Pill Head: The Feature Film
I’m the Producer and Production Designer (and poster designer) for the indie feature Pill Head, an ultra-low-budget black-and-white art film made in collaboration with Writer/Director Daedalus Howell.
We wanted an aesthetic that evoked the eighties and nineties but was set in a contemporary world. The values and textures of sets, costumes and locations evoke the film’s moody and campy vibe and refer back to the aesthetic of films from our youth like Blue Velvet, Repo Man, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the music videos of the eighties alongside the influences of the French New Wave and Hitchcock.
Synopsis
After an overdose, art student Theda becomes an unwitting specimen in her university’s experimental psych program. There’s a side effect, however — she slides into alternate universes. Moreover, a self from one of these other universes warns her about the program’s enigmatic researcher Dr. Ashe. Determined to escape, Theda’s salvation lays through the looking glass of quantum quandaries, romance revisited, and the jagged little pill of her own nature.
Runtime 1 hour 20 minutes. Starring Emily Ahrens as Theda. Also starring Alia Beeton, Christophe Parker, Kalin Robbins, Pascal Faivre, D’mitra Smith, Josh Staples, Steve Jaxon, and Daedalus Howell. Produced by Kary Hess, written and directed by Daedalus Howell.
IN THE MEDIA
“…Mind-bending…”— Sonoma Valley Sun
“…Satirically off-the-wall…”
— Press Democrat
“…Whimsical…Hitchcockian…Screened to a sold-out crowd (and a delirious standing ovation)…”
— Petaluma Argus-Courier
“In its weirdness and campy aesthetic, Pill Head would have to be placed…far outside mainstream movies…”
— Marin Independent Journal
One of the most important things in this movie was that it have a sense of place, a weird world where the story and characters could unfold. We had over twenty locations, most of which were loaned to us by good friends who owned a bar or café or coworking space, etc. that we could use as-is or modify, sometimes significantly. The vibe and variety of the places was paramount to creating the world of the film.
