​A dark tale of real estate, demonic houses, and Photoshop tutorials.

A simplistic horror film that plays on all the correct elements to really spook you out. Sure, The Maiden may have a premise that you’ve seen or heard a thousand times, but it’s certainly not something they are trying to hide, and clearly mocked at in their own plot line: A dark tale of real estate, demonic houses, and Photoshop tutorials. Chaves came up with the idea a couple years ago after the real estate bust.

I was fascinated by the crash and how corrupt everything about it was. I’ve always loved haunted house stories, but I wanted some kind of a twist. I started wondering ‘what happens before the young family moves in? As a real estate agent, how could you sell something like that?’

Michael Chaves’ film and storyline definitely thrives on cinematic appeal, with edgy camera angles and movements always keeping us on our toes. Michael certainly rides on the genre’s clichéd moment, and we knew he was doing something right when it got us saying: “Girl, what the hell are you still doing in that house???”.

We wanted to anchor it in reality, so we shot primarily with natural light. Especially for a thriller/horror, the power is in believing this is real. The house had such an amazing structure that it shaped the light really beautifully.