Ardent fans of horror would be no stranger to bone-chilling filmmakers Sean Loch and Sam Price.
Despite creating short films, the couple’s list of accolades is far from brief — their short film Sleepwalker (2017) boasts more than 40,000 views on YouTube and has been named a finalist at the Australian Independent Film Festival while short flick Leech (2018) premiered during Monster Fest’s Travelling Sideshow, just to name a few.
Together Sean and Sam run Night 55 Films, an independent film studio focused on creating engaging cinematic content. The couple stumbled upon one another at university, finding a common ground in their love for filmmaking. “We were lucky enough to meet each other in our second year of our film degree,” said Sam. “We dabbled in corporate video, music video and documentary until we realised our shared passion for shorts that made your skin crawl.”
This ingenuity and love for horror eventually led to a fair share of newfound success at several notable film festivals including the West End Film Festival, The Byron Bay International Film Festival and even bagging the title of the Best Director at the Queensland Short and Sweet Film Festival.
What is the secret to their success? It is none other than drawing inspiration from their surroundings in West End. For Sean, this quirky 4101 suburb provides an environment for creativity to be nurtured and to mature. “I think that West End has a very positive outlook on creative practitioners and I definitely feel more ‘at home’ than I have in other suburbs,” Sean confesses. “In terms of inspiration … I live on a very busy street where unseen conversations drift in through my window, over my desk and onto the pages of my notebook. All I can say is be careful what you say in West End, it might just end up in a movie one day!”
Currently, the pair are working on their latest film, Prey, an upcoming student film for Queensland University of Technology (QUT). This film will be a third instalment to the current array of horror films under the duo’s belt. Prey revolves around a young woman who catches the unwanted attention of a creepy hotel manager. The idea stemmed from Sam’s own first-hand experiences where she felt fear walking across an empty rooftop carpark late at night. “After struggling to find my car, I grew more and more paranoid. I kept thinking about my lack of self defence knowledge, and what I would do if someone started following me,” said Sam. “It is an experience that so many women can easily relate to and I just wished I was an assassin or something bad ass. I soon realised after talking to friends and family about similar experiences and close calls, that this was a topic and a story that needed to be shared with an audience.”
When asked about what the future holds for the movie mavens, the couple has set sights on the international stage, introducing Prey to a larger audience in worldwide film festivals.
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