EXCLUSIVE: Inspired by the DIY success of Markiplier’s Iron Lung, Dylan Clark’s Portrait of God sale to Monkeypaw, and Curry Barker’s Obsession, YouTube horror filmmakers Cameron Gallagher and Jeremiah Lewis are moving into production next week on It Visits Me, a psychological horror based on their viral short of the same name that is approaching 100,000 views on YouTube.
Gallagher is writer-director and Lewis is producer-writer on the project which “centers on a young woman, Layla, who finds herself stuck at her childhood home, where her sister Abigail, claims to, be visited by an angel”.
The film will star Sara Hallisey and Hayley Gasbarro, with a cameo from Toby Poser. Director of photography is the team’s long-time collaborator Adam Muro who recently completed production on Claws, starring Thomas Middleditch and Jess Weixler.
Gallagher and Lewis, who will produce, say the film is being positioned as a slow-burn psychological horror in the vein of Saint Maud, The Lodge and Possession, leaning heavily into the religious horror subgenre.
Gallagher and Lewis have collaborated on multiple YouTube horror shorts and the former previously had his short film 2 Players Required featured on Bloody Bites from Screambox and Bloody Disgusting.
“I’ve always found religious horror to be the scariest, and being able to bring something both scary and satisfying on a character level is what I’m drawn to most as a director,” said Gallagher.
“We are drawn to stories of people who have been thrown outside their comfort zone in just about every way, and are forced to confront what that disruption means psychologically — how just the act of disruption creates space for horror in a personal way,” added Lewis.