Bury The Devil: Inside FrightFest’s One-Shot Possession Thriller
This year’s Glasgow Film Festival (25th February - 8th March) is well underway, with a wide array of films on offer for cinephiles of every persuasion. From award-winning independent cinema to beloved classics and world premieres, the festival remains an important staple of Scotland’s cinematic landscape. Once again, FrightFest returns to Glasgow between 5th and 7th March, promising to immerse audiences in fresh cinematic terror from around the world. This year’s programme includes five world premieres, eight new feature films and a short film showcase.
Among those premieres is the new one-shot possession thriller from the team behind FrightFest 2024’s hit Mom. Bury The Devil, starring Dawn Ford, Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez and Bill Rowat, screens on 6 March. Unfolding in real time, the film follows nurse Julia, who finds herself trapped inside the home of her dementia patient. As the night progresses, she begins to suspect that things are not what they seem and that something demonic is seeping through the cracks of the old house. With nowhere to turn, Julia must confront the growing evil before it is too late.
Ahead of the premiere of Bury The Devil, we sat down with director Adam O’Brien and producer Philip Kalin-Hajdu to discuss the challenges of making a one-shot horror film and the collaborative dynamic behind their work.
Bury the Devil (c) Blue Finch Films
On the decision to make bury the devil a one-shot horror film :
Adam, you've spoken before about how post-production is something that you are very passionate about and feel very confident in. In terms of a single-shot horror, is it new to you, and how did you guys decide to take on a horror film as a single shot?
Adam O’Brien: “The idea originally came from my DP actually. He just said, “Hey, you should do a one-shot movie,” you know? And I said, “You're fucking nuts. Man, I'm not gonna do that. It's so hard! To develop characters and stuff like that,” and I hung up. I just said, “No, not gonna happen,” but the idea ran in my head. Two days later, I called him back. I'm, like, “Hey, yeah, I got this idea, maybe we can do this, do that? Let's find a place.” So I called Phil, and Phil said, “Are you nuts?” and he hung up.
A kind of magic happened after that. If we’re going to do this, then we need to have a story That holds for doing a one-shot film. Because my background is as a visual effects guy, post-production and editing, I knew what to do. Basically, how to make this thing happen, and glue it together. But the challenge was a lot to do with the story, and how we do something like that.”
He continues; “I was like, okay, let's develop a bigger story around that, and this is where I said, “Ok let's do it as a trilogy.” So, we have the prequel that we just did, and then the sequel after. So we can just divide this thing, and explore more of the characters and why this is happening. We developed from that direction, with all the decisions that we made, and it was hard as shit to do! It was really, really hard.
I wanted to do something different from Mom. And it's very different, so the tone is different. The type is different, everything is different. It's more like candy, this one, you know. It's a more fun ride, it's a roller coaster. That's basically the kind of mentality that I had. I didn't want to think too much. I just said, “Hey, let's do something fun”. Hopefully people watching it feel the same fun.”
Bury the Devil (c) Blue Finch Films
bury the devil and its collaborative relationship:
You both have collaborated before on a bunch of things, Mom, especially. What is it that you like so much about working together, and do you ever find yourselves at each other's throats?
Philip Kalin-Hajdu: “It’s actually interesting because the jokey answer would be “Yeah, all the time,” but we did not argue once on Bury The Devil. We had collaborated and had been working together for a couple years, but Mom was the first time we were working on a feature together. In terms of writing and producing, there was a part of me wearing the producer hat, which is there to support the film and make sure that the director has what they need, but then there's the writer hat, and the writer is not supposed to be there saying “Oh wait, but what about that?” Or, “Where's that moment?” With low budget filmmaking, it's more of a question of time, budget, and atmosphere that made Mom a little bit more difficult.
But with Bury The Devil, it was really smooth sailing. We also had a great time prepping it. We went up to the cabin, sometimes just the two of us with an actor, or the two of us and a sound person, or another crew member, to really live out the one-take or the one-shot over and over and over again. So that by the time we brought in the rest of the crew, from our two job positions; one as the director, and one as the producer, we're able to support each other and the team because we really knew how to get from point A to Z. Even physically, we knew how to get through the house, and the limitations of the location. Even physical space can create tension, right? You're trapped as a crew for days. So, we really went in with a positive attitude and wanted the fun of it to be seen and felt. We had a blast.
Adam O’Brien: “Yeah, it's hard to find good collaborators. Ben, the DP, is also another producer with us. So basically, we're three friends who just make movies together. What I have in my mind, sometimes I cannot express properly; things go so fast in my head. But he knows how to say, “Oh, wait a second. This is what he meant.” So he helped me a lot. He knows what I want to do, where I want to go and how we collaborate with each other. We try to, you know, build that relationship. I really enjoy working with him.”
Philip Kalin-Hajdu: “I've never said this publicly, but Adam has this weird gift where he manages to bring people together on his ride. We are all motivated by the willingness to embrace that there’s just as much learned from the fails as from the successes, and he allows for that environment as a director. To explore. There’s this eagerness and an excitement to explore with him, and to see what he wants to do next. Because there's a lot going on in that mind.
It's rare that someone approaches you with such a sense of collaboration, right? Normally, it's like, “This is what I'm gonna do. and let's just do it.” But with the environment from the producers who are engaging the team, and with him engaging with the creative aspects, there is that sense of we're all in this together. And that's rare. That's what keeps the people around him.”
Bury The Devil receives its world premier during FrightFest on the 6th March in Glasgow. Get tickets whilst stocks last.
Words: Arete Noctua, Film Features Editor & Writer @ Féroce Magazine
Arete is Féroce’s Film Editor, overseeing the magazine’s film coverage through incisive short-form reviews and longer anthology pieces. Their writing explores cinema as both art form and social mirror, examining how iconic films reflect, challenge and shape the cultural moments they emerge from.
With a critical and respected voice in the community, Arête situates film within wider political, aesthetic and historical contexts, drawing connections between screen narratives and cinema history.
Their editorial approach balances close analysis with broader cultural insight, offering readers thoughtful criticism that moves beyond ratings or hype to consider film’s lasting impact, relevance and position within society.