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Erzsabet and the Mystery of Iniquity

September, 1998. The millennium approaches.

As they prepare for Y2K, two teenagers set out to find the legendary Mojave Payphone led by their mentor – the unhinged conspiracy theorist Captain Zeno.

When they reach their quarry, however, things take a turn for the worst and soon they come face-to-face with nefarious forces beyond their wildest imaginations.

  • Cole Webb Harter
    Director
  • Cole Webb Harter
    Writer
  • Meghan Woodard
    Producer
  • Mary Flynn
    Key Cast
    "Erzsabet"
  • Jennifer McCall
    Key Cast
    "Betty"
  • Genesius Weaver
    Key Cast
    "Sebastian"
  • Veronica Rouly
    Key Cast
    "Rori"
  • Christopher R. Baab
    Key Cast
    "Captain Zeno Anasazi al-Salaf"
  • Joseph Miller
    Key Cast
    "Detective"
  • Micha Addams
    Key Cast
    "Honey"
  • DaZell Lathon
    Key Cast
    "The Yuppie"
  • Ben Siemens
    Key Cast
    "Officer"
  • Veronica Argentieri
    Key Cast
    "Officer Biafra"
  • Nathan Post
    Key Cast
    "Laszlo"
  • Anna Livia Brady
    Key Cast
    "Girl in Trouble"
  • Archibald Turner
    First Assistant Director
  • Christian Cuevas
    Director of Photography
  • Sam Carts
    Sound Design and Mixing
  • Thomas Herbold
    Editor
  • Beth Drozda
    Make-up Artist
  • Lexi Lovetere
    Production Designer
  • Michael Uyehata
    Gaffer
  • Elisabeth Perez
    Associate Producer
  • Elisabeth Perez
    Associate Producer
  • All American Earlobes
    Original Music
  • Gillian Gould
    Set Decorator
  • NIcolas Alayo
    Camera Operator
  • Xanax Portola
    Assistant Editor
  • Nathaniel Correon
    ADR Mixer
  • Carol Harter
    Caterer
  • Isaac Toche
    Best Boy
  • David Perez
    Production Assistant
  • Susana Duenas
    Production Photographer
  • Christopher Baab
    Special Props Designed by
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    horror, sci-fi, mystery, conspiracy, surrealism, noir, fantasy
  • Runtime:
    38 minutes 4 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 13, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9 and 4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Mesa International Film Festival
    Mesa, AZ
    United States
    December 4, 2021
  • Indie Film Night
    Chandler, AZ
    United States
    January 16, 2022
  • Cast & Crew Screening @ the Frida
    Santa Ana, CA
    United States
    November 13, 2021
    World Premiere
Director Biography - Cole Webb Harter

Cole Webb Harter is an artist from Arizona. He invites you to enter the Big Dream with him. Previous endeavors include Lactose Intolerance and the documentary Latitude Forty-Two.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My journey with the Mojave Phone Booth began with a short story I read on the internet in the fall of 2016. As horror fiction goes it was pretty standard fare, but what stood out to me was this image – a lone, forgotten, abandoned telephone out in the middle of nowhere. A telephone that still rings.

The desert harbors many secrets. The location of such an OBJECT is not incidental. In real life the Mojave Payphone was located between Baker, CA and Las Vegas, NV, an area notable for High Strangeness, home to George Van Tassel’s Integratron and Giant Rock. There’s something about this image, lodged in my mind, constant and foreboding.

Because, you see, a phone is a portal. In the every day, a phone is a portal to a time and place that is not in front of you right now. And for me, this image in my mind was a portal to all these ideas – ideas which would later become Erzsabet and the Mystery of Iniquity. Out of this single image, random associations, stray thoughts, daydreams coalescing into one whole. And BOOM! You’ve got yourself a story, Buster!

The Atomic Age. Y2K. The Hopeful Anxiety of the New Millennium, eclipsed by the horrors of 2001. When Deuce of Clubs discovered the Mojave Payphone in the twilight hours of the Twentieth Century, it was a time of excitement, opulence, and hope for the future. But this stony sleep was vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. One day it all came crashing down. A spectacle like none other. And it is to this New American Century, this world of tech, surveillance, and terrorism, that our intrepid heroine returns. For we have all been changed in a moment – in the Twinkling of an Eye. After the dying of the light, what remains in the gathering dark?

It cannot be all put into words, the mystery of all ages. But it can be known and felt if we listen with the ears of our hearts. To the sound of a wind whistling in the brush, to radio static, to the lonesome knell of a forgotten payphone in the Mojave Desert.