"Marlowe" by Andrew Rose

Eco-horror, as we're all familiar—

... actually, wait.

What is eco-horror? Or, more accurately though less catchy, climate horror?

It is, simply, a subgenre of horror "whose plots include mention of ecological issues." Thanks, Wikipedia. *Don't forget to donate, $2 means everything.

For writer-director Andrew Rose, his proof-of-concept short Marlowe afforded him the opportunity to touch upon climate change—and the authoritarianism driving it.

"I was drawn to the imagery and atmosphere of a mother and her child living on a totally desolate beach ... the idea of exploring that balance between innocence and childhood games with something far more sinister and encroaching. Those quiet tender mother-and-son moments gradually punctuated by dread and terror."

And, much aligned with many horror films, no matter the subgenre, "how much do you believe your child, when something feels off?"

But the film taps directly into a special childhood feeling Rose remembers vividly: summers in the Outer Banks, and his time visiting his French family in Normandy.

"These coastal experiences are basically burned into my memory, and they just so happen to be the source of some of my happiest and most unsettling memories. For me, coastal horror is the idea of capturing that tension between childhood innocence, joyful memories, adults playing like children, and a real sense of the unknown."

To which he adds, a little ominous in its own right:

"A beautiful, dangerous place."

Allie McCulloch ("The Resident") and Townsend Fallica star, while, notably, composer Eduardo Andrade and cinematographer Jared Freeman rise this proof-of-concept above the tide.

Odds & Ends

• The mother and son in the film are played by real-life mother and son Allie McCulloch and Townsend Fallica. Casting them not only made production much safer during COVID but also gave the film a real, grounded, emotional quality.
• There may have been a few instances of bribing surfers with beer so they could move just out of frame. They might’ve surfed a little less that day, but the Marlowe team got much cleaner atmospheric shots. 🫡

About Andrew Rose

Andrew Rose is an award-winning writer/director with a lifelong love for creating atmospheric, grounded horror. Inspired by his upbringing in North Carolina and French heritage, Andrew often sets his stories in places close to his heart, allowing his imagination to run wild while staying true to the specific details and people that define them.

He is eternally in pursuit of cinematic moments that move him and give him chills, aiming to give American and international audiences alike the same feeling he had when he fell in love with film for the very first time.