About the Series

    It’s 1956 and the entire suburban town of Plainview, CT is gathered at the big basketball game, when suddenly an air raid siren sends everyone running to the nearest fallout shelter. RED SCARE is the story of ten strangers—among them a greaser, a beatnik, and a Romanian exchange student with an unfortunate accent—who hide in one of these fallout shelters, only to discover that they’ve locked themselves in with a VAMPIRE! Unable to risk going out into the sunlight because of the air raid, they must figure out who among them is the bloodsucker before it’s too late.

RED SCARE is a comedic murder mystery told in eight 5-8 minute episodes. It combines the period fun of PLEASANTVILLE, the suspense and paranoia of Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, and the dark wit of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. (Also the vampire part.) Though RED SCARE was written specifically for the web, the story is structured like a traditional TV mini-series. Each briskly-paced episode builds up to a thrilling cliffhanger ending that will leave audiences anxious to see the next installment.

RED SCARE’s cast represents a cross-section of classic 1950s archetypes pushed to comedic extremes: prim and proper Lois struggles to prevent any boy-girl bed-sharing, nerdy Huey thinks everyone’s a communist, and perfect housewife Vivienne bakes batch after batch of cookies to cope with the bleak situation. But there's more to each character than meets the eye, and the truth will come out—with results that are sometimes deadly, sometimes hilarious and often both!

(Concept art by Sam Tung)

About the Creative Team

RED SCARE is the brainchild of writer/producers Sam Roberts and Tom Keenan. Both Sam and Tom bring first-hand production experience to the project—Sam on his web drama EXCLUSION SUITE and Tom with his stage play THE OTHER SHOOTER.

Attached to direct the project is Lee Citron, whose award-winning short films ANDROID LOVE and IDIOT BOX have been featured in festivals all over the world, including the Newport Beach Film Festival. ANDROID LOVE also received a Best Production Design award in the 2011 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. With ANDROID LOVE’s Production Designer Jason Kisvarday on board, Lee will be able to bring the same level of detail to RED SCARE, capturing the 1950s look and feel that is crucial to its premise.

What's the Kickstarter for?

The cast and crew of RED SCARE are giving our time and energy to this project because we believe in it, not because we’re counting on any kind of significant paycheck at the finish line.  We’re fortunate enough to have a lot of volunteers, a lot of favors, and a lot of enthusiasm, but there are some things only money can buy...

    The nature of RED SCARE as an escalating murder mystery/bloodbath in a confined location makes it easier to shoot the entire thing at once - all eight episodes in a single go.  In order to do the concept justice, we want to create an authentic 1950s fallout shelter, complete with Ovaltine and poodle skirts, sweater vests and cinder blocks.  Costumes, props, and set design will make up most of our budget, while the rest will be spent on top-notch lighting and editing, as well as meals for the cast and crew.  (People will work for free, but they won’t work hungry.)  RED SCARE also has some jaw-dropping action sequences, which, if done cheaply, just won’t be as jaw-dropping as we’d like.

    We can’t emphasize enough how much your sponsorship means to us, but we can offer some fun rewards in exchange for your desperately-needed donations.  Check out the incentives listed on the right and pick your favorite.  We really appreciate it!

And remember, Better undead... than red!