I am a 37 year old woman who is childfree by choice...and this seems to upset a lot of people. Particularly my Filipino family. I've heard every comment in the book, from:

"You're going to die alone"
"Why are you denying your mom a grandkid?"
...to things too upsetting to repeat here.

I'm finally in a headspace where I can let the comments roll off without getting to me. But it got me thinking...what if someone was so obsessed with someone else becoming a mother that they summoned a demon to make sure that happened?

Thus, "Breeder" was born!

As a kid, I was mesmerized by the stories my grandpa told me of when he was younger in the Philippines, all the monsters and creatures he encountered. The monsters in American movies pale in comparison to the wild stories from the Philippines. The demon in "Breeder" is my interpretation of a Tikbalang, an entity in Filipino folklore with the head of a horse and body of a man, like a reverse centaur. I thought it would be scarier if it looked like his skin was ripped off, and our special effects artist Cig Neutron (SyFy's Face Off) executed the vision exceptionally!

It's a much lesser known part of its lore, but because the Tikbalang is an all male species, they use human women to procreate, which is why I chose it for this story.

The original concept was to have prosthetics cover the entire body to really sell that the Tikbalang is just exposed muscle, but that wouldn't be possible with our time and budget constraints, so the plan was to body paint the actor from the neck down. I was a little nervous it wouldn't work, but I distinctly remember standing in that garage, and Cig was leading the Tikbalang (Taylor Bradley) inside, and the energy of the room completely shifted. We were HORRIFIED!!! The skull sits on top of Taylor's head, who's already very tall, so this monster was just towering over everybody. The uncanniness of the top paired with the humanness of his body actually made it even scarier. It was good lesson for me that sometimes, especially with horror, less is better.

I remember being in the Zoom, listening to Matt Jeffery and Jed Shepherd talking about how they already announced the 2 grant recipients, and I remember thinking, wait why did they ask me to be on this call if I didn't win? And then they said they created a 3rd award so that my project could be made! I'm still in shock about it! My story is definitely intense and I was concerned it wouldn't resonate with the all male panel of judges, but I'm so happy to have been given the opportunity to tell this horrific story.

My background is in animation and podcasting, which can be very solitary. This was my first time directing a live-action project like this, so it was really nerve-wracking at first! We shot it over 2 nights and I didn't eat or pee the entire first day haha. My in-laws were kind enough to let us film in their home, and at the end of every night I slept in there by myself which was creepier than usual.

When you have a crew of magical practitioners making dark art, something weird is bound to happen! My friend Rannie AuGoGo is a priestess who was on set to assist with the makeup application. When we were about to film the scene with the Tikbalang and the mom, she could hear (in her head) a spirit say "light me a candle as an offering." She was about to leave the room to get her candle, but before she could, our DP (Neil Fernandez) asked a PA to bring him one. He lit it, held it in front of his camera for a bit, decided he didn't like the shot, and put it away. Rannie was like, oh I guess Neil heard the message too!

One of my favorite moments on set was when we were filming the sequence where a bunch of motion sensor lights go off, indicating that the demon is coming towards Mary. Every person on set had a different light switch, and we had to coordinate our actor landing in the right spot, the door creaking open at the right time, the lights turning on with the right rhythm - we all cheered when we finally got it! I'm a little bummed we couldn't capture those moments because our on-set photographer had to help out. Haha.

The project is shot and currently in post production, BUT we still need some extra funds to finish it! I launched a campaign on Indiegogo if you'd like to contribute!

We're raising $6,804 to cover remaining post-production and festival costs.

22% - Post Production
25% - Title & Poster Design
46% - Festival Submissions and Travel
7% - Indiegogo Fees

Anything we raise beyond our goal will go towards reimbursements and paying the cast and crew bonuses for their hard work.

Make sure to have a life outside of your art! It sounds contradictory but being obsessed with your art will make your art suffer. If you want to be a horror filmmaker you might be tempted to just watch nothing but horror movies...but then your work is going to be derivative of what's been done. I have found inspiration from paranormal investigating, going to museums, taking psychic classes, volunteering at the animal shelter! The best stories come from lived experiences, so don't deprive yourself of that!