Private Project

Doomed

The forest recording sessions of the grunge rock band
Awakening fall into disarray when the lead singer becomes
enchanted by an immortal talking tree. DOOMED is a parable
of creativity and confusion that fuses the puppets and mud
pits of 1980's fantasy movies with the hope and destruction
of 1990’s alternative rock.

  • Allen Riley
    Director
    The Grateful Undead
  • Allen Riley
    Writer
  • Allen Riley
    Producer
  • Matt Ando
    Producer
    The Grateful Undead
  • David Kolsky
    Key Cast
    "Glofin (voice)"
  • Renee Dee
    Key Cast
    "Fiona"
  • Sam Crismon
    Key Cast
    "Dougie"
  • Matt Ando
    Key Cast
    "Melvin"
  • Meg Powers
    Key Cast
    "Glofin (puppeteer)"
    The Spectral Citadel
  • Allen Riley
    Key Cast
    "Lars"
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Genres:
    fantasy, grunge, slacker, rock and roll
  • Runtime:
    58 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 30, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Spectacle Theater
    Brooklyn, NY
    United States
    August 6, 2022
  • SubRosa
    Santa Cruz
    United States
    October 26, 2023
Director Biography - Allen Riley

Allen Riley is an artist and educator working with video and electronic media. He designs hands-on learning at Beam Center and builds arcade cabinets with Death by Audio Arcade in Brooklyn, NY. Riley's work has been presented at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, AS220, Union Docs, Spectacle Theater, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He has an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from the New York State College of Ceramics and is a PhD student in Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I filmed DOOMED with friends in the hills and swamps surrounding Jonas, PA from September 2009 to September 2011 with a backpack containing point-and-shoot digital cameras, a handheld audio recorder, a thrift store tripod, and a puppet made from burlap, latex, alpaca wool, and glass taxidermy eyes. The production crept into a realm of immersive fiction with the cast & crew living collectively for weeks and even sleeping overnight in the empty chicken coop where interior scenes were filmed.

Production was halted in 2011 when the puppet was destroyed by wild animals. I returned to the footage years later and composed an ambient musical soundtrack using cassette tapes that I recorded as a teenager in the 1990s. The resulting film creates a wormhole across moments in time. Welcome to the tangled roots of DOOMED!