard Zelniker is an award –winning writer, director and producer who first became inspired for the movies when working a neighborhood cinema as a teen.

In the 90’s, Zelniker lived in Toronto before moving to Los Angeles, where he was hired to write the feature documentary Mardi Gras Madness. Zelniker then began developing his own projects to direct. His acclaimed short, A Test Of Will, which he wrote, produced and directed, led to his award winning feature directorial debut, Fix, (aka, Menage A Trois.)

Following his award winning debut feature, Zelniker stepped away from the camera and spent the next several years working as a “script doctor” and rewrite “hire”. After seeing several of those scripts achieve success, he decided it was to time to jump back into creating and writing his own material again.

Zelniker’s second feature as a director, As Night Comes, (starring Luke Baines) gained wide exposure and glowing reviews beginning with a limited theatrical release (played Laemmle’s Music Hall), followed by a wide SVOD release, (Gravitas Ventures) and then the North American DVD release via Revolver Entertainment Group. Cineville International is selling the film worldwide.

Other Zelniker scripts ready for Richard to direct is the dark psycho thriller "Bright Midnight", and the teen high school thriller "BFF". Currently, Zelniker is preparing to direct the psychological horror/thriller "Don't Look There", being produced by horror filmmaker Lucky McKee.

Just having completed the short horror/thriller "Beckoned", he and his team are hopeful for their chances as they begin to hit the film festival circuit in 2020.

Zelniker’s philosophy of filmmaking is simple: “Everything begins with character, every story must be built around compelling characters and their lives. A storyteller asks an audience to sit in the dark when they could be doing almost anything. We’d better give them a good reason to watch!”

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Director Statement

A dark journey through the mysterious landscape of the woods is the motif of our short film, Beckoned. Our characters are drawn to the enigmatic forest, seduced by the danger, or the unknown, perhaps driven by the urge to escape the ordinary, or merely compelled by whim. Our protagonists deviate from their familiar lives on an odyssey against an apparition, an unearthly creature, and-- most frightening of all-- against their own psyche. Tangled in the thicket of wood, in the leafy shadows, they struggle to survive not only physically, but psychologically. When, or if, they come out of it alive, they will be heroes, transformed... and changed forever.

- Richard Zelniker