An Eerie and Timely New Horror Short Film: "Pruning" (Starring Madeline Brewer)

An Eerie and Timely New Horror Short Film: “Pruning” (Starring Madeline Brewer)

Artslast month • Views: 12,011

In “Pruning,” Madeline Brewer (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) stars as a far right podcaster whose rants inspire a mass murderer’s shooting spree. When she is forced to confront her complicity in the massacre, things get weird. An engrossing, disturbing, well-written short by Lola Blanc.

(I should warn the more sensitive among us that there are some pretty intense scenes.)

When a political commentator discovers she has inspired a mass shooting, she must contend with her conscience—by any means necessary.

“Pruning” by Lola Blanc

Starring Madeline Brewer (The Handmaids Tale, Cam, Braid)

Subscribe to ALTER on YouTube: goo.gl

#ALTER #horror #shortfilm

Connect with the Filmmakers:
YouTube: youtube.com
Instagram: instagram.com
TikTok: tiktok.com
Official website: lolablanc.com
Trust Me podcast: trustmepod.com
Lola’s music on Spotify: open.spotify.com

“Pruning” Credits:
Directed by: Lola Blanc
Written by: Lola Blanc and Jeremy Radin

Produced by: Nick Paskhover, Chris Beyrooty
With Rustic Films (David Lawson, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson)
Executive producers: Madeline Brewer, Deric A. Hughes, Elia Petridis
Associate producers: Rob Kolson, Brian Huff, George Bradshaw

Starring:
Madeline Brewer
Peyton Kennedy
Jeremy Radin

Featuring:
Akilah Hughes
Ben Gleib
Betsy Zajko
Jack Bedrosian
Avital Ash

More credits:

Click to Reveal

Cinematography: Sonja Tsypin
1st AC: Duy Nguyen
1st AC: Torin Bradshaw
2nd AC: Rayner Hallera
2nd AC: Tanner Charnstrom

Steadicam operator: Jaron Tauch
Camera operator: Adam Leene
Gaffer: Thomas Sigurdsson
Gaffer: Tate McCurdy
BBE: Kevin T. Garrard
BBE: Carlos Mauricio Ortez
BBE: Logan Wade
Set lighting technician: Auston Mahan
Key grip: Brendan Riel
Key grip: Shawn Anderson
Best boy grip: Alex Laudeman
Best boy grip: Jaan Kristjan Utno
Grip: Collin Gallivan
Grip: Glenn McDougald
Grip: Sean Carr
Balloon light technician: @arendterik

Production design: Helen Morales
Art director: Nicholas Kerr
Lead person: Jonathan Rodriguez

Set dressers:
Conrad Sundqvist Olmos
Morris Brown
Alex Santo Spirito
Sophie Cohen
Versace Conradt
Drew Wall

Costume designer: Hayley McCune
Costume assist: Tess Tingloff
Key hair: Phil Nathaniel
Wig & hair stylist: Mary Czech
Wig maker: Amanda Miller Wig Studio
Makeup & SFX: Cat Calico
Makeup: Crystal Lozada
Creature designer: Greg Aronowitz

1st AD: Ryan Taylor
2nd AD: Tom Richmond
Production sound: George Wymenga
Production sound: Jake E. Robinson
PA: Alessandro Pulisci

Edited by: Mitchell & Start (Brian Mitchell, Ian Start)
Sound design & mixing: Joe Stockton
Original music: AJ Nilles
Colorist: Connor J. Bailey
VFX artist: Ryan Harrison

Camera package provided by: Panavision

Jump to bottom

71 comments

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 4:31:15pm

The main character is named “Sami Geller.”

Hmm.

Backwoods Sleuth Mar 25, 2024 • 4:58:03pm

jeebus, MrBWS is watching this ridiculous movie The Hunt.

I am torn between getting whiplash shaking my head and laughing my ass off.

I need more adult beverages….

Unabogie Mar 25, 2024 • 5:02:20pm

re: #2 Backwoods Sleuth

jeebus, MrBWS is watching this ridiculous movie The Hunt.

I am torn between getting whiplash shaking my head and laughing my ass off.

I need more adult beverages….

We tried to watch that for 5 minutes. It was unwatchable, even as a hate watch.

Patricia Kayden Mar 25, 2024 • 5:04:27pm

retired cynic Mar 25, 2024 • 5:06:56pm

re: #4 Patricia Kayden

I agree. For a semi-antidote, here is Mary Trump today:
NOW: Judge SHUTS DOWN Donald’s Lawyers
Think Donald won? Think again
marytrump.substack.com

Backwoods Sleuth Mar 25, 2024 • 5:06:56pm

re: #3 Unabogie

We tried to watch that for 5 minutes. It was unwatchable, even as a hate watch.

I agree, but we just got to the “deplorables” and “mansion in Vermont” and “viral internet”…JFC

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 5:09:31pm

I really appreciate the way this film sticks the ending.

Unabogie Mar 25, 2024 • 5:11:25pm

re: #123 The Ghost of a Flea

Trans youth will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers, NHS England says

(from the 12th)

Puberty blockers solve the moral panic about kids with wrong-bodies being dangerous to their peers, but it does so in a way that keeps the window of transition open, and is therefore unacceptable to people that believe, implicitly or explicitly, that people’s bodies are not their own.

Kids have to become what their parents want, unless their parents are too weird, in which case kids have to become what “normal” third parties want.

Must like abortion access, the modern synthesis of how to control others involves demolishing all of the options, then declaring that there was no other choice. We’re winding back to the old atrocities of eugenics, but mediating layers of casuistry.

Ghost, this is something bothers me so freaking much. I imagine myself being forced through the wrong puberty against my will and how horrifying that would be. At that point, the damage is done. If I’m a trans girl, I have now lost the ability to “pass” without expensive surgeries and I will face a lifetime of harassment and possible violence. It seems so vital to these kids to allow them early intervention.

Denying people this chance when it matters the most is cruel.

Yeah Sure WhatEVs Mar 25, 2024 • 5:16:50pm

re: #8 Unabogie

Denying people this chance when it matters the most is cruel.

Defining Republicans in 11 simple words.

mmmirele Mar 25, 2024 • 5:17:38pm

San Jose has a project to take pictures of vehicles on its streets and then suss out the homeless living in vans, RVs and cars using AI.

theguardian.com

Sick.

Backwoods Sleuth Mar 25, 2024 • 5:20:02pm

LOL
Lady, you messed up the big grilled cheese sandwich speech”…

OK, this movie just got real

Patricia Kayden Mar 25, 2024 • 5:23:50pm

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 5:25:53pm

re: #8 Unabogie

This conversation is a perfect example of why I still love this odd corner of the internet.

Backwoods Sleuth Mar 25, 2024 • 5:31:17pm

OK, the ending is freaking great.

I actually said the last lines of dialogue before they were said in the movie.

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 5:32:21pm

Always liked this old mansion in the university ward and thought it looked cool before the snow got walked on this morning.

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 5:33:02pm

My mini-review:

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 5:33:21pm

But you better not want a picnic lunch next to the gyro’s place today …

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 5:38:32pm

re: #10 mmmirele

San Jose has a project to take pictures of vehicles on its streets and then suss out the homeless living in vans, RVs and cars using AI.

theguardian.com

Sick.

This is so they know how much resources will be needed to provide safe, clean shelters, right?

Shiplord Kirel: From behind wingnut lines Mar 25, 2024 • 5:40:50pm

re: #10 mmmirele

San Jose has a project to take pictures of vehicles on its streets and then suss out the homeless living in vans, RVs and cars using AI.

theguardian.com

Sick.

Hitler looks up from hell: “I was born 80 years too soon.”

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 5:41:36pm

Holy hell skiing. Winter made a comeback in a big fucken way around here. That’s some of the most fun one can have, skiing today.

The Ghost of a Flea Mar 25, 2024 • 5:44:22pm

re: #8 Unabogie

Ghost, this is something bothers me so freaking much. I imagine myself being forced through the wrong puberty against my will and how horrifying that would be. At that point, the damage is done. If I’m a trans girl, I have now lost the ability to “pass” without expensive surgeries and I will face a lifetime of harassment and possible violence. It seems so vital to these kids to allow them early intervention.

Denying people this chance when it matters the most is cruel.

Me too.

I thing I have to keep a gauge on is that I’m always angry about that exact thing, it has a homousian nature with things I’ve suffered: being pinned first by rhetoric, then by inaction;, watching the good choices be crossed out, until the person controlling you can performatively flap their hands and declare that, clearly, the thing they wanted…the thing they made the only option available…was always the only “reasonable” option.

mmmirele Mar 25, 2024 • 5:55:37pm

re: #1 Charles

The main character is named “Sami Geller.”

Hmm.

Normally I don’t watch horror, because, well, just because. But this had a political element, so of course I had to watch. This was very well done. A very visceral example of killing one’s conscience, I think.

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 5:59:59pm

re: #10 mmmirele

San Jose has a project to take pictures of vehicles on its streets and then suss out the homeless living in vans, RVs and cars using AI.

theguardian.com

Sick.

It would seem to me that it wouldn’t be that hard to “Ghost Army” the fuck out of that project and easily make them think there are 2x ~ 4x the number of actual homeless people in San Jose and that they are living in very different locations than they really are. Especially if they appear to be congregating in the very very best of neighborhoods. Because AI can’t lie can it…? 😈

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 6:06:41pm

re: #8 Unabogie

That’s just simple evil.

Belafon Mar 25, 2024 • 6:09:49pm

re: #23 William Lewis

It would seem to me that it wouldn’t be that hard to “Ghost Army” the fuck out of that project and easily make them think there are 2x ~ 4x the number of actual homeless people in San Jose and that they are living in very different locations than they really are. Especially if they appear to be congregating in the very very best of neighborhoods. Because AI can’t lie can it…? 😈

It’ll also be fun offering free services that make the cars hard for AI to pick out.

Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus Mar 25, 2024 • 6:10:43pm

re: #10 mmmirele

There was a time, not that long ago in our history, when nearly all humans lived in makeshift shelters, moving by the seasons.

Permanent built structures for our habitation only occurred in about the last 3% of the existence of H. sapiens.

And even then, many people still lived a nomadic lifestyle even up till very recently.

The obligate question to ask anyone complaining about the “homeless” is whether they are going to accept that society has to provide shelter.

Patricia Kayden Mar 25, 2024 • 6:12:55pm

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:13:35pm

re: #25 Belafon

It’ll also be fun offering free services that make the cars hard for AI to pick out.

The vanlife/carlife homeless will adapt rapidly, because they have to. Their greatest advantage is inherent, their mobility. The net already has a good bit of how-to info on discrete urban boondocking.

Unabogie Mar 25, 2024 • 6:20:35pm

re: #21 The Ghost of a Flea

Me too.

I thing I have to keep a gauge on is that I’m always angry about that exact thing, it has a homousian nature with things I’ve suffered: being pinned first by rhetoric, then by inaction;, watching the good choices be crossed out, until the person controlling you can performatively flap their hands and declare that, clearly, the thing they wanted…the thing they made the only option available…was always the only “reasonable” option.

Right? The whole “men in women’s sports” panic is only possible because of the supposed imbalance in hormones. So, uh, there’s a way to fix that early in their lives.

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 6:22:19pm

Appears Sean Combs has left the country in his private jet.

jaunte Mar 25, 2024 • 6:22:32pm

re: #29 Unabogie

Also, a faked-up panic over a virtually nonexistent issue.

Sherlock Hound Mar 25, 2024 • 6:25:10pm

re: #30 teleskiguy

Appears Sean Combs has left the country in his private jet.

Reportedly in Barbuda.

BeachDem Mar 25, 2024 • 6:25:36pm

I had never heard of this before and now I am totally creeped out

Prayer, Bible lessons and a big red bus: How an Ohio group is bringing God to public school

LifeWise Academy is on a mission to reach school children with the gospel. Opponents say the weekly Bible studies blur the line between church and state.

…When LifeWise launched in 2018, the initial goal was to serve 25 schools by 2025, but it surpassed that long ago. By the start of this year, LifeWise had set up chapters in more than 300 schools in a dozen states, teaching 35,000 public school students weekly Bible lessons that are usually scheduled to coincide with lunch or noncore courses such as library, art or gym class.

nbcnews.com

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 6:25:37pm

re: #30 teleskiguy

Appears Sean Combs has left the country in his private jet.

HE’S FLEEING THE INTERVIEW

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:26:12pm

re: #32 Sherlock Hound

Reportedly in Barbuda.

How’s their climate, extradition-wise?

🐈 Crush White Christian Nationalism 🐈 Mar 25, 2024 • 6:29:21pm

re: #35 Decatur Deb

How’s their climate, extradition-wise?

Antigua and Barbuda’s location close to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico makes it an attractive trans-shipment point for narcotics traffickers. To address these problems, the United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed a series of counternarcotic and anticrime treaties and agreements, including a maritime law enforcement agreement subsequently amended to include overflight and order-to-land provisions, a bilateral extradition treaty, and a mutual legal assistance treaty.

state.gov

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:29:39pm

re: #33 BeachDem

Visions of Ken Kesey and his bus, spreading ideology to uptight rural schools that badly need it.

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:30:47pm

re: #36 🐈 Crush White Christian Nationalism 🐈

Quick fuel stop, then.

jaunte Mar 25, 2024 • 6:31:03pm

re: #33 BeachDem

Kids love to have art class interrupted by proselytizers.

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 6:31:07pm

re: #35 Decatur Deb

How’s their climate, extradition-wise?

Bi-lateral according to this: state.gov

The Ghost of a Flea Mar 25, 2024 • 6:36:41pm

re: #31 jaunte

Also, a faked-up panic over a virtually nonexistent issue.

In Kentucky we have a no trans kid in school sports rules to counter the threat posed by one kid.

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 6:37:39pm

Charles Mar 25, 2024 • 6:38:24pm

OH FOR PETE’S SAKE

HE’S FLEEIN’ THE INTERVIEW

Fargo Flee

BeachDem Mar 25, 2024 • 6:38:52pm

re: #37 Decatur Deb

Visions of Ken Kesey and his bus, spreading ideology to uptight rural schools that badly need it.

“You’re either on the bus or off the bus.” I’d much prefer Furthur to this creepy Jesus express, thank you very much.

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 6:39:10pm

re: #38 Decatur Deb

Quick fuel stop, then.

Brazil, I suppose if he’s got enough fluidity? I can’t see him getting along too well in Venezuela.

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 6:42:59pm

re: #44 BeachDem

“You’re either on the bus or off the bus.” I’d much prefer Furthur to this creepy Jesus express, thank you very much.

I kinda took the Fun Hog path Kesey and his acolytes championed. I wouldn’t have it any other way but it’s also been pretty damn sad along the way.

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:43:40pm

re: #45 William Lewis

Cuba worked for Eldridge, but that was another time.

The Ghost of a Flea Mar 25, 2024 • 6:44:01pm

re: #37 Decatur Deb

Visions of Ken Kesey and his bus, spreading ideology to uptight rural schools that badly need it.

In a sense, we’re watching a second phase of enclosure, where the most monied individuals and institutions are switching from capital (money that makes money) to rentseeking enabled by squatting on vital resources like housing. An output from this process is a precariat class that cannot make the rent but to subsist continue to perform labor…even as the upper classes they serve create legal structures that further limit their options…and make it less possible to return to sedentary class, because fines simply become another extractive rent.

What we’re building is…modern Roma, but the stigma isn’t ethnic but instead that classic American mix of class and individualism.

jaunte Mar 25, 2024 • 6:48:25pm

re: #41 The Ghost of a Flea

Tempting to just say “madness” but it’s a coldly calculated scapegoating of a tiny defenseless minority.

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 6:50:26pm

re: #48 The Ghost of a Flea

The Red Rockers were only one of thousands of dropout communities in the 60s. There are still a lot of them out there, from Arcosanti at the institutional end to Slab City primitives in Death Valley.

archive.curbed.com
lloydkahn.com

en.wikipedia.org

jaunte Mar 25, 2024 • 6:53:49pm

@jaylyall.bsky.social

richest nation on earth in all of human history

jaunte Mar 25, 2024 • 6:54:24pm

NO WARM COMPONENTS FOR YOU

Joe Bacon ✅ Mar 25, 2024 • 6:55:13pm

re: #51 jaunte

There’s always a loophole for BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe Bacon ✅ Mar 25, 2024 • 6:58:34pm

uh, Screwdy G…your nightmare hasn’t even begun!

Giuliani tells Mar-a-Lago pals he lives in a ‘nightmare world’ after defamation ruling

Rudy Giuliani said he “wakes up everyday and can’t believe it’s real,” the New York Post’s Page Six reported Monday.

Former President Donald Trump’s onetime attorney, who previously served as New York City’s mayor, was found liable last year for defaming Georgia mother-daughter election workers Ruby Freeman and Andrew “Shane” Moss to the tune of $148 million. (YEESH! THE SCREW YORK POST CAN’T GET HER NAME RIGHT!)

pagesix.com

The Ghost of a Flea Mar 25, 2024 • 6:58:37pm

re: #51 jaunte

We are a society utterly dedicated to the notion that if only the correct discomfort is applied to each person, our problems would vanish.

silverdolphin Mar 25, 2024 • 6:59:13pm

Hey, I’ve been in one of my down, funky days today - Not too bad since a John Wick movie made me feel better; mainly I am sick and then all the Trump shit hit. BUt I thought of a a couple of reasons they might have lowered his appeal amount and want to see if anyone agrees. One is that since his assets are not liquid, he really can’t hide them. Everyone knows where his properties are. So they can still get them when they need to. ANd this leads to the second point - what would have happened to NYC office property values if he had sold propertiues at fire sale prices? Maybe they do not want to see ‘innocent’ developers see their properties, which are already depressed, depressed further.

wrenchwench Mar 25, 2024 • 7:01:14pm

re: #47 Decatur Deb

Cuba worked for Eldridge, but that was another time.

I had a boyfriend who had a dream about Eldridge and Beaver Cleaver.

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 7:01:39pm

re: #55 The Ghost of a Flea

so gotdam true and utterly depressing

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 7:02:41pm

The poors need to suffer more because that’s the way it is.

Belafon Mar 25, 2024 • 7:03:04pm

re: #52 jaunte

NO WARM COMPONENTS FOR YOU

That’s how depraved Republicans are that the law is actually written that way. You can’t buy a rotisserie chicken for that reason.

Decatur Deb Mar 25, 2024 • 7:03:37pm

re: #57 wrenchwench

I had a boyfriend who had a dream about Eldridge and Beaver Cleaver.

White on Ice.

Belafon Mar 25, 2024 • 7:03:45pm

How has this been around for over 12 years and I haven’t seen it:

When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren

teleskiguy Mar 25, 2024 • 7:06:22pm

Some music…

The Disco Biscuits • 05/25/19 • Hope

mmmirele Mar 25, 2024 • 7:07:41pm

re: #33 BeachDem

I had never heard of this before and now I am totally creeped out

Prayer, Bible lessons and a big red bus: How an Ohio group is bringing God to public school

LifeWise Academy is on a mission to reach school children with the gospel. Opponents say the weekly Bible studies blur the line between church and state.

…When LifeWise launched in 2018, the initial goal was to serve 25 schools by 2025, but it surpassed that long ago. By the start of this year, LifeWise had set up chapters in more than 300 schools in a dozen states, teaching 35,000 public school students weekly Bible lessons that are usually scheduled to coincide with lunch or noncore courses such as library, art or gym class.

nbcnews.com

*shakes head* These are the same people who would come stark staring unglued over After School Satan, or even if the local Episcopalians, Jews or Muslims had a release time program.

I’ve started to realize how really *angry* I am about the way Evangelical Christians go about religion in this country. This bus ministry is part of it. We don’t know what they’re telling kids. For all they know, they may be telling girls that they have to be subservient and subordinate. It’s far, far, FAR more likely that they’re using the time to proselytize the children, telling them how they need to accept Jesus as their lord and savior—or else. I think it’s abusive to do that to little kids, before they even really know what they’re signing up for.

I’ve told before how, in the same hour my mother was taken off to hospital after she tried to unalive herself, the next door neighbor thought this was the absolute best time to read Bill Bright’s Four Spiritual Laws to me. I am now realizing how boiling angry I am about this, about how this woman took advantage of my fear and grief to preach at me. And how so much of Evangelical preaching is “accept Jesus—or experience a fate worse than death.” It’s not living out what Jesus told us to do, it’s hammering away at anyone who isn’t “righteous” and telling us how we’re all going to hell.

I am angry. I’ve so had enough of this crap. But I have to remind myself of the things that make me happy: 1) I’m alive 2) I’m in pretty good shape 3) I have friends and family 4) I have two cats who are constant entertainment, etc., etc. There’s joy in a sunrise, a smile when I see a mama quail escort her tiny chicks across the road, and uproarious laughter when someone tells a joke. Life’s good. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over being angry, though.

Joe Bacon ✅ Mar 25, 2024 • 7:11:23pm

Lawrence is ripping YOU KNOW WHO showing NO MERCY!

Romantic Heretic Mar 25, 2024 • 7:13:10pm

Well, that was disturbing.

Romantic Heretic Mar 25, 2024 • 7:14:28pm

re: #2 Backwoods Sleuth

Normally I like ‘Most Dangerous Game’ movies.

That one was way too silly, even for me.

No Malarkey! Mar 25, 2024 • 7:14:37pm

Andor is a Marxist critique of how we accept our invisible chains of oppression. The real rebels that inspired Andor’s Narkina 5 prison break

William Lewis Mar 25, 2024 • 7:16:26pm

re: #64 mmmirele

{{{hug}}}

It’s funny, I’ve been finding more biblical good in a TV “Lucifer Morningstar” than in 99% of the evangelicals I’ve known over my lifetime. That says a sad lot about the state of religion in this country, doesn’t it?

The light is usually good, I’ve gotten some wonderful images most days with wonderful cameras and great glass, the furball is curled up by my feet, I have friends & family. Yeah, life is pretty good & I don’t own various governments half a billion dollars. It would be awfully petty of me to complain tonight 😎

Romantic Heretic Mar 25, 2024 • 7:17:25pm

re: #18 Decatur Deb

Nah.

Targeting for the kill drones they’re going to deploy next.

BeenHereAwhile Mar 25, 2024 • 8:17:14pm

re: #47 Decatur Deb

Cuba worked for Eldridge, but that was another time.

I hear Madagascar is lovely this time of year.

Spy Auto

This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

An Eerie and Timely New Horror Short Film: “Pruning” (Starring Madeline Brewer)

► LGF Headlines

► Top 10 Comments

► Bottom Comments

► Recent Comments

► Tools/Info

► Tag Cloud