Horror Short Film IN THIS ECONOMY Sees an Entrepreneur Go To Morbid Lengths To Pay His Demon Landlord Rent

Here’s a fun horror short film for you to watch titled In This Economy, which centers on an underfunded entrepreneur, who goes to morbid lengths to pay his rent to his demon landlord. He will do anything to get his one-of-a-kind app developed.

The film, from writer and director Ty Huffer, is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.

I also included an interview with the director that you can read below!

Without spoilers, tell us what your film is about, its characters, and its themes. Is it a proof of concept, or a standalone story? 

Grace finds herself on a Tinder date with an underfunded entrepreneur who will do anything to get his one of a kind app developed. He has zero issues going to morbid lengths to pay rent to his landlord.

The short is a small taste of what our main character, Nate is capable of. I wanted to show just one of his many horrible little schemes he has going on.

My team and I were about to launch our own crowdfunding campaign and thought it would be funny to acknowledge that crowdfunding is very annoying for everyone involved. In This Economy is the first installment of a proof of concept trilogy for the feature length film, Heks Fitte. We are still hoping to get the feature made.

What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?

I have always loved the idea of people taking insane shortcuts in life like making deals with demons and witches. I grew up watching stuff like Tales From the Crypt! Because we had no budget we knew our cast had to be small and our location would be my living room. With those restrictions I came up with the story.

Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?

I have been making films since high school using VHS and Hi8 cameras. I went on to graduate from the Seattle Film Institute way back in 2005. Since school I have been fortunate enough to have made several award winning shorts and a feature!

What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?

I have been drawn to horror films since I was a little kid. I love all types of movies but horror in the genre that has all the best elements in one movie. Most of the best horror films have bits of comedy, action, romance, sci-fi and drama in them.

What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?

My favorite part of the filmmaking process is the editing. It is awesome to finally see your vision come together. It may not be exactly what you wanted or thought it would be but it’s your opportunity to problem solve and collaborate with your team. Your post production team can even make it better than you originally thought. I have been shocked and surprised many times!

What are you most proud of with this film?

What I’m most proud of is what we did with so little. In This Economy has won 12 awards and screened in film festivals all over the world. Our small crew were all my friends learning on the set.

What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you'd like to share? 

My favorite part of the production was when we all got to see Olaf in make up for the first time. When we got the big reveal it was like, oh shit, we might have a cool movie on our hands! His reveal brought whole new energy to the set. It was awesome.

What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?

We fell way behind on our shoot schedule and our actor Gevin was in full Olaf makeup for way too long. It was super uncomfortable for him. I still feel bad about it to this day. We still make movies together so I guess he’s not too mad about it.

If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you'll approach future projects as a result?

Our end result was surprisingly close to vision. We learned a lot about adjusting our shooting schedules to be more realistic. We will always be ambitious with our shoots, this production taught us how to wrangle it in a little bit.

Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?

I started working with our actress, Hope and Producer Jenn back in 2012. They both were part of a short of mine called Worst Night to Grow a Pair. I thought Hope was so awesome to work with, so expressive and amazing on screen I put her in five more movies. Jenn is so brilliant and talented she has become the main producer on all of my films. Our actor Gevin was also in Worst Night To Grow a Pair but I met him back in 2007 at a job producing DVD’s for in store entertainment. Since then we have been helping each other out on various projects. He’s a rad guy!

What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?

The best advice I received as a filmmaker is, get a great core group of likeminded filmmakers and help each other out. I would give the exact same advice to new filmmakers. It’s so hard to make a good film. You’re going to need help.

What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?

My current career plan is to get another feature film made. I’m hoping my shorts help me build a bigger audience to eventually get some funding to make bigger projects. I plan to make nothing but horror films for the rest of my life. Making horror films is way too much fun. Honestly, my short In This Economy opened some doors for me. Getting into bigger festivals like FilmQuest gave me some street cred, leading to more people wanting to work with me. Those FilmQuest laurels look great on a poster.

What is your next project and when can we expect to see it? 

Currently my Christmas horror film, Three Houses Down is finishing up a successful festival run! I’m hoping to have a short Folk horror film shot in the Fall. The film will be the 3rd short in my proof of concept trilogy for the feature film Heks Fitte.

Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles?

Frankenhuffer.com leads to my Vimeo page FB Ty.Huffer IG handle is frankenhuffer

Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?

John Carpenter's The Thing

Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?

Evil Dead II