“Run,” the new horror short from Viral Films UK, tells the kind of story you could imagine getting passed around in the wee hours of a party. “Did you hear what happened to Suzanne last week? People died, man. Let me tell you what happened…” It starts with a standard premise. A teenager, Suzanne, is running from a monster (perhaps the Angel of Death), just trying to make it home. But it becomes clear along the way that the chase isn’t what it looks like.

The film looks pretty sharp for an indie, and I asked “Run” director and Viral Films UK founding member Daniel Mark Young about that and the story. He also had a little bit of news about “Run” and future productions from the company. After you watch “Run,” you can get a little background with a “Making Of” video and some outtakes.

Is this story based on any particular legend or urban myth?

Run isn’t based off of any particular Myth or Urban Legend, but we wanted it to feel like it could have been, because of budget and scheduling it was quite important to tell a tight and very straightforward story so we didn’t really have too much screen time to explore the origins of the demon.

Is there more to the story? Would you like to make this into a feature-length film?

It’s funny you should mention that, we have just announced a sequel to “Run” called “Hide” I think we always knew there was more to explore if we ever wanted to, our problem is that we get a bit crazy in the writing stages and maybe have too many ideas. So a lot of that ends up getting cut out of the final product. with “Hide” we are going to change things up a lot not only in terms of storytelling but also genre. “Hide” is still at its core a horror film but we are mixing more Drama, Thriller and even Action elements into it, it’s going to be ridiculously ambitious. I can tell you that the story picks up a few months after the end of “Run” and we see what Suzanne has been up to, there are a ton of new characters and she will have a lot of important decisions to make. We are shooting “Hide” in 2018 and will start crowdfunding it sometime around early 2018.

The technical aspects are very good. Do you think the playing field is more level these days in terms of making something that looks good on a budget? Especially with scenes like the one of Suzanne running that would have taken a helicopter before, but now you can hook a GoPro up to a drone.

First of all thank you, Secondly, Yes, absolutely, the barrier for entry is incredibly low for filmmakers these days, I’ve been an aspiring filmmaker for a long time, but shooting on film and equipment hire was always the problem it’s not a cheap industry, even at this level, but within the last 10 years camera technology and the digital revolution has opened tons of doors for people like us. Ten years ago “Run” wouldn’t be possible on the tiny budget we had, but now we can shoot cinematic quality 4K on a £1000 camera and send a drone up in the air to get those cool shots without remortgaging a house, obviously it also means anyone can do it, which means to truly stand out above the crowd and get noticed you need to have a good story and technical knowledge. So while the playing field is leveled in terms of technology and cost, it still takes a good writer, cinematographer, producers, actors, et cetera, to achieve an engaging and great looking film.

What’s next for Viral Films UK?

We just announced our next project, it’s called “For Her…” and it’s a very different film to “Run”, it’s more of a drama but it still has a dark twist. Unfortunately, I can’t say too much about it, it’s going to be a tricky one to promote, we really have to dance around the twist. Here is the official synopsis from our announcement “Jonathan and Elizabeth are deeply in love. But their relationship is tested when Elizabeth becomes afflicted by a devastating illness. Follow Jonathan’s emotional journey as he struggles to deal with inevitable tragedy, and discover what lengths he’s willing to go to, For Her…” we start crowdfunding it in the new year and besides that we have a ton of other projects lined up, but nothing that I can currently talk about, let’s just say it’s going to be a busy year for us.

“Run”

“The Making of Run”

“Outtakes”