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This project successfully funded on 15th June 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Manipulator | sci-fi/horror feature film
Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom
Aim
To complete funds for the second half of shooting our found footage sci-fi horror film MANIPULATOR.
THE FILM
A journalist documenting a magician’s final trick: returning from the dead.
A navy psych-evaluation post-close encounter.
Two friends seeking the immortal being in the woods.
A tarot reading for the end of the world.
Manipulator is an interwoven philosophical nightmare about the growing feeling of isolation, helplessness and detachment in the modern world.
WHO/WHAT/WHY/WHEN?
I'm Graham, the writer/director, and Manipulator will be my third found footage horror feature film. My last two films (Death of a Vlogger and Hostile Dimensions) are currently at number 32 and 31 in Rotten Tomatoes Best Found Footage list and were both picked up by horror streaming plaform Shudder.
With Manipulator, I want to combine the manic ambition of Hostile Dimensions with the creeping dread of Death of a Vlogger and, with a larger budget, improve production value across the board.
This is a multi-POV found footage film, something I think is rare in the genre, but a conceit I'm very excited to be exploring. The added benefit is production can be spread across months, doing a chunk at a time. We're looking for funding to support and properly execute the final blocks of shooting this summer.
It's by far the most ambitious film I've ever attempted, and we aim to get it finished by the end of the year, ready for festivals in 2027.
VISION
anivore [ˈænɪˌvɔr] noun (c)
A creature or hazard that exists as a self-propagating idea, thought, or piece of information rather than a physical being. These monsters infect the minds of observers and spread through communication (speech, text, image) like a virus, often manipulating their hosts to spread them further.
Manipulator is an interwoven philosophical nightmare about the growing feeling of isolation, helplessness and detachment in the modern world.
That feeling that something is... off just now... a collective sense of paranoia and anxiety. When I look around at the modern world, I honestly feel like I’m losing my mind, and I’m trying to put that madness on-screen.
The theme throughout is the desire to make a connection, to see the truth, to bridge gaps between universes.
Stylistic elements are a blend of a few things. There’s the frenetic, tinfoil-hat mania of Adam Curtis films. The creeping isolation and cold loneliness of Jane Schoenbrun. The surreality of the online world, with its ASMR, mukbangs and TikTok NPCs. I want to tap into the philosophical energy of Waking Life, to be the nightmare to its dream.
In the found footage world: the unpredictable eeriness of Incantation and Koji Shiraishi's work; the multi-POV mixed media of The Bay; and the immersion and building dread of Savageland.
Finally, as a big horror fan, my bottom-line goal is to make it terrifying.
Creative Scotland Crowdmatch has provided £2,970 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made