What if you knew the end of the world was coming - but nobody believed you?

Bloodbuzz explores gaslighting through the premise of the MOSQUITOZOID uprising. Think Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes meets The Fly! A 12 minute short film that reacts to the influx of AI and CGI by taking horror back to it’s gross and ghastly roots, while still addressing modern fears.

With all in-camera SFX and a handheld, analog style, Bloodbuzz takes the gloss out of horror and puts the puss back in.

Hey there! We are Daisy Bata and Michael Shon - filmmakers and horror fanatics! If you don't know us, you can scroll down and see more about our backgrounds.

Filmmaking is expensive - but you knew that already! 

We cannot make this film without your incredible contributions - and we will be eternally grateful even for the equivalent of the price of a pint or a cup of coffee.

The more money we raise, the better the film will be. But the amount we are fundraising for is the absolute minimum we have budgeted for two shoots; one at the end of summer, and one in early winter. 

What will your money go towards?

Everything! Locations, costumes, accommodation and travel expenses for our cast and crew - you name it, we gotta pay for it.

EXT. SUFFOLK - LATE AFTERNOON, SUMMER

Damp, oppressive heat. Swarms of midges. Through binocular sights we see a dark, seemingly empty farmhouse, solitary amidst miles of countryside.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD

LIANNA (19) lowers the binoculars. Thirsty, sweaty, exhausted. She is standing on the side of a deserted road, next to a locked cattle gate. She’s chewing absentmindedly. This record breaking heatwave follows what was a record breaking month of rain, causing SMALL PUDDLES TO STEAM. Despite the heat, she is covered head to toe, in a rain jacket, scarf, gloves and a hat with a mosquito net, covering her face, tied under her chin. A backpack, an empty water bottle dangling off it.

She puts the binoculars in her pocket. Takes another berry from the bush next to her, reaches under the mosquito net and pops it in her mouth. Ties it up again. She grimaces - sour.

She adjusts her backpack, then awkwardly climbs over the gate, towards the farmhouse...

What happens next - you'll have to wait and see!

LIANNA (19)

A city girl traipsing alone through the English countryside, she’s tenacious, but naïve. With a rough home life and a difficult relationship with her brother, she is easily taken in by an online community of conspiracy theorists who jump on any news story and turn it into apocalyptic symbolism or evidence of government interventionism. The latest theory? Mosquitos that have evolved amidst climate chaos are body snatching people, turning them into bloodsucking MOSQUITOZOIDS!

GREG (60)

Like Lianna, Greg likes figuring out a good mystery - but through the telly, watching Poirot. A bachelor, Greg has come to terms with the idea that he will spend the rest of his days in quiet solitude. In a previous life he was a farmer, and he still lives on the land that he tended, but climate change has ruined his business, devastating local farming, and he now lives amongst the remnants of his past. But when Lianna arrives, the part of himself he has buried in loneliness begins to reignite and he realises, he could maybe do with the company. Or at least, a good mystery…

KYLE (24)

Lianna's long-suffering brother, he's tired of the conspiracy theories and having to chase her around the country when she goes on yet another one of her pilgrimages. But can we trust him?

In best service of the story, we will shoot handheld to give it an almost documentary feel. The horror is hopefully very prescient for our audience (pandemics induced by climate change), and so we want to make it feel as tangible as possible.

With a handheld style, the camera puts the viewer inside the story, helping to bring us into Lianna’s POV.

This will also help to make the SFX, which we plan to do all in-camera, feel visceral but invasive. We want the SFX to feel surprising and other-wordly, almost incongruous to the handheld style.

Nothing beats the strangely sweaty body horror of early Cronenberg, and this is what we want to channel in the film’s SFX. 

The subtext of our story is that climate change will inevitably lead to more pandemics, and we want the horror of the film to reflect this - tangible textures, visceral substances that you can almost taste.

We are also very keen to work with in camera SFX as a reaction to the recent influx of generative AI. We want SFX that feels tangible, in the way that our story feels real and tangible too.  

Our schedule

This is what your money will help us pull off!

- From now until the 9th September is pre-production

- September - 1st shooting block (exteriors)

- November - 2nd shooting block (interiors + stunt)

- December - February - post-production

- March - final cut!

Thank you again for any contribution to our film. We will update this page with some more of our crew and cast as the weeks go by, leading up to our first shoot! Or you can follow us on our Instagram (link below).