With his scream queen documentary SCREAMING IN HIGH HEELS hitting DVD in August, filmmaker Jason Paul Collum (pictured left) already has a new feature in the can. He sent along exclusive stills, behind-the-scenes photos and info from his “possible-monster-in-the-house thriller” SAFE INSIDE.

Shot in Wisconsin, SAFE INSIDE, produced by Collum’s B+Boy Productions, stars Chris Harder (1st and 2nd photos below) as JJ Tyler, “a psychologically broken young man who has inherited a house from his mother [NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD’s Judith O’Dea] after her suicide,” Collum tells Fango. “When his wife Alex [Darcey Vanderhoef from the director’s OCTOBER MOON] has to leave town, JJ is forced to spend his first night alone in the home, which seems to slowly come to life and terrorize him. His only salvation is his best friend Betsy [Brinke Stevens, 3rd photo, and in silhouette 4th photo], who tries to determine if JJ is simply cracking mentally, or if there is indeed something inside with them. ASWANG: THE UNEARTHING lead Tina Ona Paukstelis also appears as Betsy’s rational sister Amy.”

Following SCREAMING and his disc documentary SLEEPLESS NIGHTS: REVISITING THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRES, Collum got back to the fiction feature realm with SAFE INSIDE, his first such project since 2008’s OCTOBER MOON 2: NOVEMBER SON. He went even further back when it came to culling his cast, reuniting many of the principals from his second shot-on-video flick, 1996’s 5 DARK SOULS. “Nearly all of my leads—Chris, Tina, Darcey, Karen Dilloo, Sy Stevens and several others—are together for the first time in 15 years,” Collum explains. “The difference is this time, I could actually pay them. And to have the opportunity to work again with Chris, who recently appeared in Gus Van Sant’s RESTLESS, has been just a wonderful experience. He and Brinke have this intense chemistry on screen, which really allowed them to pull these excellent performances out of each other.”

Working with a comparatively larger budget also allowed Collum to reunite with iconic horror heroines Stevens and O’Dea, though Collum notes, “It’s still an indie film, and the budgetary restraints forced us to shoot 96 scenes in five—yes, five—days. I’m using CGI for the first time ever, thanks to my graphics designer Eric Arsnow and editor Derrick Carey. But that element tightens where the other money goes as well, when you consider you have to pay for plane tickets, house and feed an entire cast and crew and get some really great makeup effects, courtesy of Joseph Mistretta and his Four Finger Effects [5th and 6th photos]. I promise that when you see the blood and guts, it’ll be a tactile experience. No CGI there!”

That promise notwithstanding, Collum also says, “Most of the film is based in suspense, along the lines of 1979’s WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, EYES OF LAURA MARS, THE STRANGERS and my own short JULIA WEPT. There’s mucho head-nodding to a lot of my favorite suspense films. People who know me will pick up not just on these titles, but so many of the films I’ve written about and documented over the years. Nothing garish, just a wink here and there." And one moment, he adds, will be especially appreciated by zombie fanatics. “Look at who’s in my cast and you’ll figure it out,” he smiles. “There’s a scene that’s going to thrill a very specific group of people to death. I just hope nobody leaks the photos before the film is released, a problem I’ve already begun encountering.”

The aforementioned five-day schedule required Collum, his cast and crew to toil for an average of 16-17 hours each day, and the director recalls, “It was hard, but we pulled through. My DP Andrew Gibbs, who I just met at the Chicago premiere of SCREAMING IN HIGH HEELS, somehow managed to stay focused. He brought along a team of guys like Kevin Manning and a complete camera package that allowed this production to look much bigger than it logistically should. This has been a truly organic experience—one of those films where everything seemed to just flow so well and fall into place like the universe intended for it to happen. I haven’t had that since OCTOBER MOON, so to feel it again leads me to believe we’ve got something really special, and scary.”

Collum is aiming to get SAFE INSIDE a limited theatrical release in early 2013. He’ll introduce and premiere the trailer at Chicago’s Flashback Weekend horror convention on Saturday, August 11. Read more about SCREAMING IN HIGH HEELS here and in Fango #316, on sale in August.

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