Private Project

Curse of the Meyers' House

A non-linear film narrative surrounds a curse lingering in the Meyers' house. A woman narrates a story to her children about strange incidents which occurred in the town of Duskfort after a family moved into a house, not knowing of its cursed past. The tales speak of a dark ritual hundreds of years ago. The little girl in the family befriends Moira, another girl who used to live in that house. Soon strange events begin to plague the town. When things get out of hand, a local priest shows up to investigate these events and takes drastic measures to end them. The family moves out. Decades pass and the little girl grows up and returns to her childhood house. One night the priest jolts awake from a vision calling him to the very same cursed house. He decides to visit the Meyers’ house one last time.

  • Raghav Suresh Kumar
    Director
  • Sandeep Suresh Kumar
    Writer
  • Raghav Suresh Kumar
    Writer
  • Suzanne van der Leeden
    Writer
  • The Dutchman Films
    Producer
  • Ruud Geboers
    Key Cast
    "Priest"
  • Olivia Lisbon
    Key Cast
    "Miss Meyer"
  • Jenna Monoceros
    Key Cast
  • Sandeep Suresh Kumar
    Cinematographer
  • Sandeep Suresh Kumar
    Editor
  • Stefan Verster
    Sound Designer
  • Fer Meijer
    Production Set Design
  • Stefan Verster
    Sound Mixing
  • Vikram Krishna Kumar
    Music Composer
  • Ada van der Leeden
    Kids Voice Over
  • Lena van der Leeden
    Kids Voice Over
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Horror, Drama, Action
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 4 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 11, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    50 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    21:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Raghav Suresh Kumar

Raghav is an up-and-coming filmmaker based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. 26 years of age, born in Chennai, India, he later moved to Europe to pursue a postgraduate degree. He graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from KU Leuven in Belgium. He currently works in the R&D division at a high-tech company in the Netherlands. Together with his twin brother, Sandeep, he embarked on a journey into the world of cinema from a very young age. They started writing scripts for short films way back in 2014. Towards the end of 2021, they launched a YouTube channel, The Dutchman Films, mainly for experimental short films; their goal was to explore different styles of visual storytelling. The learning resource was YouTube. They watched interviews with top filmmakers, editors, and cinematographers, and analysed award-winning short films. Today they have a team in the city of Eindhoven, comprising screenwriters, editors, actors, musicians, location scouts, a social media marketing head, a composer, and a sound designer. In addition to directing, Raghav participates in a local theatre. He is involved in every step of the film. He manages a team of great talent and inspires them to step into new challenges in every project; he knows how to extract the full potential of every team member.

Favourite Genres: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Feel Good, Drama, Film Noir
Inspiration: Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Steven Spielberg.
Past Experience: YouTube short films - primarily funny sketches, parodies, and exploring the limits of our filming gear.

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Director Statement

We had some experience in filming funny sketches for our own YouTube channel, but this was the first time we decided to make a short film for the competition because that had been our goal for quite some time, and we felt ready for the challenge.

The film was entirely produced in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

‘Curse of the Meyers’ house’ was a project which pushed us to new limits. The most challenging project we have undertaken so far. The first big challenge was creating a look for the story, as the events unfold in the year 1972. This meant the props also had to be from that period. The second challenge was visually creating the cinematic ‘night look’ and adding a veil of the horror element. The film was entirely shot on two bright sunny summer afternoons in July 2022. This is an almost zero-budget short film. Every prop you will see in the motion picture is something the cast and crew already had or borrowed. We filmed it on two Sundays, for five hours at a time, as we all have regular jobs. The movie itself was initially intended to be a 5-min short film. However, during the pre-production, a visit to the location made the team realise the true potential of the location and the props we had in our hands. The actors are from a local theatre I take participate in. The house belongs to another theatre actor involved in the production design. We knew how to assemble all these elements to build this motion picture. Every frame in the film was carefully orchestrated. The edit wouldn’t have been possible without the advanced colour correction tools from Da Vinci Resolve. The sound design and the background score elevated the production to another level. Having regular jobs meant we could only work on the post-production over the weekend; this took another two months to fully complete. Overall, this project was a four-month labour of love, with our blood, sweat, and tears imprinted on each frame.

We hope you like it.