Trigger Warning: Bloody ImageIn what proved to be quite a fittingly frightening turn of events, though it may also prove to be one of the film's best-selling points, the production crew behind writer/director Josh Stolberg's upcoming satirical horror movie, Skill House, experienced an unexpected scare when an unnamed camera operator passed out on set during a particularly gory kill scene. Thankfully, as Stolberg noted on social media, he's okay now, but production needed to shut down briefly in order to assess this situation. Now that it appears that he is feeling better, the filmmaking team behind this forthcoming film has quite an enviable marketing tactic in their corner – they have such a nasty, violent scene in store that even the crew themselves couldn't help but be nauseated by the sight. What could possibly be shown that would elicit this response? We'll have to wait to see, but Stolberg didn't shy away from revealing this shock-inducing behind-the-scenes story.
As seen on the filmmaker's Twitter (which, we should note, features quite a lot of blood, if you're squeamish or sensitive to such sights, even when it's fake), the production was in the midst of shooting a particularly gruesome murder scene when a camera operator became "so nauseated" by the event that he ultimately passed out and crashed on the floor. Filming was halted for 30 minutes as he was attended to, to make sure he was okay, and when it became clear that he only experienced a momentarily, if eventful, fright, the writer-director took to his social media to recount the story and let his followers know that they need to prepare themselves "for some crazy shit" in his latest movie. Indeed, while surely a terrifying ordeal to deal with during the moment, it appears that Stolberg recognizes the marketable potential of this event.
While other filmmakers would probably be less keen on telling this type of story if they were making, say, a period drama or a character-based conversational comedy, that's not what Skill House is likely to be. It sounds like a squirm-inducing horror satire where the heightened characters— in this case, influencers and other social media personalities— will do whatever it takes to receive the infamy and notoriety that they want, and that will take some very, very violent turns before it's all said and done.
As a result, Skill House will want to appeal to the horror fanatics — the type of people who see, as well as seek out, their fair share of gnarly movies — who will be chomping at the bit to hear that this new horror flick causes such a sickly reaction. Promoting it would be callous if things took a turn for the worse, but since it appears that the camera operator is doing better and only experienced a momentary setback, it makes sense that the filmmakers used this story to their advantage to earn the intrigue of prospective viewers.
Whether that intrigue will be warranted will, of course, only be determined whenever the movie screens for the aforementioned horror fans. With production still ongoing, it's unclear when Skill House is slated to be seen in theaters or online, but whenever the latest details arrive, we'll be sure to keep you posted!
In the meantime, though, you can check out Stolberg's very, very bloody tweet below (proceed with caution):