Festival Teaser for Strange Grainy Horror ‘Dead Mail’ Playing at SXSW

Festival Teaser for Strange Grainy Horror ‘Dead Mail’ Playing at SXSW

by Alex Billington
March 8, 2024
Source: YouTube

“The one to strike fear is the man who is alone.” An early festival promo teaser has debuted for the indie horror thriller film titled Dead Mail, the second feature from indie genre filmmakers Joe DeBoer & Kyle McConaghy (also of BAB in 2020). This is premiering at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival soon and this trailer will give genre fans an early look at what’s going down in this. Though all of this footage just makes me even more confused – who is this guy and why is he chained up in this room?! An ominous help note finds its way to a 1980s post office, connecting a dead letter investigator to a kidnapped keyboard technician. As Jasper investigates further, he meets Trent, a strange yet unassuming man who has taken up residence at the men’s home where Jasper lives and has an interest in this letter. The indie film stars Sterling Macer, Jr., John Fleck, Susan Priver, Micki Jackson, Tomas Boykin, and Nick Heyman. This almost looks like a re-imagining of Oldboy, with this guy locked up in a room, but will have to watch & see where it’s headed next.

Here’s the first look teaser trailer (+ poster) for DeBoer & McConaghy’s Dead Mail, direct from YouTube:

On a desolate, Midwestern county road, a bound man crawls towards a remote postal box, managing to slide a blood-stained plea-for-help message into the slot before a panicking figure closes in behind him. The note makes its way to the county post office and onto the desk of Jasper, a seasoned and skilled “dead letter” investigator, responsible for investigating lost mail and returning it to its sender. As he investigates further, Jasper meets Trent, a strange yet unassuming man who has taken up residence at the men’s home where Jasper lives. When Trent unexpectedly shows up at Jasper’s office, it becomes clear he has a vested interest in the note, and will stop at nothing to retrieve it… Dead Mail is co-written and co-directed by filmmakers Joe DeBoer & Kyle McConaghy, making their second feature after directing BAB and a few other short films previously. Produced by Zachary Weil & Brett Arndt. This is premiering at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival this month in the Visions section. No other release dates have been set – stay tuned for more.

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