Exhausted by her newborn, a first-time mother’s home becomes a trap as her husband’s sinister intentions emerge. Inspired by true events.

Frigid is a terrifying little story inspired by true events. Directed by Joe Kicak (Must Kill Karl) who’s mother suffered from a debilitating bipolar disorder that began when he was seven years old. The film follows an exhausted first time mother through the chilling mind game harrowed by fatigue and her husband’s sinister intentions.

My father was an alcoholic for as long as I remember, and suffered from hallucinations and withdrawal until liver cancer finally took his life in 1998. My mother still suffers from bipolar issues but it was something that I had to deal with as a young kid. My mother had an impending sense of doom and kept me home from school thinking I was going to die. Eventually social services intervened and I had begun speaking about my parent’s problems publicly.

It was in Grade eleven when I told one of my teachers about my mother, that she shared her struggle with post-partum psychosis, which the film is based on. Coming from an immigrant family that didn’t believe, let alone speak about, mental illness is why I find sharing stories about people’s harrowing tales important, so that we can get through the isolated horror, and begin the hard discussions to heal together.

The story in ‘Frigid’ really plays itself moment by moment as we grow ourselves attached to the main character. The vivid mix of character changes creates double personalities and an uneasy spot for the audience which keeps us on edge throughout.

I wanted to play the film as real as possible, staying with Leah the entire time except for when she’s dreaming, In an attempt to demonstrate how easy it is for someone to mix reality with delusions. The real horror, in my opinion, begins at the end when she realizes there is something wrong with her and how they move on from there.