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Hate Served Cold

In a sun-scorched desert motel, two mismatched friends and a bickering couple find their simmering tensions brought to a boil. As petty grievances, clashing egos and the relentless heat collide, a strange smell and a series of unsettling clues suggest they’re not alone. Tempers flare and alliances shift, and the group must decide whether they’re overreacting… or about to uncover something truly unhinged lurking just beyond the thin motel walls.

  • Olz McCoy
    Director
  • Michael Driscoll
    Director
  • Kimberly Divad
    Writer
  • Martina Silcock
    Producer
  • Elyse Levesque
    Key Cast
    "Jamie"
  • Kristian Bruun
    Key Cast
    "Karl"
  • Kimberly Divad
    Key Cast
    "Kaizer"
  • Kevin Clayette
    Key Cast
    "Jay"
  • Andrew DiBartolomeo
    Key Cast
    "The Stranger"
  • Thomas Revington
    Cinematographer
  • Theo Cowen
    Editor
  • Lorena Perez Batista
    Composers
  • Juan Andres Matos
    Composers
  • Jack Kosoyan
    Visual Effects
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 5, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Olz McCoy, Michael Driscoll

MICHAEL DANIELE DRISCOLL:
London born and Award-winning Writer/Director Michael Driscoll started his career in the Art Department on films such as CASINO ROYALE and BATMAN BEGINS, before assisting directors such as Ridley Scott, Jonas Åkerlund and Joe Carnahan.

Michael’s 2nd Unit Directing credits include 26 episodes of Netflix Original TV drama series BORGIA. Michael also worked on season 1 of HBO's TRANSPORTER: THE SERIES directing 2nd Unit stunt sequences plus producing its EPK.

In 2018 Michael was selected for the BAFTA Newcomers in LA program. His first short film TWO BLACK COFFEES received international acclaim during its festival run in 2018. His work was described by Buzzfeed and Thrive Global as “a command of tone and character to create a distinguished... highly visual style”.

OLZ MCCOY:
Olz is a film director and editor who loves telling stories that stick. Whether it’s award-winning documentaries (not to brag) or commercials featuring Idris Elba (okay he's bragging), his work has taken him everywhere from the chilly glaciers of Greenland to the sun-soaked world of Love Island.

Aged only 26 his films have been featured on BBC News, Piccadilly Circus and screened at the BFI twice. His films are powerful, meaningful and emotional, driven by the belief that film is the best medium to entertain and educate.

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Director Statement

HATE SERVED COLD is a dark comedy horror that does exactly what it says on the tin: a collection of deeply irritating people trapped in a small space, doing what humans do best; escalating minor annoyances into full-blown chaos.

We’re co-directors Michael Driscoll and Olz McCoy, and this film was born out of constraint. During the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strike, we wanted to strip everything back and make something lean: one location, a handful of characters, and a pressure-cooker premise that could still draw blood. What started as a practical limitation quickly became the film’s creative engine.

We’re drawn to stories where petty behaviour curdles into something unhinged. Beef and The White Lotus were key touchstones, not for their scale, but for their ability to balance dark humour with creeping dread. We leaned hard into awkwardness, passive aggression, and that specific kind of social friction that’s hilarious… right up until it isn’t.

Setting the film in Morongo Valley, California let us crank up the discomfort. Wide open desert, relentless heat, eerie quiet. A place where there’s nowhere to hide, not from the environment, and definitely not from each other.

Visually, collaborating with our Director of Photography Thomas Revington was essential to grounding the absurdity. We wanted the world to feel deceptively calm and sun-drenched, letting the performances, and the mounting paranoia, do the heavy lifting.

In post, we had an incredible team help us push the film into deliciously over-the-top territory. Composers Lorena Perez Batista and Juan Andres Matos crafted a tight, pulsing, claustrophobic score that deepens both the comedy and the tension, with echoes of Conclave and The Substance. Our VFX team took the climax to outrageous new heights, because if you’re going to end, you might as well end with a visual shock or two (or ten).

Ultimately, we hope audiences connect with the film’s offbeat characters, its dark, unsettling humour, and the guilty pleasure of watching small grievances snowball into something ridiculous and slightly disturbing. Above all, we want it to be fun, tense, awkward, and just a little bit like…should I be laughing right now?