ISOTRE Films announce the online world premiere of Peter Klausner’s STOMACH IT, on Film Shortage. Audiences worldwide will get the chance to experience STOMACH IT firsthand when it premieres on Film Shortage on Friday the 13th – March 13, 2026. The film will launch on Film Shortage’s Daily Short Picks and will be available to stream globally on Film Shortage’s website and official YouTube channel, reaching an international audience of short film enthusiasts and genre fans.
Starring Jon Lee Richardson (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F), STOMACH IT is a relentless descent into obsession, guilt, and corporeal terror. The film has garnered strong critical praise for its uncompromising imagery, atmosphere, and disturbing thematic core.
Written and directed by Klausner and produced by Klausner alongside Torey Rubin (RWBY, Zall Good), STOMACH IT explores the psychological toll of emotional detachment taken to a grotesque extreme.
In the film, a crime-scene cleaner struggles to separate his professional responsibilities from the deeply personal artifacts left behind by the dead. During a late-night job, he becomes convinced that a monstrous presence is watching—and manipulating—him, forcing a confrontation between compartmentalization and self-destruction.
“Peter Klausner’s Stomach It is exactly the kind of bold, uncompromising short that thrives in the genre space. Its visceral practical effects and psychologically driven horror make it impossible to look away from, and we’re thrilled to premiere the film on Film Shortage and share it with our global audience of short film fans.” — Marco Luca, Founder & Curator, Film Shortage
“Stomach It is about making something that feels emotionally raw and physically unavoidable. Watching audiences at festivals around the country laugh, recoil, and gag reaffirmed my love of body horror,” said Klausner. “The genre has an ability to externalize deeply psychological trauma in a way that’s impossible to ignore. The film’s run has also led to lasting creative partnerships that I’m already building new projects with. I’m excited for its premiere on Film Shortage and to see how it resonates beyond the festival circuit and around the world.”
STOMACH IT’s main character, Joel (Richardson), fixates on objects left behind by the deceased such as a child’s wooden horse at an accidental shooting or a colorful toy at an overdose. Joel tries to detach by turning photos around, disposing of final meals, covering photos on mirrors, and covering personal objects like stuffed animals, but it doesn’t work. Joel has an incredibly difficult time trying to digest his trauma. Literally.
“Klausner smartly grounds his short in reality before veering into creepier horror territory, making the film all the more unpredictable and entertaining. It’s a fascinating look at an underexplored career when it comes to genre filmmaking,” said Mary Beth McAndrews.
STOMACH IT enjoyed a successful and highly visible festival run, premiering at the Oscar-qualifying Nashville Film Festival as well the Oscar-qualifying Indy Shorts. It went on to screen at major genre showcases including Screamfest, FilmQuest, and Panic Fest. The film quickly distinguished itself on the circuit, earning strong critical praise from genre outlets for its uncompromising practical effects, oppressive atmosphere, and psychologically driven body horror. Critics highlighted the film’s visceral imagery and confident direction, cementing STOMACH IT as a standout short among contemporary horror offerings and helping build demand for its wider online release.
Gut Reactions
Rue Morgue hailed STOMACH IT as “a brutal and haunting meditation on the cost of bearing other people’s horrors,” while HorrorBuzz praised writer/director Peter Klausner for delivering “an atmospheric and provocative squirm piece that entertains and disturbs.” Reel News Daily described the film as “particularly unhinged—and most certainly genius,” underscoring its bold creative vision, and Horror Fuel noted that Klausner “does a terrific job of delivering a film steeped in an increasingly eerie atmosphere and gory body horror.”
The Methods Behind the Madness
Inspired by how Black Swan employs body horror to externalize a character’s psychological unraveling, STOMACH IT uses visceral physical effects to visualize the protagonist’s internal deterioration. Rather than relying on digital enhancements, the film leans heavily into tactile, practical effects to ground its psychological terror in something disturbingly real.
Drawing influence from the hands-on craftsmanship of 1980s genre classics such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Videodrome, the creative team collaborated closely with special effects makeup artist Michael Dinetz (Avengers: Infinity War) to design a series of unsettling practical illusions.
Among the most striking was a custom-built stomach air bladder which, when inflated, created the illusion of a grotesquely pulsating abdomen. For scenes requiring intestinal forms to ominously emerge in the background, the film’s carpenter constructed a three-dimensional wooden stomach rig. Mounted on rods and puppeteered beneath a fitted sheet, the effect allowed for subtle, organic movement that heightened the film’s sense of unease.
These techniques represent only a portion of the practical effects employed throughout STOMACH IT, reinforcing the filmmakers’ commitment to analog horror and emphasizing the physical manifestation of psychological collapse.
Death Comes to Life with the STOMACH IT
Writer/director Peter Klausner, born and raised in Los Angeles, was profoundly influenced by his grandparents, Harriet and Milt. Harriet instilled the importance of visual detail and Milt introduced him to the power of storytelling through firsthand accounts of life during the Great Depression. Those early lessons in narrative and emotional honesty laid the foundation for Klausner’s creative voice. However, it wasn’t until his girlfriend, Giselle, introduced him to the horror genre that his artistic path fully crystallized.
By merging the emotional depth of storytelling with the expressive extremes of horror, Klausner discovered a visual language that allowed him to externalize personal fears and psychological anxieties. Horror became not just a genre, but a vehicle for self-expression—one that has helped shape some of his most striking and unsettling work to date.
Immersing himself fully in the genre, Klausner found inspiration in the work of masters such as Wes Craven and David Cronenberg, channeling raw emotion into films marked by visceral imagery and uncompromising intensity. His increasingly bold approach has earned him a growing cult following, particularly among genre audiences drawn to his blood-soaked, psychologically charged storytelling. Looking ahead, Klausner is actively developing multiple feature-length projects and plans to explore a wide range of horror subgenres in future work.
STOMACH IT marks Klausner’s third collaboration with longtime friend and cinematographer Emily Tapanes, whose credits include The Morning Show (Apple TV+), A Man on the Inside (Netflix), and The Sex Lives of College Girls (Max). Their continued partnership reflects a shared visual sensibility rooted in atmosphere, tension, and character-driven storytelling.
Klausner also worked with editor Liam Molina, a close collaborator and Tapanes’ husband. Molina’s credits include Fallout (Prime Video), Chief of War (Apple TV+), and The Mosquito Coast – Season 2. His precise editorial approach plays a key role in shaping the film’s escalating dread and psychological rhythm.
Starring in STOMACH IT is Jon Lee Richardson, whose credits include Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Bug, and I Met My Murderer Online. Based in Los Angeles, Richardson is currently studying at The Groundlings and produces weekly sketch comedy content alongside his wife, Vanessa. He is represented by Momentum Talent and Mills Kaplan Entertainment.
Audiences worldwide will get the chance to experience STOMACH IT firsthand when it premieres on Film Shortage on Friday the 13th – March 13, 2026. The film will launch on Film Shortage’s Daily Short Picks and will be available to stream globally on Film Shortage’s website and official YouTube channel, reaching an international audience of short film enthusiasts and genre fans.
