‘Christmas is coming early!
OTC Industries partners with Dark Matters to premiere THE WOODSMAN, their award-winning, festive horror short
Tue 11th July, 7pm EST sees the exclusive online premiere of comedy horror THE WOODSMAN on the Dark Matters YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/9eDHUYAaNnw. This will be followed by a live streamed Q&A with the film’s director Kyle Kuchta and star John R. Smith, Jnr.
THE WOODSMAN is produced by Boston-based OTC Industries, creators of the cult cinema documentary SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS. It is premiering off the back of a successful festival run where it picked up five awards and appeared at more than twenty festivals across the US and Europe. It tells the story of Bernie Davis (John R. Smith, Jnr), a Christmas tree salesman, who has just three trees left to sell on Christmas Eve. As the night progresses, his anxiety (and blood alcohol level) increases, leading him to take unconventional measures to ensure that his lot is sold… and his soul is safe.
THE WOODSMAN is a quirky, comedy-horror featuring a strong central performance. It was originally conceived by writer/director, Kyle Kuchta, as part of a Tales From the Crypt style series but it wasn’t until COVID hit that the opportunity arose to get it made. Kyle says: “I was eager to work on a narrative project after the successful release of SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS. Given the limited filming rules during COVID, it was the most easily adapted screenplay I had, so I edited from 23-pages down to 13, and went from eight characters down to just one.”
The decision paid dividends with the casting of theatre actor John R Smith, Jnr to play the role of Bernie: “Our star, John, is a theatre actor who started doing more film auditioning during the pandemic. We were blown away by his audition reel, which just screamed Bernie! The decision as his solo performance has been the most celebrated aspect of the film during its film festival run”.
Working with producer and long-time collaborator, Bill Fulkerson, they gathered a small but mighty team to film for two freezing cold New England nights in March 2021. The film was then edited throughout the remainder of the year.
THE WOODSMAN premiered in June 2022 at the Chattanooga Film Festival. It went on to win awards at Bridgeport Film Festival (Best Male Performance Comedy), Mystic Film Festival (Best Art Direction), Skiptown Playhouse International Film Festival (Best Thriller Short), Tabloid With Awards (Best Comedic Actor) and South East Regional FIlm Festival (Best Psychological Thriller (Short)).
Carl Timms, owner of Dark Matters channel, says: “We are delighted to be hosting the premiere of THE WOODSMAN on Dark Matters. This is our first exclusive acquisition so the fact Kyle and Bill chose us specifically as the platform to showcase the film is a real testament to what we are trying to achieve with the channel.
“As a hugely passionate horror fan and horror filmmaker myself, I know how easily horror shorts can get lost in the noise online so it gives me huge pleasure to work with exciting teams like OTC Industries and promote their work.”
About OTC Industries
OTC Industries is owned and run by Bill Fulkerson. BIll is the host of long-running cult cinema podcast Outside the Cinema and moved into commercial filmmaking with the documentary Survival of the Film Freaks, collaborating for the first time with Kyle Kuchta in 2019. Together they have worked on a number of documentary and creative projects including Safer Spaces: A Film About Shawna Potter (2020) and The Woodsman (2022). They also create corporate promotional films in the health care, sports, and audio engineering sectors.
More information: https://www.otcindustries.net/
About Dark Matters
Dark Matters is an independent, horror-themed YouTube channel created by producer/director Carl Timms, creator of the hit zombie short Still. It aims to bring the most original, scariest and mind-bending horror to genre fans. With a rapidly growing subscriber base and slate of original horror content, the channel aims to give opportunities to new filmmakers who otherwise may get overlooked in a crowded market. Dark Matters gives them an opportunity to monetise their content via an ad-revenue share model that is transparent and ethical.
More information: https://www.darkmatterfilms.co.uk/
