HOUSEWIFE is a Twisted 35mm Horror Short About a Murderous Monster With a Dollhouse for a Head
What happens when an old dollhouse gets a taste of blood? Apparently, you get one seriously twisted mother figure.
The horror short Housewife comes from writers and directors Jake Lazarow and Greta Guthrie, who have taken artist Miranda Parkin’s wonderfully bizarre character and turned her into a flesh-and-blood movie monster. Well, maybe “flesh-and-blood” isn’t quite right. She has a dollhouse for a head.
The short follows a woman who heads into her attic with a box of old children’s toys and comes across a strange dollhouse buried in storage. After she accidentally cuts herself and gets blood on it, the object manifests as Housewife, a female figure whose ideas about motherhood and caring for children are considerably more disturbing than anything you’d find in a parenting book.
Lazarow and Guthrie explained: “Housewife” tells the story of a woman who brings an old box of children's toys to her attic and, while there, she rediscovers a strange dollhouse in storage. When she accidentally cuts herself and bleeds onto it, it takes the form of “Housewife” — a female figure with the dollhouse for a head who has some… we’ll call it strange ideas about taking care of her children.
“This is based on our friend Miranda Parkin’s original character of the same name, so we went in with the intent of showcasing the character and why we love it so much. We had talked with her previously about the idea of developing the character into a feature, but our initial approach to this was to give a concise look at the character and touch briefly on the idea of a modern woman regressing into a vintage stereotype (at the hands of her murderous dollhouse, of course).
“Then, when it was all said and done, we could revisit the idea of the feature. Well, now that we’re on the other side of this, we are bursting with ideas and already writing the feature! So it's great to have this as proof of how great a character Housewife is and how much we love her.
The character originated in Parkin’s digital artwork, with roots in the internet age of creepypastas, cryptids, and lo-fi horror. For the filmmakers, however, bringing Housewife into a live-action story offered an opportunity to play with classic monster movies while digging into ideas about female autonomy and the manufactured image of the ideal 1950s housewife.
The project came together unusually fast after cinematographer James Russin, a longtime friend and collaborator, acquired 2,000 feet of 35mm film and gave the directors a simple challenge: write something short and shoot it.
“This opportunity kind of fell into our lap in a really special way. Our longtime friend and collaborator James Russin reached out to us in September of 2024 to tell us that he’d bought 2,000 feet of 35mm film off of an NYU student and told us to write him a 3-pager to shoot in December of that year.
“So the parameters were pretty immediately established for how much prep time we had to pull off whatever it was we were going to do. Miranda and her character, Housewife, immediately came to mind — we’d kicked around doing something off and on over the last year, but without anything concrete, nothing moved forward.
“But when we emailed and told her about how the ball was basically already rolling, she was immediately on board. As digital art, the character of Housewife lived in the realm of the modern-day creepypasta and cryptid lo-fi horror movement. The lore is sprawling and ever-expanding, but for our adaptation, we were most excited about drilling down on our love for movie monsters, both past and present, and the question of female autonomy throughout the genre’s history.
“As an objectification of the illusion of the 1950s era housewife, we wanted it to feel lost in time, as if Housewife should have been terrorizing the corners of your mind for decades… if only the reel hadn’t been accidentally misplaced all those years ago.”
That concept also made shooting on 35mm an especially good fit. Lazarow and Guthrie wanted Housewife to look like some strange genre artifact that might have been unearthed after sitting forgotten in a film can for decades.
The two filmmakers have been working together for nearly a decade, going back to their college days at Penn State. They’ve since made several shorts together while also working professionally across television productions including The Drew Barrymore Show, FBI: Most Wanted, Doctor Death: Miracle Man, and The Equalizer.
“As an NYC-based screenwriting and directing duo, we have spent nearly a decade collaborating together in a partnership that dates back to our college years at Penn State. Since then we’ve completed three short films together (and just shot our fourth at the end of September).
“When not creating our own projects, we work in production in various capacities on shows including “The Drew Barrymore Show,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Doctor Death: Miracle Man,” and “The Equalizer.” Currently, you can find us in the production office on “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” (Jake) and the costume shop for CIA (Greta).”
Genre filmmaking keeps pulling them back because of the audiences and filmmakers they encounter on the festival circuit.
“Getting to take a short out on the road and screen it for audiences! But more than that, to see the incredible work that we’ve been fortunate enough to screen alongside is the most inspiring. When we watch something that turns our world upside down, and then to pinch ourselves and remember that we were programmed in the same festival or even the same block?
“It reminds us not just that we’re headed in the right direction, but also that we’re headed in that direction in great company. The filmmakers we’ve met and have become friends with inspire us to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and test the limits of what we’re able to create as both writers and directors.”
Housewife also marked their first experience directing a project shot on 35mm, and working with a finite amount of film changed the atmosphere on set.
“Since this was our first time shooting on 35mm, we really had no idea what to expect about how we would feel about the process. We knew we would love it purely as film lovers, but we were surprised to find out just how much we loved the process from top to bottom.
“Unlike digital, every second we rolled was precious, which led to a very specific energy when we were shooting. Everyone was on their A-game, and everyone rose to the occasion to make every take as good as it could be, which was really special.
“For us as directors, it also helped us move on from things that weren’t working — if a particular camera move or blocking choice didn’t come together, then we felt comfortable with quickly pivoting instead of wasting film on something we could already tell wasn’t working.”
That limitation became part of the movie’s personality. The filmmakers were aiming for an uncomfortable mix of horror and absurdity, which makes perfect sense when your central monster looks like someone stuck an entire suburban home on top of a human body.
“The overall tone feels unique to our sensibilities as genre filmmakers. We really wanted to find the intersection between unnerving horror and the absurd (it is a short about a monster with a dollhouse for a head after all!), and we feel like it could easily have been shot as straight horror in someone else’s hands.
“Shooting 35mm opened us up to lean into that feeling of otherworldly that we feel a character like Housewife inhabits, and we’re really proud of how tonally it feels like only something we could have made.”
Actually creating Housewife proved to be one of the hardest parts of making the film. The dollhouse head had to translate Parkin’s 2D artwork into a physical costume that looked right on camera while still being something a performer could wear.
“Building the dollhouse prop/Housewife’s head! That took over a month to perfect (with tweaks being made right up until the shoot/even some on the day), but it required a lot of trial and error. It’s Greta’s pride and joy as the designer, but both of us had to be involved pretty much every step of the way to make sure the size, color, details, materials, fit, design… the list truly goes on and on.
“It was based on Miranda’s art, but it was our job to interpret a 2D animation and how it might be realized as a physical object that someone had to actually wear for long periods of time (shoutout to our Housewife actress Colleen Grate, she was a trooper!) It had to blend story and practicality in a way we hadn’t experienced before, all while remaining true to what makes Housewife such an iconic character to begin with.”
Seeing the completed creature for the first time was understandably a big moment. “We had done an initial lens test to see how the prop/helmet looked on camera, but it wasn’t fully completed and it wasn’t the full wardrobe, so we didn’t really get to experience the full thing until we were on set and Colleen put it on.
“It was such an exciting moment for us to love a character so much and see it come to life in front of our eyes, and then to look around and see some of our best friends working alongside us to make it happen — on celluloid, no less?? It was truly such a special moment that we’ll cherish forever.”
Because the filmmakers knew exactly how much film and shooting time they had, the production demanded serious discipline. They designed the script to fit into a single shooting day, and some shots were captured in just one take.
“Since we had the parameters from the very beginning, we built the script in a way that we knew from previous experience we could shoot in a day. There were some very minor tweaks, but the structure stayed identical all the way through. Since we were shooting on 35mm, we had to be incredibly particular about what we wanted to shoot, so there was very little wiggle room at all stages.
“It really forced us to build out our confidence in every decision that we made — there wasn’t really room for second-guessing because our timeline was short, we had one shoot day to get everything done, and we only had a finite amount of film to shoot with.
“We may have overcorrected a little bit on this one (some shots we only did one take!), but for our short we just did this past September, even though we shot on digital, we still had a stronger sense of knowing exactly what we needed to keep the day moving.”
The production was also built around longtime friends and collaborators. Shannon Collis leads the short after previously starring in another film from Lazarow and Guthrie. Russin served as cinematographer, Andrei Dolezal helped produce and stepped in as the unfortunate mailman, and Colleen Grate took on the physically demanding role of Housewife.
Parkin remained closely involved as the character’s creator, the voice of Housewife, and the artist responsible for the film’s poster.
“Housewife was the second short our lead, Shannon Collis, has starred in (with a third on the way that we shot this past September!), but we actually met back as Covid PA’s in 2021. She’s a rockstar and one of our closest collaborators, and it’s really exciting to develop that level of comfort with a performer and a friend. She always comes to set prepared and, honestly, makes our job directing her so easy.
“We’ve been friends with our DP, James Russin, since college (during Jake’s senior year, they were actually roommates). We had been on the same sets many times, but this was the first time we directed and he DP’d. Since he was the reason this whole thing got started in the first place, it was fun to move from friends to collaborators and experience our friendship in a new light.
“A lot of our incredible crew were friends from college, so to be able to come back together to make something is always such a blast. James brought in Andrei Dolezal to help produce — they challenged themselves to do a short a month for all of 2024, and we had the distinct honor of being 12/12. An actor as well, we borrowed Andrei’s talents to be our poor mailman.
“They also connected us to Colleen, who had the incredibly tough job of portraying Housewife. With no face to express emotion, she had to do all the heavy lifting of creating a sense of unease with her body language alone. She crushed it — and all without being able to see! And, of course, the incredible Miranda Parkin.
“We had never worked with Miranda before, but she took an incredible leap of faith to trust us to do right by her character, and we’re so thankful every day that she did. As the original creator, the voice of Housewife in the film, and our poster designer, her fingerprints are all over this from its inception to the final product.”
Working professionally across different film and television departments has also shaped how Lazarow and Guthrie approach their own productions. One piece of advice in particular stuck with them: every production will probably become somebody’s worst job.
Instead of treating that as a joke, they use it as a reminder that preparation and respect for a crew are closely connected.
“Someone on a set told one of us a few years ago that, without fail, any show you’re on will be someone’s worst job they’ve ever had. That really sat with us, because as filmmakers who have worked a variety of jobs spanning multiple departments in the industry so far (Set PA, Showrunner’s Assistant, Production Coordinator, Covid Testing Coordinating, Office PA, Costume PA, Art PA… we’ve done it all), we have both experienced that in many forms.
“We’ve witnessed it, and we’ve been the person on more than one occasion. But through that, it’s given us an understanding of how much every decision we make impacts the people around us. So when we produce our own work and run our own sets, we know what it means for a crew when the work hasn’t been put in ahead of time — and we take that to heart.
“Our cast and crew are mostly people we’ve worked with many times over the years, and it’s very important for us that they feel like we are respectful of their time. And for the new people stepping onto our set for the first time, we want to make sure they feel the same, and that they want to come back and work with us because we are prepared and are proud of the work that we’re doing.
“So that’s probably what we would say to new filmmakers — it’s easy to say “treat people with respect” in a vacuum because that seems like a given. But the reality is that respect starts with a strong foundation of doing what you need to do in prep.
“We’re not scared of being someone’s “worst job ever,” but we are hyper-aware of making sure that we are as prepared as possible to support our crew when there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s not always going to be easy, but if you lead the charge with a cool head and the resources to know how to pivot into a plan B, then you’re off to a good start.”
The short was initially designed to showcase Parkin’s character, but Housewife apparently has much bigger plans. Lazarow and Guthrie are now developing a feature adaptation and see the short as a calling card for the kind of filmmaking they want to pursue: horror that can make an audience laugh nervously one moment and feel seriously uncomfortable the next.
“We have both been writers all our lives and, quite frankly, can’t imagine doing anything else than this. It’s what gets us out of work in the mornings and what pushes us to prep shorts while working 12-hour days in the production office.
“We love the work so much, and we love doing it with our friends, and we’re just so thrilled to be able to continue to find ways to show their hard work at some of the greatest film festivals in the world. We have a few more festivals that we’ll be playing at, but we’re nearing the end of our run and have partnered with the incredible team over at Crypt TV for our online premiere on November 21st!
“We’re hoping to get some traction and interest as we work on the feature adaptation and are excited to share with a wider audience. We have several feature scripts written, and at this point, we feel like we’re ready to take that leap. “Housewife” feels like a really great calling card for what we want to make a career out of — we love finding the human intersection between horror and the absurd. Ping-ponging between a nervous laugh and unnerved is our sweet spot, always rooted in how we (as directors and as humans) would react to a situation.”
They’re already moving on their next short as well, while continuing to develop Housewife into something larger.
“As we mentioned before, we just finished shooting our next short in September, and we’re in post on it now with the hope of having it completed early 2026. We’re also in the middle of writing a feature adaptation of “Housewife” that we developed with Miranda to start shopping around once we release the short online next month!”
Their influences also reveal quite a bit about what feeds their filmmaking instincts. For Lazarow, the movie that pushed him toward making films was Kevin Smith’s Clerks.
“Jake: Growing up in South Jersey, I found my way into wanting to make movies the way a lot of kids do: Kevin Smith’s CLERKS. I loved that it was from a Jersey filmmaker, I love that my parents and I could drive to visit Red Bank and see all the places where he filmed over the years, and I love how tangible it felt to actually go out and make something with your friends.
“My friends and I started making films together in high school because of CLERKS, and ever since, I’ve carried that love of collaborating with my friends to make something we love and to have fun doing it.”
Guthrie’s path into horror started much earlier and under considerably less parentally approved circumstances, thanks to Resident Evil.
“Greta: This is going to sound like a joke answer, but when I was 6 years old, a family friend lied to my parents about a PG-13 rating on a certain movie, leading me to watch the very-much-R-rated Resident Evil (2002) a few years before I should have.
“It was the first time in my life I can remember being exposed to the horror genre, even the concept of a movie that wasn’t about a Disney princess, and I couldn’t fathom why people would choose to watch something like that (it gave me nightmares for months). However, it grew into a fascination, and later, a love for the genre, the art of truly scaring people, and learning why people can’t help but love a good ghost story.”
As for their all-time favorites, Lazarow goes in a completely different direction with The Iron Giant, while Guthrie picks Mandy.
“Jake: THE IRON GIANT. I grew up watching it with my grandma. Brad Bird and the rest of the team made a perfect movie. I sob like a baby so much I give myself a headache every time I watch it. Greta: MANDY.”
Housewife has a killer visual hook, but what makes the project interesting is what Lazarow, Guthrie, and Parkin have built around it. It’s a weird little collision of vintage domestic imagery, body horror, absurdity, old-school monster filmmaking, and a character the team clearly isn’t finished exploring.
This short film is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the great indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating. I’ve included an interview with the director of the film below.
