The Thief

After robbing two wealthy owners with the same name (Chad) and sexually assaulting Chad's wife, a trio consisting of two criminals and an accomplice arrive at the third Chad's house.

However, the name and address at the door are different from the list, and the trio stumble upon the ancient house next door with an overflow of Chad's mail...

  • Jon Yu
    Director
  • Jon Yu
    Writer
  • Jon Yu
    Producer
  • Yun-ti
    Producer
  • ?
    Key Cast
    "Lady"
  • ?
    Key Cast
    "Thief #1"
  • ?
    Key Cast
    "Thief #2"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    罪賊
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, Crime, Thriller
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Jon Yu

A Jack-of-all-trades visual storyteller since age 6.
A software technologist and entrepreneurial tech startup guy turned filmmaker with a focus on timeless, borderless, universal tales.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I am a big proponent of making films as efficiently and creatively autonomously as possible, and knew in the back of my mind that I would do something similar but different to Paranormal Activity, when I learned of its success in 2020.

The original idea for The Thief came to me in November 2022 when I was casting for a Horror Comedy short film that I had produced, written and directed, titled Candlelight. I promptly filed The Thief away without giving it much thought.

Fast forward to July 2023: A movie producer friend Huang huang and I had been exploring unique, viable ideas to collaborate on. We had sort of settled on another short film based around a cultural theme, but that film required considerable production values and the burden of over-complicated pre-production, both of which I had grown weary of in my journey as an indie filmmaker.

Then, when mulling over what to do, I started studying for the first time (I didn't hear about Paranormal until 2020) how Oren Peli went about making Paranormal Activity and transformed how horror films were made.

Inspiration hit me.

I saw a way to potentially do the same thing with the thriller genre, as Peli did with horror.

Immediately, I thought of The Thief - which originally was a dark comedy piece - and a vision for the thriller version was instantly born for how I would shoot it. A complete plot was finished within hours, spanning a few days. Meanwhile, I learned that Peli and I shared many filmmaking principles, namely focusing on story rather than equipment or effects, and I would make The Thief like how Peli made Paranormal, but with my own signature moves.

Over a meeting with Huang huang, I shared a few backup ideas should our original short get trapped in the pre-production pit, and idea for The Thief stuck.

We cannot predict the future or know what will happen with The Thief, but no matter what happens, I believe it will be a pretty cool feature film ;-)