Mad Brew | A Horror Short Film
Just in time for Halloween, a small film project I wrote and directed
Happy Halloween-ish.
As I mentioned back in February, I made a short film last year, which I submitted to several festivals throughout 2025. With the days of horror hitting their annual peak and the season of scary festivals coming to an end, it seems like the perfect time to show it to everyone. So without any further ado, here is Mad Brew (followed by further ado).
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Mad Brew recently played at GenreBlast Film Festival, Nightmares Film Festival, and From Beyond Film Festival. The film was originally made as part of the h48 film competition, in which participating teams have 48 hours. Teams are assigned a sub-genre, a prop, and a line of dialogue that they are required to include in the film to make sure they can’t cheat by starting early. In our case, we had to make a paranormal horror film that included a pair of knitting needles, and a character saying, “Nope. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
As a standup comedian, I have often worked with Mad Swede Brewing, and they were kind enough to let me film at one of their locations, including in the actual brewery where all the equipment is. When you’re making a movie on 48 hours with no budget, it’s helpful to have access to a location that’s a little more interesting to look at than your own apartment. We spent a long day filming in the brewery, with a group of people I know from Boise’s standup and theater communities.
I hope you enjoy Mad Brew. While I write all the time, it had been a long time since I had directed. I hope to do some more of it soon.