After escaping his rural hometown, a man finds himself confronted with the stark realization that history always repeats itself. 

Adam, a down-on-his-luck college professor, is hitchhiking through Maine when he is forced to find shelter from a summer downpour. When he takes a seat at a roadhouse bar, an eerily familiar woman entices Adam to accompany her on her path for vengeance. 

Adapted from Stephen King's short story "Nona", October Roses explores the strength of the ties that bind.

King began the Dollar Baby program in the late 1970's. Under this program, student and independent filmmakers can apply for the rights to adapt a King story. For more information, please visit: https://stephenking.com/dollar-baby/

We always get asked why we changed the name from "Nona" to "October Roses" and the answer is simple. Can you think of a spookier, more haunting, badass title? We couldn't! 

We combed through each available story offered through the Dollar Baby program and despite being inspired by many, "Nona" was a clear favorite. It was almost as if we knew Adam by the end of the story, and we felt confident in our ability to bring him to life on screen. We urge you to check out "Nona", first published in King's anthology Shadows and later published in the 1985 collection Skeleton Key. 

While it was important for us to capture the essence of King's writing - you know the one we search for everytime we crack open a new horror novel - we needed to make this film our own. Our film expands on King's Nona character by constructing her backstory and investigating her motives. In addition, our film makes full use of multiple timelines - allowing viewers to know Adam as he was before Nona and as he is after.

Our team is made of life-long horror fanatics and Constant Readers (if you know, you know!). We've spent much of the pandemic cooped up reading, watching, writing and dreaming of being back on set. We are incredibly excited to finally be back together bringing you disgusting, disturbing and badass content. 

We consider it a lifelong dream to adapt a work written by the master of horror, and we are thrilled to be joined by another horror icon - Robert Kurtzman. 

For over three decades, Robert Kurtzman has been a staple in the world of genre filmmaking - through writing, directing, producing and most notably - absolutely terrifying special effects make-up. 

Kurtzman's portfolio is vast, ranging from Hollywood's biggest blockbusters, franchises and television series. Recently Kurtzman's work can be seen in The Haunting of Hill House, Dr. Sleep, Cherry, Secret Headquarters, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey and the brand new Netflix series First Kill. 

Our team is led by director Brandon Lazenko. Lazenko is carving a name for himself in the horror/thriller genre. His latest film, A Serpent by the Nest, is a gritty thriller/noir exploring the horrific reality of human trafficking. This film was honored as Best Thriller at Paris Film Festival and has earned Lazenko numerous directorial awards.

We began this project in 2021 at a time when we were starved for new horror after slowdowns in production due to the pandemic. With little else to do, we were making our way through the myriad of Stephen King adaptations - from the blockbusters to the made-for-TV versions. We decided to take a chance on adapting one of his stories ourselves - and we are confident it's going to scratch that horror itch!

On a much more serious note, we've seen the devastation caused by the pandemic over the past few years and recognize that many artists, filmmakers and students were unable to create their art. We (Brandon & Shelby) both lost our jobs and had to uproot our lives during the pandemic, and while we are overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunities it provided, we knew we needed to give back by giving others the opportunity to continue doing what they love. 

During production and post, we committed to collaborating with as many filmmakers in our community to provide the opportunity for budding artists to have the opportunity to be back on set and gaining experience with industry professionals. 

One of the stipulations of King's Dollar Baby Program is that we are unable to profit from the film. We are fortunate that many of our cast and crew worked on the film for love (and not money!), but our entire production budget went to necessities such as equipment, lodging, and food for our cast and crew. 

Our post-production budget is $12,000 which will allow us to finish the technical aspects of the film such as special effects, sound, color, etc. This budget will also cover the cost of submissions to festivals so that all of the hard work put into this film can be showcased and appreciated! 

We will apply stretch goals once our Seed & Spark budget is hit, so please continue to share our campaign! 

October Roses will act as a competition piece for some of the biggest genre festivals in the world such as Toronto International Film Festival, Shriekfest, Fantasia International Film Festival, and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Festivals are incredibly important to us - not only to share our film with a wider audience, but to allow us to network with other filmmakers. We recognize that film festivals can be a catalyst for young filmmakers and want to provide that experience for the student filmmakers who dedicate time to this project!

We love festivals so much, we want to offer our higher tier sponsors the chance to attend festivals with us and earn trophies! Walk down the red carpet like you always dreamed of and top it off with dinner with us! Unlike our characters, we are great dinner guests! 

Faithful Seed&Spark supporters, YOU made our production of October Roses possible! We made a badass film with an awesome crew - now we need your support to add the finishing touches. 

By joining our campaign, you ensure we are able to pay for the resources needed to finalize the look, feel, and sound of the film. Your support will go directly toward post-production needs such as the manpower and technology needed to finalize our color, sound, music, and editing. We have amazing material so far and want to continue building this film to be the best (and scariest!) that it can be. Additionally, you are helping us provide career-building and potentially life-changing opportunities for local filmmakers through festival submissions. 

We are excited for you to join us on this journey and to work together toward releasing this terrifying film! Please join our Seed & Spark campaign and share our film on social media! 

If you're craving a good horror movie, PLEASE SHARE! Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell everyone you know - even share it in that really annoying group chat you somehow got added to! I mean, won't it feel really good to brag that you had a hand in making the scariest short film people have seen in years?!

Our social media accounts are a great way to stay updated on the progress of the film. Stop by and say hi and SHARE, SHARE, SHARE! Don't forget to hit the follow button on this page as well - it helps us expand our audience! 

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/nonafilmofficial

Instagram: @nonafilmofficial

Use our hashtag #nonafilmofficial 

Here are some great shoutouts you can give us on social media. Feel free to copy and paste! 

I just watched the @nonafilmofficial trailer & am excited to be supporting this team of Ohio filmmakers! Join them on @seedandspark at {insert link once launched} 

Need a good scare? Make sure to check out @nonafilmofficial, an adaptation of Stephen King's 1978 short story "Nona"! You can follow them on @seedandspark at {insert link once launched}.