Accidental Film Gone Right: How Crochet Massacre Made My Dreams Come True

My film "Crochet Massacre", which was a finalist in a film festival, was not supposed to exist; here is why.

It all started when I was looking through the group chat of my school's film club. I occassionally scroll though this to see updates of what is going on since I have already graduated and am no longer part of the film club. I saw a chat that looked very interesting to me. A link to a Halloween film fest for short horror films. If you know me, you know that I love horror movies and am obsessed with Halloween. This seemed like a no brainer; I had to make a film for this festival.

This was a big deal for me. This was my first film I was entering into a film festival and horror is my thing, this had to be perfect. I put together a brainstorming doc and wrote down all of my crazy ideas. I even took some ideas from my boyfriend for inspiration as I have done before with The Last Pineapple on Earth. The only problem was, I didn't have anyone to help me with this as per usual. Not only did I have to come up with an idea for the most perfect horror short film, but I also had to think up something practical that I could film by myself and have finished within a couple weeks. This basically made me throw all my ideas out the window.

At this point I was stressed and giving up hope for this project. All my favorite ideas were scratched because they would be too difficult to film. This is when I looked at my list and figured I could just adapt one to make it easier. In my mind, a stop motion staring a bunch of skeletons was "easier". Not only was it hard to find mini skeletons with bendable arms and legs, but I have never made a stop motion like this before and I didn't realize it would be as hard as it was.

Though I kept losing more and more motivation, I was still determined to film this stop motion. I even had music for this film that I had made earlier on garage band, so I really wanted this to work. I put my skeletons on my bedroom floor and set up my lights and camera. I made the set look like it was a real living room for the skeletons. I took a couple shots and it was going okay. I soon realized it was nearly impossible to move the skeletons' arms without moving the whole thing, which is a no-no for stop motion. Not only this, but my cat kept walking through the set, messing up everything. At this point if I took what I shot, none of the frames would line up and it wouldn't make any sense. So, I did what any sane person would do; I gave up.

After sulking in my bed for a few hours and having a few drinks, I decided to get my camera back out and film something, anything. At this time I was just getting into my recent favorite hobby, crocheting. I had all my crocheting stuff out: yarn, hooks, needles, scissors, even a few of my projects. I started filming my supplies from different angles, in different settings. Soon the idea came to me that my red yarn can act as blood and I can have one of my projects be a victim. Finally, I had an idea for a story and the footage to go with it.

A few days after filming, I headed to my office to edit my newest project. I already had music from my stop motion, so I put that into this project. I made another song and threw some edits onto my project and it was finished. I was proud of what I had created, but I didn't think it was film festival material. Although I was sure my film wouldn't even place, I submitted it anyway right at the deadline. What was the worst that could happen, I lose 25 dollars?

My film, Crochet Massacre, on the big screen at Creepy Cheapy Film Festival 2025.

A couple weeks later I was scrolling through my gmail. My gmail isn't my main email, so I don't check this often or get notifications for it. I noticed an email from somebody that I didn't recognize. The most recent email was stating the winner of the film festival that I had entered. Not a surprise to me, I didn't win. I looked at another earlier email from this person stating things about the film festival and how to "claim my tickets". I was very confused because I didn't think I had won anything. I looked at a few more emails. One stated that my film had been selected to be screened at the film festival. I immediatley thought this must just be a mistake so I looked at the last email. It was from the film festival itself. It said, "We are happy to say your horror short has been selected as one of the finalists for the Creepy Cheapy Film Festival." My mouth dropped, I was in shock, but I was so happy. I called my boyfriend and my sister, texted my parents, and I went into work very cheerful that day. I could not believe it, I was so excited.

My boyfriend (Alex) and me at Creepy Cheapy Film Festival 2025 dressed as skeleton pirates.

Not only did I place in a horror film festival, but I also got free tickets to attend both nights. And this is not just any regular film fest, it is a full blown Halloween party where you get to wear a costume and there are live performers on multiple stages around the venue doing covers from their favorite artists. As if this wasn't amazing enough, my all-time favorite band Fall Out Boy was one of the bands being covered. In my mind, my horror film won me free front row tickets to a Fall Out Boy concert, and this was a total dream come true. And yes, I was directly front and center during Fall Out Boy and I completely lost my mind.

This was one of the best nights of my life and it was all because of a little horror film I made from throwing together random footage I filmed after giving up on my original idea.

If you want more information about this film including a link to watch it, visit my portfolio!