Central Park Dark is about a one nightstand that turns into a never ending nightmare. The film started out as ‘Fatal Attraction meets Blair Witch Project set in Central Park’. The film ended up being about a less-than-ideal woman who desperately wants to become a mother — less-than-ideal because she may be a cursed witch.

Typically a happy place full of tourists, I recast Central Park as a darker place of unknown forces. The picturesque parts of the park are displayed, but my film digs into the park’s underbelly, the off-limits woods that might as well be in the middle of nowhere.

This film illustrates how individuals can be completely isolated in a city of nine million people. I think of this as a dark tale more than a horror film. The simplest things are often the most scary: being alone in the dark, being in the woods at night. To capture a certain rawness and realism, we shot as simply as possible; handheld and minimal lighting.

The film’s story world is rooted in the fascinating history of New York’s Central Park. My character’s ancestor, Sarah Mae, lived in Seneca Village, the village which was razed to create Central Park. History doesn’t mention the darker side of the village. Here, Sarah Mae met her people; West Africans who taught her voodoo, which she really made her own. They worshipped, they prayed. I won’t tell you who they prayed to. 

Central Park Dark, is a horror film as a metaphor for addiction, namely alcoholism. What did I do last night? This question pounds in Thomas’ mind the next morning. The alcoholic path of destruction can be ugly, humiliating, harmful.

After this film, you may never want to enter Central Park after dark -- and you’ll certainly never see it in the same light.