As a treat for Daily Dead readers, we have an early look at the short film Black Orchid Challenge, in which streaming goes terribly wrong. Written and directed by Kevin Cappiello and starring Brooklyn Allan, you can watch the short in its entirety below. We also have some exclusive comments from Kevin Cappiello about the short and its inspiration:
"Black Orchid Challenge is really a film about the death of a live streamer's career. The fear of facing the real world after it inevitably ends. In some ways, The Black Orchid represents the looming end. You know it’s coming, but you can’t stop it.
After watching the short film, you might assume that I was inspired by films like Ringu (1998) or Unfriended (2014) but in reality, I was thinking about David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983.) Videodrome explored how the things we consume on television project into our real lives. I wanted to explore how the things we consume on the internet project into our real lives.
The original script dove into these themes much deeper. In earlier versions, we switched to a mobile view and walked around the house. We had actually built our own Videodrome style “Flesh Monitor” rig where a hand was meant to come through a computer screen. Ultimately, we realized that the film was most effective when confined to the perspective of a computer screen.
Regardless, I hope people walk away with a satisfying scare. The opening line of the short asks “Is this one of those jump scare games?” And the short ends up being ultimately just that. At a bite-sized runtime of 4 minutes, this short was designed to be a shareable scare just in time for Halloween.”
Black Orchid Challenge premieres officially on October 19th at Blackorchidchallenge.com
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
