Dead Inside

I always write and direct from my gut. There are other priorities in the process; however, attaining that base level feeling that people take away from the film is critical.

In 2021 you can no longer escape your past or your demons. The Internet is incapable of forgetting, and so these demons can come back and haunt us consistently. Whether it be relationships, lost loved ones, or FOMO, every day bombards us with an array of incompatible experiences to live and relive. It's a mindless presence, a thing that follows and reminds us of who we were and stays us from who we can be. A zombie.

For me, the obvious application of this was the most visceral of relationship dynamics; a romantic one. Zombies and death have always been personal fears of mine, and the idea of losing a loved one most of all. The two ideas merged to create a dark screenplay that seeks to play on the dissociation people feel from their own personal experience, while utilizing the genre to draw attention to our less than conventional approach.

Over the past year, editing during the lockdown brought a new perspective to a film that is essentially about two people trapped by a disease. It really served to solidify the tension of Ashton and Harriet's Dilemma in the edit.

I hope Dead Inside acts for you as it did for me, as a portal into a mirror world where we can't simply bury our problems, or they'll just rise again.