Looking for scary movies to add to your Halloween watch list? Look no further than the latest project from a local filmmaking team.
Micha Marie Stevens, Chance Gibbs, Trey Murphy and Jason Vandygriff have been producing horror movies for years. They were the team behind 2023鈥檚 , a film inspired by the Denton urban legend of Goatman鈥檚 Bridge. This year, they released a new thriller called Blood Dried Hands.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about a reluctant serial killer that鈥檚 grappling with his faults in life and who he is,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 a small-town detective that also is grappling with her own issues. It鈥檚 [about their] cat-and-mouse game to get to each other.鈥�
The script was written by Vandygriff, who is also a police officer in Wichita Falls. In the film, Stevens portrays Sgt. Investigator Edi Sharp, the detective who is tracking down the serial killer. Stevens said she went all-in for the role and completed some rookie police training and ride-alongs with officers.
The nearly two-hour film is .
Before Blood Dried Hands鈥� national streaming release, it screened at film festivals in Austin, Las Vegas and New York. It was also screened in other countries at festivals, including the Florence Film Awards in Italy, the Hong Kong Indie Film Festival, the Barcelona Independent Film Festival in Spain, the London Movie Awards and the Sweden Film Awards in Stockholm.
Stevens said Blood Dried Hands won more than 100 awards at these festivals in categories such as best feature film, best genre film and best director. Stevens also won a total of 10 best actress awards from different festivals.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 sure how it was going to be received,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e put a lot of our heart into it 鈥� and I think you can see that.鈥�
She said it has been about two and a half years since the script was written. Since then, the film was cast, shot and sent to postproduction. And after its successful festival run, it is now available for streaming just in time for Halloween.
Stevens said she鈥檚 looking forward to the holiday.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been a Halloween dork,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been 鈥榯hat house鈥� in the neighborhood, pretty much since I鈥檝e owned a house, like decorating and making it spooky.鈥�
She also said Denton鈥檚 31 Days of Halloween program is a 鈥渃ool concept,鈥� noting that the city might gravitate toward the holiday partly because there are spooky local legends like Goatman.
The tale of Goatman isn鈥檛 the only local ghost story she鈥檚 heard 鈥� Stevens said she knows of many people who have claimed to see Civil War-era ghosts around the downtown Square.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of artist types in the community itself,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淎nd maybe it is the fact that there鈥檚 so many little ghost stories around here 鈥� so when you鈥檝e got a whole bunch of creative minds, and you hear these little snippets of stories, like, why not have fun with it?鈥�