Scream Room (2019)
A frustrated stay-at-home mother, Kay, desperate to revive her career, starts to believe her troubled son is being haunted by a malevolent spirit.
Russell and Kay live with their two young boys, Jack and young Tommy, in affluent suburbia. Russell, a prominent architect, is weeks away from unveiling his newest and biggest building to nationwide acclaim, while Kay watches from the confines of their home; her own successful career sacrificed to raise their family.
Kay's stay-at-home-mum status, her low self-esteem compounded by Russell's outdated belief that she should be content running a happy home and being the loyal wife, is making her desperate. Kay silently rages against what she has become.
Her situation is compounded by the fact that her youngest son, Tommy, has stopped talking and medical treatment is required.
When Kay starts hearing strange whispering noises coming from the boys’ bedroom late at night, she initially thinks they are playing tricks on her, but increasingly scary nighttime occurrences make her wonder if it's something else.
Russell has little time for Kay's concerns, or her desire to return to work, and buries himself in work. Kay feels more than ever, and as she battles to revive her career in secret, she tries to get to the bottom of the unsettling incidents happening inside their home.
In doing so, Kay uncovers a series of shocking, scary revelations that expose a mother's worst nightmare: her children are not safe in their own home.
Kay has to confront her worst fears to save her family, even if that risks tearing her family apart.
SCREAM ROOM is a contemporary horror reimagining of Ibsen's A Doll’s House, with the theme of outdated gender expectations being an obstacle to achieving personal satisfaction. Like Nora in A Doll’s House and Nicole Kidman's character, Celeste, in Big Little Lies, it explores the character who is so immersed in self-denial they can't see the problem is right in front of them, and raises the question: when will she realise, what will she do when she does… and how?
DIRECTOR – Emily Greenwood
Formerly a Digital Online Editor for Company 3 London, with credits on films such as Legend, Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation and Spectre, Emily is now an award-winning director. Her controversial short Cold Warrior, UK-premiered at Edinburgh IFF, won the Best Short Film Youth Jury Award at Flickers: Rhode Island IFF and the Meeting Point Special Mention Award at the Seminci Valladolid FF.
A Neutral Corner won Best Short Film at the Kodak Showcase, and was the Opening Night film at the Dinard British Film Festival in front of Ken Loach's It’s A Free World.
Snow was official selection at the New York FF in front of Hong Sang Soo's Tale of Cinema.
Emily recently made comedy horror short It Should Have Been Me for Sky Arts Halloween Comedy Shorts, with Merman producers Clelia Mountford and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe).
WRITER – Jared Kelly