Field of Screams – an upcoming feature film

Sponsored Feature: Deescalated Pictures

Field of Screams is an upcoming horror comedy written and directed by Alix Moad & Evan Runkle.

Watch the teaser trailer here

Following the death of his grandfather Aleister, Allen Crowe enlists the help of his friends to clean out Aleister’s farmhouse. Along with old photos, dusty tchotchkes, and occult accouterment, the group of friends also finds Billy, a living scarecrow with his own ideas about what should stay and what should go.

A Q&A with directors Alix Moad & Evan Runkle

Thank you for joining us to discuss your upcoming horror comedy Field of Screams! I understand this will be your feature film debut, tell us how you came up with the concept for the film.

We wrote this script while we were living in Iowa, and our initial plan was to shoot it with no budget. So, the script was written with both of those things in mind – it had to be easy for us to make and it had to be something that made use of Iowa’s environment. With the antagonist, we wanted a monster that isn’t portrayed a lot in horror movies, and since we were already thinking about a farm for the main location of the film, a scarecrow seemed like a good choice. Because of our interest in different mythologies, we took a lot of inspiration from golems for this movie’s scarecrow. As for the core concept of the story, that came from Evan’s experience helping move his grandma out of her farm when he was younger.

Are there any other films or filmmakers that you drew inspiration from?

Since we’re co-writers and co-directors, we personally draw inspiration from filmmaking duos. Some Iowa filmmakers that have inspired us are “Insane” Mike Saunders and Jason Bolinger of Prescribed Films and Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers of A Quiet Place and the directors of films such as Nightlight, Haunt and 65.

There is a wide range of films that we drew inspiration from for Field of Screams. Der Golem, Pumpkinhead, and Dog Soldiers are examples of films that inspired our killer scarecrow Billy, while A Quiet Place, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Evil Dead have been huge inspirations for the visual style we’re hoping to achieve. When we got stuck on story structure, classic slashers like Friday the 13th and Halloween were great movies to draw story inspiration from.

What is the casting process like? Do you have actors on board already for the different roles?

Our casting process was pretty unique. When we brought our producer Calvin Shepherd on board, he connected us with a lot of actors from a previous project he’d been working on. Other members of our cast reached out to us on Instagram, and some were people we approached in a more traditional manner. Justin Marxen, who genre fans might know as the clown from Haunt, is a long-time friend of Evan’s, so we were excited to reconnect with him and add him to the cast.

Tell us about the crew BTS. How did you form your team for this film?

Our producer Calvin was instrumental in getting our crew together. He had a few connections that got us started, and then we were able to get more people on board from the recommendations of our cast members. All of our crew members are creators in their own rights and we’ve been excited to watch them collaborate on-set.

The killer scarecrow looks ominous in the teaser and stills! What were your goals when designing the look?

Our goals for designing the scarecrow were to walk the line between scary and cute. Without giving too much away, he isn’t just a killer scarecrow – there’s a heart beneath all that straw and flannel. We wanted him to feel like a fleshed-out character while still making sure the audience knew he wasn’t someone to mess with. We took a lot of inspiration from masked killers like the “father figure” in The Strangers, the Collector in The Collector, Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2 and the killer in The Town that Dreaded Sundown. The biggest inspiration for our killer scarecrow was the scary but adorable Sam from Trick ‘r Treat, which meant that we also had to make sure that our character’s design was distinct from Sam’s.

We took a lot of inspiration from masked killers like the “father figure” in The Strangers, the Collector in The Collector, Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2 and the killer in The Town that Dreaded Sundown.

Field of Screams’ Indiegogo campaign has now launched. What are some of the perks horror fans can receive from supporting the film?

In November 2023, we exceeded our Kickstarter goal of $7,000. Because of that successful campaign, we were able to launch on Indiegogo through their InDemand program to continue to raise funds that go directly to our amazing cast and crew as well as costumes, props, and the plethora of things that cost money when making a movie. Since the Indiegogo campaign is running closer to our production dates, the rewards are a little different from the ones we offered with our Kickstarter. Our Indiegogo perks include social media shoutouts, access to Field of Screams once it’s finished, exclusive BTS content, a special thanks in the movie’s credits, and merch like T-shirts and posters.