It Draws Closer – A Short Creature Feature

Sponsored Feature: Heebie-Jeebies Pictures

It Draws Closer is a new short horror film written and directed by Joshua David Matthews.

Watch the trailer here:

A young woman discovers the creature she just sketched is in the bedroom with her.

A Q&A with Writer/Director Joshua David Matthews

Welcome, Joshua! Thanks for joining us to discuss your new horror short It Draws Closer. What drew you to this story and the idea of a creature coming to life from a sketch?

The idea behind It Draws Closer came after I reached over to turn off my reading lamp in bed. There was a mirror next to it that showed underneath my bed, and once it went dark, I thought, “What if there is something under there waiting for me?” And just like that, I was five years old again, scared of the monster under my bed.

I can’t tell you how stories come together or why, but this one came rushing forward in an instant. I wrote the first draft that night while it was still fresh. Luckily, Brett Brooks, the actor who plays the creature in It Draws Closer, is a professional illustrator, so I knew the hook of this story would work.

I guess there is some subtext of willing your art into existence, which is something indie filmmakers have to do in order to get any film made. It’s always a miracle when one gets made. I just wanted to make the scariest short film I could in under five minutes.

Can you walk us through your creative process for designing the creature? And how did you bring the creature to life on screen?

The creature was originally written to be made of charcoal and look like it was a literal walking sketch. But, when I considered my budget (under 2K), my crew (four folks), and how much time we had to film (one day) I knew I had to cut back on my lofty goals. So I began pulling inspiration from various illustrations, paintings, and other films. Some creatures I love and discussed with the team are the Babadook, the Smile creature, and that weird blue creature, Huggy Wuggy. I still don’t know what that thing was.

In the end, I bought various prosthetics online that I thought, when combined, would create a unique-looking, creepy creature. I had no idea what the actual look was going to be until Jason Sheedy (my co-producer, editor, sound designer, AND make-up artist) finished applying all the prosthetics and make-up on Brett. It wasn’t until Brett’s scene was scheduled to be shot that I saw the entire creature for the first time. I believe Brett was in the make-up chair for seven hours of our 12-hour shoot, and loved every minute of it. Don’t ask him, just take my word for it.

And honestly, I love the look, and I’m very happy with the response it has gotten from festival audiences. Sometimes you just have to make a decision and hope for the best.

Brett was in the make-up chair for seven hours of our 12-hour shoot, and loved every minute of it.

Are there any classic horror films or creature features that inspired this project?

I can’t say that any classic films inspired this short, though I am sure things seep into your unconsciousness. I did watch a lot of short films online to see what else was out there, though, in an attempt to not copy someone else’s work, but also to see what resonated with audiences.

I did a lot of research on runtime to see how long a short can be before viewership drops. How many scares could people pack into that runtime, and how did they end? I learned a lot by watching all of these shorts and reworking my script to maximize the runtime of under five minutes that I decided to keep it at.

And honestly, I’m very happy with how many scares I could fit into the film without getting bored with it. Millage may vary with that one, though.

The protagonist’s relationship with her art seems central to the story. How do you think the creature’s presence will impact her?

Well, I think that question is answered at the end of the film – haha.

But I do think there is a longer version of this story that deals with art (of any form) and how it can help heal us and connect us, or — turning that on its head — how art can consume us. Now that isn’t the central message to this short or the longer version I’m discussing, but it is an interesting thought. How much of ourselves do we put into our art, and how does that affect us? How does it change us, and what do we lose by putting so much of us into art?

I don’t know the answer to those questions and feel like I’m workshopping an idea with this question. So thanks for putting yet another idea in the mix for me to noodle with.

How much of ourselves do we put into our art, and how does that affect us? How does it change us, and what do we lose by putting so much of us into art?

Congrats on your new production company Heebie-Jeebies Pictures! What kind of projects do you aim to produce and support through the company?

Thank you! I am very proud of Heebie-Jeebies Pictures and cannot wait to show everyone the things we are working on.

Heebie-Jeebies is a genre production company founded by Jason Sheedy, Kyle Steinike (Producer on all of our shorts), and myself. Through it, we have already produced three short films: It Draws Closer, To Hell With You, and Tapestry. Both To Hell With You and Tapestry were written and directed by Co-Founder Jason Sheedy. And, if you like a little movie trivia to go with your interviews, To Hell With You was filmed the same weekend, with the same cast and crew in the same bedroom as It Draws Closer. It is currently in the festival circuit as well.

But the end game is features. We love shorts, and I’ll probably always write and film some if the idea is strong enough, but we want to move Heebie-Jeebies Pictures into the feature-film game and are currently working on a few potential scripts to be our first in what we hope is a long line of projects.

I’m also very interested in podcasting and would love to produce a few of our ideas as scripted podcasts, but that is a whole other beast to tackle, so right now it’s just an idea. But… that’s how all things begin.

I understand you have other short horror films in the works – can you give us a sneak peek into what we can expect from these projects?

We do, we have a few projects that are on deck to be filmed this Summer and Fall. These are a bit too early for discussion, but there are some different sub-genres and formats that we are interested in experimenting with. Keep an eye out on our Instagram (shameless plug incoming) @heebiejeebiespictures, for updates when things go into production.

The one I can talk about is Tapestry. Jason’s new one is another micro-short that packs a whole lot of horror into a short runtime. It stars Erin Ownbey, a tremendous actress who has been working with the team since the very beginning, on Jason’s Fenestra (now available to stream on our YouTube channel, if you can handle another plug). It is about a desperate mother who performs an occult ritual with a supernatural tapestry to resurrect her lost child. I really think folks are gonna like this one. We are all very proud of it.

We have some exciting news about its Fall premiere but have to keep that under wraps for a little bit longer. Keep an eye out on the shameless plug above for updates on these shorts and all our future projects.

Learn more about It Draws Closer at heebiejeebiespictures.com.

Join the fun on social: Follow @heebiejeebiespictures and @joshdmatt on Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and like on Facebook.

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