Private Project

Dead Body

A non-binary individual is trapped, fearful of something trying to break in. As they try to protect themself, their chances of escaping a monster with a familiar face diminish fast.

  • J Taylor-Jones
    Director
    One Summer on Earth, Baggage
  • J Taylor-Jones
    Writer
    One Summer on Earth
  • Harry Kille-Smith
    Producer
    Baggage
  • J Taylor-Jones
    Producer
    One Summer on Earth
  • Andrew Houghton
    Key Cast
    "Lex"
    King of Spades, Sinnerman
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Horror, LGBTQ+
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 27, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    4,750 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Arts University Bournemouth
  • Dead Northern Horror Film Festival
    York
    United Kingdom
    September 27, 2024
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Out For Blood Queer Horror Festival
    Cambridge
    United Kingdom
    November 3, 2024
    Official Selection
  • CineCity Brighton Film Festival
    Brighton
    United Kingdom
    November 11, 2024
    Official Selection
  • One Fluid Night LGBTQIA+ Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 15, 2024
    Best Dark Thrill Short Film (Nominee)
Director Biography - J Taylor-Jones

J Taylor-Jones (they/them) is a non-binary British filmmaker based in Brighton. J's filmmaking is influenced by their training in fine art to tell stories that texturally and emotionally navigate the Queer experience. They are the founder of production company Burning Closets Films and currently write about and programme films with the screening collective Depot Cinelogue.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I have a dead name. I leave it behind, but it is still there, a piece of my past that, as hard as I try to erase it, remains. It's behind me, it's not gone. From time to time, it pops up; on old documents and in texts from people who once knew me by that name. It's an experience that I, and many people who, like me, identify as transgender, share, but it's not just a dead name. Sometimes I see old photographs, from the days before I discovered makeup or bought the clothes that I feel comfortable in, I see the photos, and I know that, like my dead name, my physical past - my dead body - is something that I can't simply erase - this body is my vehicle through life, and sometimes it's my biggest enemy.

Being trans is to be acutely aware of one's own corporeal presence, it's to understand the judgements people make in a split second to categorise you in an attempt to understand the world around them. As much as we know and can preach about the fluidity of gender and its base in society's constructs, when the majority of the population see facial hair as a signifier of manhood and breasts as signifiers of womanhood, the very state of being becomes a battle between self perception and society perceiving.

Dead Body is inspired by the nights of this turmoil, when the brain is at its weakest and turning on itself following a day spent in the epicentre of misgenderings, scornful stares and breaking news of our demonisation and erasure. These things can make even our own homes feel like unsafe spaces, spaces that might be invaded by our closest foes; our own damning thoughts - am I trans enough?

This film is an account of this situation, a nightmare in which perceived gender is an antagonist, a hellscape in which the devil is the stubble on one's chin, or their deep voice and broad shoulders. This is transness at its most vulnerable, a reminder to our allies that we don't need political oppression to harm us - sometimes our inner turmoil is much worse.