Synopsis
When Hallowe’en is hijacked by a Japanese doomsday cult, a girl and her siblings are forced to flee into the harsh conditions of winter.
Reviews
“The second short from the 2015 Blood in the Snow Film Festival, KURAYAMI NO WA is a rather batshit-crazy short film made by–get this–fifteen year old director and co-writer Morgana McKenzie. In it, a Japanese doomsday cult hands out tainted candy on Halloween which turns the population into murderous zombies. The plague spreads and the survivors are forced out into the harsh Canadian wilderness. The acting by the young cast is fantastic, and McKenzie tells the story in such a way that Tarantino himself could learn a trick or two. This is a fantastically fun and crazy short.”
“This one’s a doozy. Kurayami no Wa (Japanese for “of the darkness”) follows teens in the wilderness as they try to survive an apocalypse induced by Halloween candy that turns people into zombies. It’s got a classical guitar score that will immediately make you pay attention, and offers a really compelling depiction of children learning to deal with a violent world. There’s also a detail about this short that I simply can’t leave out. The director, Morgana McKenzie, is only 16 years old. Making a film that’s this beautiful and offers such a unique perspective on a tired trope at her age is a remarkable achievement. I can only hope that McKenzie continues to work in film. If Kurayami no Wa is any indication, she has a fantastic body of work ahead of her. I commend BITS for showcasing her talent.”
Awards
- Dead Walk – Best Student Film
- ConCarolinas – Best Original Score
- Kingston Canadian – Best Youth Short
- ITSA– Best Student Film
- Downtown Tyler – Best Young Filmmaker
- CineYouth – Best Thriller, Junior Division
- Ottawa STUFF – First Place
Nominations, Honorable Mentions
- Dead Walk – Nominated Best Cinematography
- East Anglian – Nominated, Best Horror
Official Selections
2016
- Dead Walk – (Madison, WI) June 11
- ConCarolinas – (Charlotte, NC) June 3-5
- Portland Horror – (Portland, OR) June 1-2
- Kingston Canadian – (Kingston, Canada) Feb 25-28
- Boomtown Film & Music – (Beaumont, TX) Feb 25-27
2015
- Tustin (Tustin, CA) Nov 20
- ITSA – (Sonora, CA) Nov 13-15
- Blood in the Snow – (Toronto, Canada) Oct 27-29
- Fake Flesh – (Kamloops, Canada) Oct 29-30
- Twisted Horror Picture Show – (Woodward, OK) Oct 30
- Northern Frights – (Sudbury, Canada) Oct 24
- Adelaide – (Adelaide, Australia) Oct 23-31
- Ottawa International – (Ottawa, Canada) Oct 16-18
- East Anglian – (Suffolk, England) Oct 16
- Urban Mediamakers – (Norcross, GA) Oct 8-11
- Ocktober – (New York, NY) Oct 1-4
- Guam International (Guam) Sep 26-30
- Ottawa Spookshow and Fantastic Film – (Ottawa, Canada), Sep 12
- Midwest Sci-Fi Short Film Festival – (Bloomington, MN) July 3
- TIFF Next Wave Jump Cuts – (Toronto) May 19
- CineYouth – (Chicago) May 7-9
- Ottawa STUFF – (Ottawa) May 7
Facts about Kurayami no Wa
- 11 months from concept to finished film.
- 7 months from pre-production to principal photography.
- 4 days of makeup and prosthetic tests.
- 7 days of rehearsal.
- 9 shoot days over 4 months.
- -24C / -11F temperature on coldest shoot day.
- Most days averaged a temperature around -14C / 7F.
- Approx. 100 hours of editing using Final Cut Pro X
- Approx. 80 hours of colour grading using Davinci Resolve 11 Lite
- Morgana created the Kurayami no Wa candy wrapper from her original design printed on clear stickers from Stickermule.com, and assembled each candy by hand using pink foil paper and a crimper.
- Morgana created the red cape worn in the film, and it is the same Little Red Riding Hood cape that appears in Morgana’s music video “We All Go the Same“. The cape was created with intention of using it in both films.