TV’s KAELEN OHM TO LEAD CAST OF NEW GENRE-BLENDING HORROR, STARTS ROLLING IN CANADA
Award-winning director Ashlea Wessel takes the helm for ‘The Miseries’ with Paul Sarossy as cinematographer.
A crying baby; A tormented mother; A haunted loop in time. From award-winning director Ashlea Wessel (TICK, Creepy Bits) and writer Sarah Gignac (Rage Monster) comes The Miseries, a new genre-blending horror. Stricken with shame following her husband’s murder, the film follows Bree, played by TV’s Kaelen Ohm (FROM) as she tries to start her life over. Suddenly at the whim of a cursed and haunted apartment, Bree desperately tries to escape until she finds herself stuck in an endless time-loop where she, and other women like her, are forced to grapple with their own trauma. Filming of The Miseries will take place through May 2025 in Nova Scotia, Canada.
“The Miseries is a fascinating project for me as a filmmaker and as a horror fan,” says director Ashlea Wessel. “This film plays with psychological horror conventions in a way that subverts and celebrates well trodden tropes, while pushing the boundaries of the genre through mind-bending, non-linear storytelling. Thematically, it’s an exploration of human guilt and trauma from a female perspective, investigating how our individual experiences are never just ours. In some way, they’re part of a larger shared experience, for better or for worse.”
Turning a distinctly female lens onto the horror genre, Wessel and Gignac force viewers to reconcile their own understandings of identity, trauma and the legacies of women who come before, during and after. Spanning multiple realities, timelines and genres, The Miseries is as frightening as it is timely as it asks the uncomfortable question of what it takes for us to heal from legacies of trauma that span time and space.
About Ashlea Wessel (Director)
ASHLEA WESSEL is a filmmaker hailing from Ontario, Canada. Her films use elements of horror, sci-fi and fantasy as a framework to explore themes of social, political and personal upheaval. She tells her stories using an arresting visual style that couples stark realism with a phantasmagoric flair.
Wessel is a recipient of the WIFTV Genre Award and completed the WIDC Career Advancement Module in 2019, facilitating the development of numerous projects. Her award-winning shorts have screened at festivals around the globe and she looks forward to the release of her first feature film, Junction Row in 2025. She is currently in production on her Second Feature film, The Miseries.
About Picture Plant
Established in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1981, Picture Plant is a small but dynamic production house that continues to leave its mark with award-winning character-driven feature films, long-form documentaries, and nationally broadcast dramatic/comedic series. The company’s many award-winning films have been invited to festivals around the world, including Berlin and TIFF, and have been celebrated in retrospectives in Melbourne, Paris and Canada. Longtime company partner Terry Greenlaw is producing The Miseries.
Follow Picture Plant:
https://pictureplant.com/
