Between costumes and candy, many celebrate the Halloween season by watching horror movies. Throughout the years, many students’ senior thesis films have had spooky undertones, making them perfect to rewatch this time of year.
Kelly Kirshtner (Associate Professor, Film) and a horror film aficionado commented on the draw of scary cinema and its intertwinement with the holiday.
“You look around the neighborhoods and there’s a lot of nods to horror characters, and depending on the kind of horror people like, it’s a great time to come together as a community.”
“Mindframe” is a psychological thriller directed by Kiersten Hoff (BFA 2024, Film). Inspired by their love for the mad science genre, the story follows a young man whose reality begins to unravel after becoming involved in a twisted science experiment.
Recently, Hoff has been touring “Mindframe” at film festivals across Wisconsin and Illinois, often earning the designation of best in show. The creamy black and white visuals combined with lead actor Gage McNew’s chilling performance, “Mindframe” is a must-see for the Halloween season.
“My film is spooky,” Hoff said. “There’s brains and mad science and a computer. Someone dies, but I’m not going to tell you who. The ending of the film is hopeless and suspenseful.”
Curse of the Creeper (Spring 2024)
“Curse of the Creeper” by Henry Stollenwerk (BFA 2024, Film) is a campy horror adventure following the exploits of two amateur witches after summoning a demon named Creepy Greg and their journey to send the demon back to where it came from. The draw of the film is its aesthetics and production design, emphasizing the comedy in its creep factor and its references to classical stereotypes within the monster genre.
“I don’t really think it’s designed to scare people but for people to have fun with it. Its spookiness is much more in the production design, makeup, and costuming,” said Stollenwerk. “Creepy Greg is very evocative of your classic and stereotypical, green-skinned hag.”
“Stomach Bug” is a dark romcom created by Maxwell Lambert (BFA 2025, Film). The story centers on a young man who tries to navigate the dating scene while having to tend to a parasite with a taste for human flesh that inhabits his body. Lambert’s film features amazing special effects and puppetry, with knockout moments leaving you on the edge of your seat.
“I thought about spookiness when I was making it,” Lambert said. “I was really trying to play with tropes and visual references. I was trying to play with horror iconography reminiscent of Lucio Fulci.”
Nathan Boedecker’s (BFA 2025, Film) “Satanic Panic” is a story about a Dungeons and Dragons campaign gone wrong, introducing its main character to the occult and the supernatural. With his love of the tabletop role-playing game, Boedecker always knew he wanted his senior thesis film to be inspired by D&D. He credits PSOA’s advanced improv class, taught by Alan Guszkowski ’04, for introducing him to the people who would later act in and help produce his film.
“It was just a lot of fun being on set and coming up with new ideas,” Boedecker said. “A lot of the people working on the film are also nerds. It was just a lot of hanging out.”
You can watch even more senior films, including spooky ones, by visiting the Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres Vimeo page.
Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)