Film Friday: In the Dark (2020)

My senior thesis, German expressionism, nightmares, and Grayson

Of all of the films I have worked on, either as a director, writer, actor, of even just a cameraman, one that I always come back to is a little gem called In the Dark, my senior thesis from my college days. While the finished product was up to par and was screened at the SCAD Student Showcase in the spring of 2020, the production itself hit several snags that left me thinking that the spirit of SCAD was subtly fucking with me for reasons unknown.

The film was inspired by my personal struggles with sleep paralysis. My senior year of high school, there was a period of two months where I was experiencing it several times a week. During these troublesome nights, a shadow figure would creep its way out of my closet, until on the final night, it was next to my bed watching over me. I can vividly remember shooting up in bed an watching it dissipate into the shadows. I turned on my lamp, my heart racing, my body drenched in sweat. I never saw it again after that point, but the saving grace was that it planted the seed for what was to come.

The film, which is a silent, black-and-white experimental film, follows a young man as he is stalked by a mysterious shadow. While there was going to be an actual plot with minimal dialogue, I ultimately cut it during post-production and let the visuals speak for themselves. This was around the time I fell in love with Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and wanted to emulate the work of my cinematic heroes who were active in German expressionism.

For the first time, I took control of my fear and became the shadow that hunted me as a teenager. Writing and directing the film, not to mention portraying the shadow, made it seem as if I were living at that sleep paralysis-induced nightmare all over again…only this time, I was at the reins and taking control.

Grayson preparing for the final showdown.