They say film festivals are meant to put some leaves on your poster, but “Dream Creep” is the only Oscar-qualifying short still proudly promoting that it made an audience member throw up.
Written and directed by Carlos A.F. Lopez, this buzzy short horror film debuted at Sundance 2024 before it was selected as one of seven titles in the festival’s theatrical tour. Clocking in at just 12 minutes and 34 seconds, the dazzling genre snippet stars Sidney Jayne Hunt and Ian Edlund as spouses stuck in a reverse “Nightmare on Elm Street”.
When a voice emanating from inside the sleeping woman’s head instructs her husband NOTtowake her — but instead grab a meat thermometer from the kitchen and do something unthinkable to her ear — he’s forced to make a decision that could kill them both. The stomach-churning result starts streaming December 1 on MUBI (fittingly, the same platform now harboring Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance.”)
“Dream Creep” was selected for more than 65 film festivals, including SXSW, Fantasia, BFI London, and more. The film received several awards from Scariest Short at Overlook to Worst Nightmare at Palm Springs ShortFest. Lopez also won the Vimeo: Special Jury Prize for Directing at Sundance and appeared in Filmmaker Magazine’s 2024 list of New Faces in Film.
Producers Megan Leonard and Jonathan Caso, special effects designer Lael Rogers, and writer/director Lopez spoke with IndieWire about the making of “Dream Creep” earlier this year. The collaborators enthused heavily about the Seattle filmmaking scene, explained how they pulled off DIY body horror in Lopez’s bedroom, and further explored the boundless potential of this script’s core concept.
In an email update to IndieWire, Lopez said that he had “completed a draft” of the feature-length version of “Dream Creep” about a month ago and is now “toiling away to get all the little devils in the details.”
“As with the short, I want it to be able to stand alone while also leaving a lot of little tendrils to follow into a multi-dimensional Dream Creep freakout continuum,” Lopez wrote. “There’s plenty of ear peril but also some shots fired at our current era of AI, misinformation and gaslighting pitfalls that seem to be springing up on the daily. Ultimately just trying to get an OXO Meat Thermometer brand partnership ;)”
“Dream Creep” starts streaming December 1 on MUBI. Watch the teaser below:
