HAUNTINGS
102 min | Horror Comedy | Coming 2027
Every Halloween, the misfits of Mustard Residential College transform their dorm into a chaotic DIY haunted house. When a neurotic RA attempts to clean up the tradition, she accidentally breaks an ancient protection spell and unleashes a soul-devouring Victorian headmaster.
Now, the students must reclaim everything they were told to suppress to save their friends and their home.
HAUNTINGS is a REAL event put on each Halloween by students at the University of Virginia’s Brown Residential College. Every year, students select a theme (often with some gory political satire) and build a DIY haunted house for the community to enjoy. It’s a tradition that spans decades, and truly captures the heart of collegiate expression, debauchery, and fun. Along this narrative, we’ll actually document the 2026 Hauntings house, capturing real students, reactions, & blur the line between documentary and fiction.
FOLLOW ALONG...
HORROR HAS NEVER BEEN THIS HOMEMADE
Welcome to Mustard Residential College! A haven for queer nerds, outcasts, and the worst breed of theatre kids. Every Halloween, its students come together to create HAUNTINGS– a chaotic DIY haunted house where anything goes. This year, documentarians and twins, Conner and Coral, are filming the festivities just as the new RA, Vic, is ordered by the university's iron-fisted Dean Davis to sanitize the event—or Mustard will be shut down. Determined to enforce the rules, Vic prevents the college's annual Full Moon Rumpus, unaware the prank secretly maintains an ancient protection spell. Her mistake unleashes the spirit of Mallet Payne, the sadistic headmaster of the Victorian military academy that once occupied the building. Possessing the Dean, Payne begins devouring students' souls, turning them into obedient followers while the haunted house's themed rooms come horrifyingly to life.
A MESSAGE FROM THE WRITER..
In our increasingly isolated modern lives, true community is a lost art. Still, deep inside the University of Virginia is a dorm that promises all under her roof a chaotic, stimulating, and unconventional undergraduate experience. HAUNTINGS is my attempt to capture that island of misfit toys inside a horror/comedy mockumentary. Because the film borrows from real people, places, stories, and traditions, its documentary language preserves authenticity, making the audience feel like they can recognize their own college friends in the characters. While the Horror externalizes the threats facing the community, the comedy captures the irreverence and joy that make it worth defending. In HAUNTINGS, Mustard is a proudly queer dorm, mirroring the real-life Brown College, and the majority of the characters are explicitly gay, bi, or trans including our two protagonists Dodger and Vic. Their conflict is a microcosm of greater tensions within the queer community– What is lost when we conform to society’s standards and what, if anything, is gained? Though HAUNTINGS is a college horror/comedy filled with laughs and scares, its heart is sincere: a love letter to outcasts that celebrates self-expression, self-determination, the weird, the unconventional, and the moral imperative to break the rules.
–Regan Borucke, Screenwriter
HELP US RAISE HELL
We have built a relationship with the real Brown Residential College and have an extraordinary opportunity to film portions of HAUNTINGS during its annual Halloween event in Virginia. Capturing the real celebration will give the film something that cannot be manufactured on a soundstage: an established community, decades of tradition, handmade production design, and the specific energy of hundreds of students creating something together. Our first fundraising goal is $75,000, which will allow us to capture these time-sensitive exterior scenes this October. Every contribution moves us closer to preserving this real tradition on film. Let’s build a world that is larger than fiction!
We also accept checks, wire and ACH transfers. Please contact Red Eye for more information. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, HAUNTINGS has a fiscal sponsorship through The Gotham Institute linked below.
HAUNTINGS is also looking for investors! If you would like to be an equity investor in HAUNTINGS, please email inquiries@redeyepictures.com
DONATION PRIZES:
$15 - social media shout out
$30 - Printable poster
$70 - Early virtual screening access
$100 - Name in credits
$250 - Tour the set in LA! (travel and lodging not included)
$500 - Invite to the premiere (travel and lodging not included)
INVESTMENT PRIZES:
$1k - Become an investor! Get your name in the credits
$5k - VIP invite to premiere (travel and lodging not included)
$10k - Meet the cast on set in LA (travel and lodging not included)
$15k - be in the movie (travel and lodging not included)
MEET THE TEAM BEHIND HAUNTINGS
KAREN ZIPOR, Director
Karen Zipor is the founder of Zipped Up Films, a production studio with a diverse portfolio spanning both live-action and animation. Karen has worked with industry giants such as Disney, Warner Bros, and Universal. Her credits include high-profile productions like VFX on The Odyssey & Disclosure Day, and being producer of Brittany Broski’s Royal Court, a celebrity interview show featuring stars like Harry Styles & Anne Hathaway.
REGAN BORUCKE, Writer
Regan Borucke tells stories about women disrupting the inevitable. She has successfully escaped Tampa, law school, and a future as a trad wife. Regan grew up navigating the tense politics of high school theater and being queer in a conservative community, both of which greatly inform her personal neuroses and artistic process. As a writer, she can’t decide if she prefers making people think, laugh, or scream– but as long as one happens, she can’t complain.
THE RED EYE TEAM, Production
Red Eye Pictures is an independent film company based in Virginia. Founded in 2024 by four graduates of the University of Virginia, Red Eye aims to showcase a variety of important and engaging narratives while providing a platform for other creatives within the industry. Red Eye is guided by the diverse perspectives and talents brought by our four founders: Logan Mercer, Sarah Inman, Sebastian Segura, and Jack Morgan. While differing in our personal and academic backgrounds, we are brought together by our love for film and the filmmaking community. Learn more about the team...
Film done in collaboration with Zipped Up Films and Later Alligator Productions