St. Osmund's is an independent psychological horror film project being produced by myself and twelve other film students at Keene State College.
SYNOPSIS
St. Osmund's State Psychiatric Hospital was once home to more mental patients than anywhere else in the United States. In 1963, it shut down with no records of why or what happened to the 15,000 mental patients who were there when the doors closed.
Fifty years later, a documentary film crew travels to the facility to try and answer the questions the administrators of the hospital left behind. When they arrive, they find themselves trapped inside as a mysterious force subjects them to the same nightmarish conditions the patients once endured. They soon discover that their only chance of getting out is to go farther in and answer the question burning in their minds: what happened at St. Osmund's?
GOALS
The crew and I are incredibly excited to begin production on St. Osmund's, which will be produced in a "found footage" style. The choice to go with this format comes from a desire to externalize the concept of perception; that is to say, the camera will be used to question what is real and what isn't. This format has a recent history in Hollywood of being abused and just used for the sake of having the "Blair Witch" or "Paranormal Activity" look. We love and respect those films, but unlike the legions of imitators that came after them, the crew and I fully intend on using the format to enhance our story thematically, not just visually.
Horror is stigmatized as being less artistically valid than more mainstream genres and we're aiming to erase that stigma, or at least prove it wrong. That isn't the only stigma we're trying to prove wrong, though.
1 in 17 Americans have a serious mental illness and are seen by many as second-class citizens. While much of St. Osmund's horror will come from the terrifying patients of the "abandoned" asylum, as the story progresses, our film will make clear that these people aren't really aggressors in the truest sense, but victims of society's misunderstanding of them. The true evil, as we'll reveal, comes out of the mistreatment of these disorders.
With your contributions, we will be helping to fund the production of the film. Your money will be going towards:
- Prop and costume purchasing
- Equipment rental and transportation
- Creating and distributing promotional items (posters, t-shirts, etc.
- Burning and shipping DVDs/Blu-Rays once the film is complete
- Paying for festival submission fees so we can expose St. Osmund's to a wider audience and try to secure distribution for it!
CONCLUSION
Whatever your contribution, even if it's telling a friend about the film, we really appreciate the time you've taken to consider our project. With your help, we can create a really memorable entry into the horror genre and you'll know you were an integral part of it.
Welcome to St. Osmund's.
-Tom Jorgensen, Writer/Director
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Funding period
- (30 days)