Award-winning music video and feature director Paul Boyd turns up the volume with the irreverent, high-voltage horror-comedy SCARED TO DEATH, starring horror icons Lin Shaye (Insidious) and Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), alongside rock frontman Kurt Deimer (Halloween:2018), in a genre-bending horror-comedy thrill ride packed with supernatural chaos and sharp humor, debuting across North America on TVOD/Digital release MAY 5, 2026. Available on all the major digital platforms, the film blends supernatural scares with dark comedy, tapping into classic haunted-house tradition while embracing a contemporary, irreverent edge—inviting audiences to laugh, jump, and react in equal measure.
In Scared to Death a group of filmmakers attend a séance at an abandoned children’s orphanage to do research for a horror movie. Soon, supernatural events begin to manifest, in both horrific and darkly comical fashion. That’s their first mistake…
Alongside Shaye and Moseley, with Deimer delivering a breakout performance as the scene-stealing “Grog,” Scared to Death unites an eclectic, high-profile ensemble including Victoria Konefal (Days of Our Lives), Rae Dawn Chong (The Color Purple), Olivier Paris (The Wrong Tutor), B.J. Minor (Grey’s Anatomy), Jade Chynoweth (The Last Ship), and Lucinda Jenney (Practical Magic).
Scared to Death’s origins are rooted in Boyd’s own real-life experiences in a reportedly haunted Hollywood home, which inspired the film’s central theme of “believing is seeing.” That concept carries through the production itself, which was shot entirely on location inside the historic Woodbury-Story House in Altadena, California—an 1882 Victorian mansion whose authentic architecture, attic, basement, and séance room provided a fully immersive backdrop for the film’s eerie tone and practical effects-driven set pieces.
Film Synopis
Jasper is an opportunistic young filmmaker eager to climb the Hollywood ladder. While working as a low-level production assistant, he seizes an opportunity to step into the director’s chair by convincing his cantankerous boss to take their cast and crew to a real séance for research on their upcoming horror film. The chosen location is an abandoned children’s orphanage, shuttered decades earlier after the mysterious deaths of five children—each reportedly scared to death.
Once the séance begins, the group finds themselves trapped inside the house as unexplained and increasingly terrifying events unfold. As the line between performance and reality blurs, the filmmakers are forced to confront supernatural forces far beyond anything they imagined—along with their own fears, beliefs, and survival instincts.
KURT DEIMER IS ‘THE GROG’
The film’s digital debut also aligns with rising momentum around Kurt Deimer, whose highly anticipated new album, A Grog Is Born, will be released on May 8, 2026, further spotlighting the multi-hyphenate artist as both a recording performer and emerging genre presence. Deimer not only stars in the film but also helped shape the creation of “The Grog,” a character already generating early audience attention as a potential new horror-comedy mainstay.
Scared to Death was written and directed by Scottish filmmaker Paul Boyd and the filmmaking team also features producers Eric Barrett and Todd Slater of Convoke Media. Executive Producers Kurt Deimer, Peter Tochet, Lin Shaye, and Steven Poster, ASC, casting by Lindsay Chag, CSA, edited by Ed Shiers, cinematography by Steven Poster, ASC, music composer Misha Segal, Production Design by Scott Campbell and featuring original songs by Kurt Deimer. The film comes to theaters in a deal that was negotiated by Todd Slater of Convoke Media on behalf of the filmmakers, with Harmon Kaslow representing Atlas Distribution Company.
