Private Project

The Devil in Me

In a dusty nowhere town of the Nevada desert, a stranded drifter wins an ancient hourglass in a late-night card game, unaware that it carries a violent, soul-hungry curse. As the sand inside begins to fall, the object twists his mind and forces him toward unspeakable acts, feeding on the lives it consumes. With time running out and the line between fate and possession blurring, he must confront the evil now living inside him before the hourglass claims his soul entirely. A folk-horror western about isolation, temptation, and the cost of borrowed time.

  • Karl Redgen
    Director
    Outer Reaches, Closed Circuit
  • Karl Redgen
    Writer
  • Michael Redgen
    Writer
    Outer Reaches
  • Cody Hamilton
    Producer
    Serial Confessions
  • Karl Redgen
    Producer
    Outer Reaches, Closed Circuit, The Deep Vessel
  • Jordan Morgan
    Key Cast
    "The Drifter"
    Outer Range, Duster, Obliterated
  • Keoki Trask
    Key Cast
    "The Stranger"
    The Legend of King Kang-Mi, Midnight Mares, Ultraviolence: The Afro-Slasher from Hell
  • Lucas Pitassi
    DP
    It Bleeds, Drive Back, The Power of Positive Murder
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Horror, Western
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 1, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    90,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Arri Alexa Mini LF
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Karl Redgen

Karl Redgen is an Australian filmmaker based in Reno, NV whose work spans horror, sci-fi, and genre-bending storytelling with a strong emphasis on atmosphere, character, and world-building. Beginning his career shooting skateboard videos and music clips, Karl has spent over twenty years developing a hands-on approach to filmmaking.

His short films Closed Circuit and Outer Reaches have screened internationally and collected multiple awards, and he continues to explore ambitious, emotionally charged stories through both short-form and feature-length projects.

Karl’s work is defined by a passion for practical creativity, collaboration, and a lifelong love of genre cinema. He is currently developing several feature projects while building a creative community through Forgotten Astronaut Media.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The Devil in Me began as a story about pressure, time, and the quiet ways people unravel when no one is watching. I’ve always been drawn to characters who live on the edges of society, and the idea of a cursed hourglass felt like the perfect metaphor for the weight we carry and the choices that shape us. In the lonely stretches of the Nevada desert, time doesn’t move the same way, and the film leans into that isolation — the sense that something ancient can still find you out there.

My goal with this film was to tell a folk-horror western that feels intimate rather than expansive, grounded in performance and slowly building dread. We relied heavily on practical effects, natural light, real locations, and a lived-in texture to create a world where the supernatural feels inevitable, not fantastical. The hourglass itself isn’t just a prop, it’s a presence — a quiet antagonist that steals more than life, it steals agency.

At its core, the film is about a man wrestling with his own darkness, forced to confront who he becomes when fate tightens around him. It’s a story about corruption, guilt, and the fear that some debts cannot be escaped.

The Devil in Me is the kind of horror I love — human, haunted, and rooted in something real.