Poster and teaser debut for the horror short film "Mad Brew"
The five-minute short is coming to festivals in 2025
My last major directing project was the feature film Jesse Thunderwake: American Icon, way back in 2012. Since then, every year or two I start telling myself I’m going to do another one, but by the time I have a script finished, there’s usually a new idea I’m dying to get to work on, and the cycle repeats. Between screenplays, novels, short stories, and standup, it seems I can never quite make time to produce or direct a new movie.
So, last year, I finally made myself enter h48—a competition where teams have 48 hours to make 5-minute horror films. I figured, even if it’s not a new feature, at least it will force me to finally direct something new.
We got permission to film in the back of the brewery where I do a lot of my standup, and I brought a few friends from the local comedy and theater scenes together to make a fun little short film about an evil brewing tank.
It’s nothing too ambitious, but it was a fun way to shake the dust off as a filmmaker after a lot of years of slacking.
Beginning now, I’m sending it around to a few of my favorite genre festivals. I’ve been attending a lot of these festivals for years now, but usually just with my latest unproduced screenplay tucked under my arm. This year, I am excited to finally have something to show on the screen.
Here is the official poster, designed by Derek Stewart.
And here is (very) brief teaser trailer.
I’ll post updates when I know for sure where we’re playing, but if we’re coming to your city, I hope to see you there.
Mad Brew was written and directed by Greg Sisco and stars Chris Foster and Skyler Crangle. The crew included Cat Miller (director of photography), Justin Marshall Elias (original music and sound design), and Hailee Lenhart-Wees (boom operator).