James Cullen Bressack is going low-fi for his upcoming horror feature. The filmmaker will shoot I Have Proof entirely on VHS-C, a move to match the back-to-basics approach of the script he wrote.
Plot details are being kept locked in an old VCR, but the film is said to be psychologically charged, and favor “texture, imperfection, and immediacy over polish” according to Bressack, as it explores a deteriorating sense of reality.
To find enough VHS cassettes to shoot on, he purchased around 30 tapes from Ebay, buying people’s old home movies to record over.
I Have Proof marks his return to the horror genre after a decade away spent helming action films, such as the Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer Darkness of Man, as well as features starring Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson. Before that, Bressack was a fixture of low-budget horror, helming his first movie at 18 and directing projects such as Bethany.
“This is me going back to raw, stripped-down horror,” said Bressack. “I saw a review on Letterboxd from someone who liked my early work and said they missed when I use to make grungy horror films. It stuck with me. It pushed me to return to that space and make something that feels immediate and real for those that watched my films in the beginning. We’re leaning fully into analog to create something AI couldn’t replicate and wouldn’t even know how to approach; something human and raw.”
Larsen Deane and Lilly Van Der Meer star in I Have Proof, with Kelly Lynn Reiter and B.J. Hendricks appearing in supporting roles. Production begins in Los Angeles later this month.
Bressack produces via his Sandaled Kid Productions banner with David Josh Lawrence. Hendricks executive produces with and James Rundquist of Robotic Donut. Kay Day co-produces.
