Locally-produced horror film to screen at Cucalorus Sunday

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A new psychological horror film with deep Port City roots is taking the spotlight at the Cucalorus Film Festival this weekend. The Confession, a modern retelling of the Pied Piper story, will screen Sunday at 4:15 p.m. at Thalian Hall Main.

Writer, director and executive producer Will Canon said the film blends scares with lighter moments while following a disturbing mystery.

“It’s a modern retelling of the Pied Piper story set in rural Texas,” Canon said. “It’s a fun horror film, so it’s got scares, but it’s also got some lighter moments.”

Canon said the idea began with a character-driven premise about dark family secrets.

“The story unfolds as a woman, she’s a musician, and she moves back home with her young son after her father has passed away,” he said. “She finds this cassette tape that he left in his house, and it’s got this grizzly confession on it about this horrific murder that he says he committed. She doesn’t know if it’s true… I thought it was a really interesting premise to find out something so troubling about a loved one after they’ve passed.”

Although the story is set in Texas, Canon said the project was filmed locally and features a large Wilmington-area cast and crew.

“The majority of the cast is from Wilmington and the whole area,” he said. “So Allie McCulloch, Ron Fallica, Justin Smith, Troy Rudeseal… a ton of people in front of the camera, a ton of people behind the camera.”

Production design played a major role in shaping the film’s unsettling environments, Canon said, noting the work of production designer “Jungle” Jim Shaughnessy.

“This movie was pretty tricky because we had to create a lot of different places — nooks, crannies, attics, basements,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of basements in Wilmington, so we had to create that. We created the attic in the old Acme Delco Middle School gym. Jungle and his team built this attic that looks phenomenal and has some really creepy things happening in it.”

Following its festival screening, the film will be released nationwide early next year.

“It’s going to be released across the US on January 16, streaming as well,” Canon said. He added that it will initially be available on platforms including Apple TV, Amazon, Fandango and Google Play, with additional services to follow.

Festival and screening information is available on the Cucalorus Film Festival website.