Horror fanatics and film junkies!
Get ready for ETSU’s newest local superstar: Jacob Vanhuss.
Vanhuss has been a professor at ETSU since 2013 in the Radio, TV and Film Department, and has recently started producing a short horror film. Vanhuss reflects on his inspiration to take on this project.
“Part of the curriculum for the screenwriting master’s [program] was writing films. I kept having extra ideas dangling, and I was just kinda like, well maybe I might use some of these,” Vanhuss said.
Vanhuss reflected on what inspired him in the beginning to do a short horror film.
“[I am] very influenced by ’70s horror ad by ’80s slashers- that’s what I grew up with. I always enjoyed those movies because they always played with interesting themes. I wanted to do something that was fun, that harkened back to that,” said Vanhuss.
This statement was only further proved by the many posters he had in his office of movies like “Nightmare of Elm Street” (1984) and “The Shining” (1980).
Jason Voorhees figures stood menacingly on the shelves, but also stood proud and reminiscent of a golden age in film history.
This horror short will focus around feelings of paranoia, and the claustrophobia that accompanies that feeling. While the film is still in early production stages, Vanhuss went into detail about the themes of his short film, and a specific piece of media which inspired him.
“The inspiration for this is paranoia and claustrophobia, how paranoia can build into moments of claustrophobic action,” Vanhuss said.
“Something I’ve been watching recently spurred this [theme] on, ‘Servant’ by M. Night Shyamalan. They really play with this idea a lot. Most of the action takes place in this brownstone in Philadelphia. What could you do with that? How could you explore that further?” Vanhuss said.
While the release date in unknown, Vanhuss is confident that there will be a screening of the short film at ETSU.
