BY MICHAEL GINGOLD
It’s a story of both apocalyptic and personal horror.
Dekkoo films has announced it is teaming with Lonely Spectre Productions and June Gloom Productions on SCORCH MARKS, which is currently rolling for release next year. Written and directed by Brendan Haley (EASTSIDERS, THE JESSICA CABIN), produced by Michael Varrati (THERE’S A ZOMBIE OUTSIDE, THE BOULET BROTHERS’ DRAGULA) and co-produced by Brandon Kirby, it stars Brandon Shypkowski (29 PALMS), Chris Salvatore (EATING OUT), Tiffany Shepis (ABOMINABLE, THE VIOLENT KIND), Peter Stickles (THE LAIR) and Vander Von Odd, the first winner on DRAGULA. The synopsis: “Waking to find scorched skies and apocalyptic dread looming on the horizon, Beckett [Shypkowski] now grapples with the chilling reality that he could be the lone survivor of a global catastrophe. Isolated to a coastal rental, Beckett’s grip on his surroundings begins to unravel, leaving him vulnerable to a vicious haunting at the hands of his abusive ex-husband, Joel [Salvatore]. Together, the couple must navigate their toxic past in high-society in order to survive the imminent dangers of their present, spectral omens, and the arrival of a primordial force from somewhere beyond the scorch marks.”
“At its core,” Haley says, “SCORCH MARKS is a meditation on the destructive nature of heteronormative culture, and how those who find themselves incompatible with it can often become lost in the storm. As a filmmaker, SCORCH MARKS is my love letter to the lofty and impactful works of Clive Barker and Samuel Beckett, while on a personal note, the film harbors many of my frustrations with the state of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment and how authentic queer stories, and challenging queer stories in particular, rarely get their proper bells and whistles. With our basic human rights once again under attack, I find it imperative to make art that has the power to lift up the community as well as confront its deep scars, especially when those scars are at the hands of a society that deems us unnatural, terrorists, and/or second-hand citizens. I am thrilled to bring this project to life after many years, and that I get to mark it as my directorial debut. I owe my gratitude to Brian, Derek, and the entire Dekkoo team for running with this unique vision, one of grief and nihilism, but also one of great hope.”
In a statement, the June Gloom team say, “SCORCH MARKS is the kind of confrontational, smart genre material that we love to see, while also speaking to something extremely intimate about the queer experience. This is exactly the kind of project we created our company to support…and we’re thrilled to be involved in the making of this bold vision.”
