01
THE FILM
"They say a guilty conscience can eat you alive..."
In the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Chris, a paranoid and self-centered man, is happily avoiding all human contact, preferring to escape from reality in whatever's on TV. When a friend reaches out to him to confront him about his past promises, Chris has to decide what kind of person he is inside, or it may just eat him...alive.
02
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Obtaining Hollywood quality on a shoe string budget
Challenges are part of my life, I never back down nor surrender to adversities. As I was choosing the best way possible to debut as a Director I was tormented by my lack of finances so I decided to try and do my best using the bare minimum.
What if I could shoot a movie with just one actor, set in just one location with an enemy that could not be seen? All while making it look amazing as a top Hollywood blockbuster and as shocking and funny as classics like "The Evil Dead" and "Dead Alive?
Keeping the story very small scale would allow me to shoot with a tiny budget and I could do most of the jobs on set myself. I embarked on this adventure with a team of friends who trusted me and two very special people in my life, my friend Antonio Vannucci, with whom I had also shared my career as a martial artist back in Italy, and Lucy Chun Yan, my long time business partner during my Years in China.
Antonio helped me finance the short while Lucy handled all the duties as a line producer. Teamwork and mutual trust lead to what "Escalation" is today. A short film which is the embodiment of that challenge that I decided to embark upon.
Just one character, one room, one invisible villain. And now if I can keep an audience glued to the screen with just such little things then my mission as a Director is accomplished.
03
THE MISSION
From Short Film to Feature Film!
Life is a beautiful dream for some, while it is a daily nightmare for others. Few are lucky and find balance between the light and the darkness, being able to experience life at its fullest, but many others are afraid of exploring one of these sides.
Many hate people who live their dream lifes, many are afraid of looking into the abyss of pain and suffering that life can also be so they create a door to keep what they do not like at bay.
As filmmakers we hold the key to that door and we are never, ever afraid of opening it to let darkness and light fight their eternal battle. With my short film "Escalation" I wanted to open that door once and for all and now that the short film is out there it is time to make "Escalation" shock the World by making it into a full length feature film.
Body horror, nightmarish visions, cannibalizing guilt and a story that will throw out of the window all the tropes that people usually associate to horror movies.