eVil Sublet
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Comedy, Horror
eVil Sublet is a dark satire about the lengths Americans go to for affordable housing. It's funny, scary, gory, & a bit sexy, with ghosts, creepy dolls, & freak shows. It stars viral video performer Jen Houston & features the legendary Sally Struthers. Shooting's done. We need post production funds.
eVil Sublet
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Comedy, Horror
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $10,315 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
177 supporters | followers
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eVil Sublet is a dark satire about the lengths Americans go to for affordable housing. It's funny, scary, gory, & a bit sexy, with ghosts, creepy dolls, & freak shows. It stars viral video performer Jen Houston & features the legendary Sally Struthers. Shooting's done. We need post production funds.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
A HORROR/COMEDY ABOUT NEW YORK REAL ESTATE
Alex (Jennifer Leigh Houston) and Ben (Charley Tucker) are getting priced out of their NYC neighborhood by rising rents when they suddently find a deal that’s too good to be true— a fully-furnished three-bedroom downtown sublet for only $2K a month. The listing does say it's “evil,” but Alex assumes that’s short for “East Village," like “SoHo” as an abbreviation for “South of Houston” or DUMBO for “Down Under Manhattan Bridge.”
When they check it out, the broker confesses that previous tenants have come to horrific ends. But finding an NYC apartment is always about trade-offs, and the risks of a supposed haunting seem small compared to 2,000 sq ft and an eat-in kitchen.
Unfortunately, a bad roommate situation can ruin any dream apartment, and a horde of murderous ghosts turn out to be more than Alex and Ben can handle. With the help of Alex's ex-girlfriend (Leanne Borghesi) and a pair of Coney Island paranormal investigators (Pat Dwyer, Stephen Mosher), their lives soon depend on escaping the evil of their sublet.
STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR, ALLAN PIPER
Strange things happen in the apartment I share with my wife, Jen Houston. Doors open on their own. Objects fly off shelves. All alone, Jen's heard crying voices and been grabbed by a cold hand in the dark. But none of this would push us out, because we know how lucky we are to have an affordable New York apartment of a size that almost only exists on sitcoms.
Inspired by these mysterious events (some of which we've captured on video and audio and will be editing into the movie), we developed this project with our friends Beth Mastromarino and Emmy-nominee Chris Pearson (Dan Vs.).
WHAT WE NEED
The generosity of friends and supporters helped us finish principal photography. Some people assume when you're done shooting, the movie must be done, but that's like assuming a horror movie monster is dead after the first time you've "killed" it. There's still a major challenge ahead.
Post-production is where raw footage becomes a motion picture. For the work that has already gone into this to pay off, we have to build the movie in the edit, score it with haunting music and sound effects, use the magic of special effects to fill it with creepy ghosts, convert it into a form that can screen in theatres, and get it out for the world to see in festivals, theatres, and online. We need your help to get through this last stretch.
Our goal of $8,000 is the minimum needed to complete postproduction. If we raise more than our goal, we'll finish the picture faster, you'll see it sooner, and we will add some breath-taking special effects we didn't think we could afford.
WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED
We were set to shoot eVil Sublet in March and April, 2020. When covid struck, Jen and I figured out how to film part of the movie in the apartment by ourselves, devising ways to rig special effects and create camera movements even sometimes with no one behind the camera.
We shot the rest in 2021 with a small cast including the legendary Sally Struthers (All in the Family, Gilmore Girls), Paralympian Katy Sullivan (Dexter: New Blood), Helen Hong (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), Patrick Wang (In the Family), cabaret star Leanne Borghesi, and Coney Island sword-swallower/strongman Adam Realman.
We put the safety of our team first. This was a SAG Ultra Low Budget production, and we adhered strictly to SAG's covid safety protocols. Everyone was vaccinated and tested regularly. We kept the number of people on set to a bare minimum. On many days I was the entire skeleton crew.
In the later shoot, we had special make-up effects by Stella Sensel (Face Off), but during the quarantined part, Jen made blood and gore from the same delicious ingredients she uses to decorate her fantastical cakes in her online series Shut Your Cake Hole.
THE VISION OF eVIL SUBLET
Horror can address the issues of the day in ways that would come off as heavy-handed in a non-genre film. eVil Sublet satirically skewers the failures of the modern economy, the banking industry, political divides, sexual politics, and the pharmaceutical industry.
eVil Sublet celebrates groups historically underrepresented on screen. Four of the five leading roles are LGBTQ+ characters played by LGBTQ+ actors. We proudly join the emerging movement led by movies and shows like Jakob's Wife, Yellowjackets, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, to represent women in their 40s and 50s on up as heroic, sexy powerhouses. The women of eVil Sublet have roughly twice as many lines as the men.
But social commentary aside, eVil Sublet is an R-rated, scary, funny, gory, sexy rollercoaster ride of a movie that will be fun for all mature audiences.
This is also a deeply New Yorky picture. With rare NYC-based exceptions like Jacob's Ladder and Rosemary's Baby, horror movies seem to be set almost exclusively in the middle of nowhere (and most New Yorkers don't even see Rosemary's Baby as horror, because who wouldn't gladly have the devil's child in exchange for a Dakota building apartment?).
BE A PART OF THIS
We are so close to having a badass, thrilling movie to share with the world. Help us get the rest of the way. And you can be literally a part of the movie. At the $20 pledge level, we'll turn your face into a ghostly image hiding in the shadows, like that face peering over Jen's shoulder in this picture:
But I hope the most gratifying reward will be knowing that you were part of making something fun, scary, strange, and exciting.
Even if you can't make a financial pledge, please help spread the word on social media. Feel free to cut and paste:
Help filmmaker @apiper13 & friends finish their indie horror/comedy @evilsublet and they will turn you into a ghost in the movie. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
Support indie horror! Help @apiper13 and friends finish their terrifying and funny movie @evilsublet. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
The horror/comedy @evilsublet has everything: ghosts, creepy dolls, freak shows, gore, male & female nudity, gay love stories, Sally Struthers, a musical number! Don't miss your chance to help @apiper13 & friends finish this. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
I watched a clip of @apiper13's indie horror/comedy @evilsublet and it was so funny and scary I wet my pants. Check it out on @seedandspark while I change my pants: evilsublet.com
And please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Thank you so much for being part of this.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Final Sound Mix
Costs $5,000
Sound is often almost more important than picture. This is especially true for horror films.
Studio Recording of Theme Song
Costs $1,000
Jen Houston and her band will record the theme song, I Wanna Go Home.
Digital Cinema Package
Costs $1,000
Help us produce the DCP that will allow for cinema quality theatrical projection of the movie.
Film Festival Applications
Costs $500
Festivals are key to getting indie movies seen and distributed, but applying to them can be costly.
Digital Effects
Costs $500
Most of the special effects were done live, but some will be digital. Help make them terrifying.
Share this update!
About This Team
Allan Piper (writer/director) may be best known to some viewers for his live fact-checks of the former president. Allan was NowThis' supervising politics producer throughout the Trump presidency, which was a different kind of horror story.
eVil Sublet is Allan's third feature motion picture. He produced and directed the George-Takei-narrated documentary, Married and Counting, which tells the story of two men in pre-marriage-equality America who celebrated 25 years together by traveling the country to get married in every state that would let them. Huffington Post called it “one of the most relevant, heartfelt, and timely documentaries of the year… a brilliant gem.” Allan’s first feature was the cult comedy, Starving Artists, which the Boston Globe called one of “the best films you’ve probably never seen.”
Having worked as a filmmaker for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Allan is the only person ever to do online video rapid response for multiple presidential campaigns. Allan also has produced and/or edited TV shows for networks including ABC, CNN, Bravo, MTV, TLC, Discovery, Food Network, History Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, and PBS.
Jen Houston (Alex/producer) grew up in what she and other past inhabitants swear is a haunted house. It wasn't until after moving out that she learned her childhood bedroom had been the site of a gruesome teen suicide. As a young woman, Jen was nearly the subject of an exorcism, as a since-defrocked priest sought to convince her that her bisexuality was the result of demonic influences.
Jen has starred as Velma Kelly in the touring company of Chicago and has played Morticia Addams on a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float, but she is best known for her viral song parodies for NowThis and her online baking show, Shut Your Cake Hole. Jen's music videos No One Here But Us Bones and Don’t Say Goodnight each won Best Music Video at the Coney Island Film Festival. Jen previously worked with Allan to produce Married and Counting.
Chris Pearson (story/producer) co-created and wrote for the animated comedy show Dan Vs., which ran on the Hub Network for three seasons. As Executive Producer, Chris was nominated for Daytime Emmy awards in 2013 and 2014.
More recently, Chris has written for NowThis Politics, GoKidGo, and Netflix’s Buddy Thunderstruck.
Beth Mastromarino (producer) is a Brooklyn born-and-bred filmmaker. She has been working in front of and hehind the camera since her 1982 TV debut on the CBS news magazine 48 Hours.
In addition to architecting achievements for stge and screen, Beth is a folk artist performing and working with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She specializes in traditional Italian frame drumming and folksongs, specifically those related to the house cleansing, blessing, and spirit traditions Italian immigrants brought with them to America. Yes, she's done some work on the movie's eponymous apartment.
Sally Struthers (Reena) is an American stage and screen icon. She's a two-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner probably best known for her role as Gloria in the groundbreaking TV series All in the Family. She also starred in the Fox television series 9 to 5 and her own CBS series Gloria and is beloved as Babette on Gilmore Girls. eVil Sublet marks her first appearance in a feature length horror. She plays Reena, the mysterious leaseholder from whom Alex and Ben sublet the eponymous apartment.
Pat Dwyer & Stephen Mosher (Ned & Lorne) made their big-screen debut together as the subjects of the award-winning documentary Married and Counting, which told the story of what The New York Times described as their "slightly zany... cross-country adventure" to get married in every state that would let them at a time when marriage equality was still seen as radical in most of the country.
Pat is an actor who played Claudius, The Ghost, and The Player King in the acclaimed film Hamlet in the Golden Vale.
Stephen currently works in health and fitness and as the Editor for Broadway World Cabaret. eVil Sublet marks Stephen and Pat's first time acting together on screen. They play a pair of paranormal investigators who help Alex and Ben face the evil of their sublet.
CHARLEY TUCKER (Ben) is a screen and stage actor and director who taught acting at New York University, American Globe Theatre, University of Texas/ Austin, Penn State University, Muhlenberg College, and Florida State University Graduate Film School. He currently teaches at New York Film Academy. He regularly appears on TV, most recently in a featured role on CBS' Bull.
In eVil Sublet Charley plays Alex's husband, who (in the tradition of horror movie husbands) is skeptical of Alex's belief that the apartment is haunted.
LEANNE BORGHESI (Heddy) is a fierce, award-winning actor, singer, and solo performer who has appeared in nightclubs and cabarets rooms San Francisco to New York City, including Feinstein's at the Nikko, the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. She was 2019 MAC Award nominee for her show Mood Swings and 2022 MAC nominee for Borghesi's Back, which won the 2021 Broadway World Cabaret Award for Best Comedy Cabaret/Revue.
Leanne made her horror debut acting alongside Les Claypool in the Fangoria Frightfest cult film, Pig Hunt, directed by the late Jim Isaac. In eVil Sublet she plays Alex's ex-girlfriend who helps her unravel the mystery behind the apartment.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
A HORROR/COMEDY ABOUT NEW YORK REAL ESTATE
Alex (Jennifer Leigh Houston) and Ben (Charley Tucker) are getting priced out of their NYC neighborhood by rising rents when they suddently find a deal that’s too good to be true— a fully-furnished three-bedroom downtown sublet for only $2K a month. The listing does say it's “evil,” but Alex assumes that’s short for “East Village," like “SoHo” as an abbreviation for “South of Houston” or DUMBO for “Down Under Manhattan Bridge.”
When they check it out, the broker confesses that previous tenants have come to horrific ends. But finding an NYC apartment is always about trade-offs, and the risks of a supposed haunting seem small compared to 2,000 sq ft and an eat-in kitchen.
Unfortunately, a bad roommate situation can ruin any dream apartment, and a horde of murderous ghosts turn out to be more than Alex and Ben can handle. With the help of Alex's ex-girlfriend (Leanne Borghesi) and a pair of Coney Island paranormal investigators (Pat Dwyer, Stephen Mosher), their lives soon depend on escaping the evil of their sublet.
STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR, ALLAN PIPER
Strange things happen in the apartment I share with my wife, Jen Houston. Doors open on their own. Objects fly off shelves. All alone, Jen's heard crying voices and been grabbed by a cold hand in the dark. But none of this would push us out, because we know how lucky we are to have an affordable New York apartment of a size that almost only exists on sitcoms.
Inspired by these mysterious events (some of which we've captured on video and audio and will be editing into the movie), we developed this project with our friends Beth Mastromarino and Emmy-nominee Chris Pearson (Dan Vs.).
WHAT WE NEED
The generosity of friends and supporters helped us finish principal photography. Some people assume when you're done shooting, the movie must be done, but that's like assuming a horror movie monster is dead after the first time you've "killed" it. There's still a major challenge ahead.
Post-production is where raw footage becomes a motion picture. For the work that has already gone into this to pay off, we have to build the movie in the edit, score it with haunting music and sound effects, use the magic of special effects to fill it with creepy ghosts, convert it into a form that can screen in theatres, and get it out for the world to see in festivals, theatres, and online. We need your help to get through this last stretch.
Our goal of $8,000 is the minimum needed to complete postproduction. If we raise more than our goal, we'll finish the picture faster, you'll see it sooner, and we will add some breath-taking special effects we didn't think we could afford.
WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED
We were set to shoot eVil Sublet in March and April, 2020. When covid struck, Jen and I figured out how to film part of the movie in the apartment by ourselves, devising ways to rig special effects and create camera movements even sometimes with no one behind the camera.
We shot the rest in 2021 with a small cast including the legendary Sally Struthers (All in the Family, Gilmore Girls), Paralympian Katy Sullivan (Dexter: New Blood), Helen Hong (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), Patrick Wang (In the Family), cabaret star Leanne Borghesi, and Coney Island sword-swallower/strongman Adam Realman.
We put the safety of our team first. This was a SAG Ultra Low Budget production, and we adhered strictly to SAG's covid safety protocols. Everyone was vaccinated and tested regularly. We kept the number of people on set to a bare minimum. On many days I was the entire skeleton crew.
In the later shoot, we had special make-up effects by Stella Sensel (Face Off), but during the quarantined part, Jen made blood and gore from the same delicious ingredients she uses to decorate her fantastical cakes in her online series Shut Your Cake Hole.
THE VISION OF eVIL SUBLET
Horror can address the issues of the day in ways that would come off as heavy-handed in a non-genre film. eVil Sublet satirically skewers the failures of the modern economy, the banking industry, political divides, sexual politics, and the pharmaceutical industry.
eVil Sublet celebrates groups historically underrepresented on screen. Four of the five leading roles are LGBTQ+ characters played by LGBTQ+ actors. We proudly join the emerging movement led by movies and shows like Jakob's Wife, Yellowjackets, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, to represent women in their 40s and 50s on up as heroic, sexy powerhouses. The women of eVil Sublet have roughly twice as many lines as the men.
But social commentary aside, eVil Sublet is an R-rated, scary, funny, gory, sexy rollercoaster ride of a movie that will be fun for all mature audiences.
This is also a deeply New Yorky picture. With rare NYC-based exceptions like Jacob's Ladder and Rosemary's Baby, horror movies seem to be set almost exclusively in the middle of nowhere (and most New Yorkers don't even see Rosemary's Baby as horror, because who wouldn't gladly have the devil's child in exchange for a Dakota building apartment?).
BE A PART OF THIS
We are so close to having a badass, thrilling movie to share with the world. Help us get the rest of the way. And you can be literally a part of the movie. At the $20 pledge level, we'll turn your face into a ghostly image hiding in the shadows, like that face peering over Jen's shoulder in this picture:
But I hope the most gratifying reward will be knowing that you were part of making something fun, scary, strange, and exciting.
Even if you can't make a financial pledge, please help spread the word on social media. Feel free to cut and paste:
Help filmmaker @apiper13 & friends finish their indie horror/comedy @evilsublet and they will turn you into a ghost in the movie. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
Support indie horror! Help @apiper13 and friends finish their terrifying and funny movie @evilsublet. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
The horror/comedy @evilsublet has everything: ghosts, creepy dolls, freak shows, gore, male & female nudity, gay love stories, Sally Struthers, a musical number! Don't miss your chance to help @apiper13 & friends finish this. Join them on @seedandspark: evilsublet.com
I watched a clip of @apiper13's indie horror/comedy @evilsublet and it was so funny and scary I wet my pants. Check it out on @seedandspark while I change my pants: evilsublet.com
And please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Thank you so much for being part of this.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Final Sound Mix
Costs $5,000
Sound is often almost more important than picture. This is especially true for horror films.
Studio Recording of Theme Song
Costs $1,000
Jen Houston and her band will record the theme song, I Wanna Go Home.
Digital Cinema Package
Costs $1,000
Help us produce the DCP that will allow for cinema quality theatrical projection of the movie.
Film Festival Applications
Costs $500
Festivals are key to getting indie movies seen and distributed, but applying to them can be costly.
Digital Effects
Costs $500
Most of the special effects were done live, but some will be digital. Help make them terrifying.
Share this update!
About This Team
Allan Piper (writer/director) may be best known to some viewers for his live fact-checks of the former president. Allan was NowThis' supervising politics producer throughout the Trump presidency, which was a different kind of horror story.
eVil Sublet is Allan's third feature motion picture. He produced and directed the George-Takei-narrated documentary, Married and Counting, which tells the story of two men in pre-marriage-equality America who celebrated 25 years together by traveling the country to get married in every state that would let them. Huffington Post called it “one of the most relevant, heartfelt, and timely documentaries of the year… a brilliant gem.” Allan’s first feature was the cult comedy, Starving Artists, which the Boston Globe called one of “the best films you’ve probably never seen.”
Having worked as a filmmaker for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Allan is the only person ever to do online video rapid response for multiple presidential campaigns. Allan also has produced and/or edited TV shows for networks including ABC, CNN, Bravo, MTV, TLC, Discovery, Food Network, History Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, and PBS.
Jen Houston (Alex/producer) grew up in what she and other past inhabitants swear is a haunted house. It wasn't until after moving out that she learned her childhood bedroom had been the site of a gruesome teen suicide. As a young woman, Jen was nearly the subject of an exorcism, as a since-defrocked priest sought to convince her that her bisexuality was the result of demonic influences.
Jen has starred as Velma Kelly in the touring company of Chicago and has played Morticia Addams on a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float, but she is best known for her viral song parodies for NowThis and her online baking show, Shut Your Cake Hole. Jen's music videos No One Here But Us Bones and Don’t Say Goodnight each won Best Music Video at the Coney Island Film Festival. Jen previously worked with Allan to produce Married and Counting.
Chris Pearson (story/producer) co-created and wrote for the animated comedy show Dan Vs., which ran on the Hub Network for three seasons. As Executive Producer, Chris was nominated for Daytime Emmy awards in 2013 and 2014.
More recently, Chris has written for NowThis Politics, GoKidGo, and Netflix’s Buddy Thunderstruck.
Beth Mastromarino (producer) is a Brooklyn born-and-bred filmmaker. She has been working in front of and hehind the camera since her 1982 TV debut on the CBS news magazine 48 Hours.
In addition to architecting achievements for stge and screen, Beth is a folk artist performing and working with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She specializes in traditional Italian frame drumming and folksongs, specifically those related to the house cleansing, blessing, and spirit traditions Italian immigrants brought with them to America. Yes, she's done some work on the movie's eponymous apartment.
Sally Struthers (Reena) is an American stage and screen icon. She's a two-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner probably best known for her role as Gloria in the groundbreaking TV series All in the Family. She also starred in the Fox television series 9 to 5 and her own CBS series Gloria and is beloved as Babette on Gilmore Girls. eVil Sublet marks her first appearance in a feature length horror. She plays Reena, the mysterious leaseholder from whom Alex and Ben sublet the eponymous apartment.
Pat Dwyer & Stephen Mosher (Ned & Lorne) made their big-screen debut together as the subjects of the award-winning documentary Married and Counting, which told the story of what The New York Times described as their "slightly zany... cross-country adventure" to get married in every state that would let them at a time when marriage equality was still seen as radical in most of the country.
Pat is an actor who played Claudius, The Ghost, and The Player King in the acclaimed film Hamlet in the Golden Vale.
Stephen currently works in health and fitness and as the Editor for Broadway World Cabaret. eVil Sublet marks Stephen and Pat's first time acting together on screen. They play a pair of paranormal investigators who help Alex and Ben face the evil of their sublet.
CHARLEY TUCKER (Ben) is a screen and stage actor and director who taught acting at New York University, American Globe Theatre, University of Texas/ Austin, Penn State University, Muhlenberg College, and Florida State University Graduate Film School. He currently teaches at New York Film Academy. He regularly appears on TV, most recently in a featured role on CBS' Bull.
In eVil Sublet Charley plays Alex's husband, who (in the tradition of horror movie husbands) is skeptical of Alex's belief that the apartment is haunted.
LEANNE BORGHESI (Heddy) is a fierce, award-winning actor, singer, and solo performer who has appeared in nightclubs and cabarets rooms San Francisco to New York City, including Feinstein's at the Nikko, the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. She was 2019 MAC Award nominee for her show Mood Swings and 2022 MAC nominee for Borghesi's Back, which won the 2021 Broadway World Cabaret Award for Best Comedy Cabaret/Revue.
Leanne made her horror debut acting alongside Les Claypool in the Fangoria Frightfest cult film, Pig Hunt, directed by the late Jim Isaac. In eVil Sublet she plays Alex's ex-girlfriend who helps her unravel the mystery behind the apartment.