Directing duo Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing arrived on the movie scene with found footage horror The Gallows. The film proved to be a financial success, amassing a ton of profit on a super low budget, which inevitably led to a sequel, The Gallows Act II. For their third feature film, the pair have stepped away from their found footage roots and have instead crafted a taut chamber-piece thriller, Held.
Written by Jill Awbrey, who also stars as the lead, Held is the first time that Cluff and Lofing have directed a film that they didn’t also write. The story benefits greatly from being written by Awbrey as it explores the pitfalls of trying to traverse the modern world as a woman. Awbrey plays Emma who, along with her husband Henry (Bart Johnson), takes a weekend away in the remote location of a high-tech vacation home. Although it is their anniversary, there’s an air of friction and clear distance between husband and wife, but that is the least of their problems. After the first night they wake to find themselves dressed in very different clothing to what they went to sleep in, and under the strict control of a mask-wearing stranger, one who is intent on restoring traditional values in the couple.
UK audiences first glimpsed Held back in 2020 when it opened Arrow Video FrightFest’s virtual October event. Whilst it is sad that Cluff, Lofing, and the FrightFest audience couldn’t sit and experience the film together, it did the job of kicking off the online festival in style and now, almost eighteen months later, Held finally arrives onto both Digital platforms and DVD. Ahead of the release we spoke to the directing duo to find out more about the film, the unusual way that they found their writer and star, the benefits of having two people behind the camera, and a potential future creature feature.
Held arrives on DVD from Monday 25th April.
