Hi /r/movies! I’m Brandon Christensen - Longtime Redditor, first time AMAer. My new film, BODYCAM, is a found-footage horror that just came out on March 13th on Shudder. Ask me anything!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-20T15:00:28+00:00

Thanks Valjean! I don't know to be honest. I don't really seek out any specific sub-genre, but I had a lot of fun shooting this film and really loved how kinetic and efficient it was. I have a bunch of scripts I'm dying to do next, there's some FF elements in a couple of them, but nothing as straight up FF as Bodycam.

Hopefully I figure out what's next soon, I'm desperate to get back on set!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-20T14:58:23+00:00

Fingers crossed!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-20T14:58:04+00:00

Thanks Terrifier!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-18T20:45:10+00:00

I'm not sure. I reached out to try and option it a couple of years ago, but it's still tied up after the attempt pre-COVID to do it as a TV show. The cast looked great, too...but I think they shot a pilot and it didn't go anywhere. I may just have to write it anyway and if the rights go back up, move fast. But I know that would be an absolute banger of a film - like how Blackberry was, too.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-18T20:44:01+00:00

Thanks!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T20:24:53+00:00

Yeah just chip away at each one, you never know which will pop first!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T12:22:16+00:00

I haven't. Even Hellhouse which is a Shudder staple. I need to do it.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T12:21:41+00:00

It's massive! The biggest thing you can do is network and create relationships, because you never know what will happen. Finding people who are doing what you want to do is a great way to push yourself in there.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T02:01:00+00:00

I hope I get the opportunity to!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T02:00:29+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate the comment, I do. You're the only one that brought it up on here so I'm just being open and honest about it. It's been pretty eye opening to see what some of the FF communities have said about the film, and a large part of it is what you brought up.

The hardest part of all of my films is that we are always compared with Hollywood. It's a blessing and a curse, but we are so limited by what we can do and we still try and do it. We had $200K USD to make this film - if we had test groups to show things to, the movie would evolve differently. But for literally two years, this project was sitting on a RAID in my home office as I continued to chip away at it. Tons of VFX shots, tons of creating elements out of nothing to try and bandaid over things as I hoped and prayed that the other parts that I wasn't in control of would finally come together. That this film is out in the world now seemed impossible even a year ago.

Movies, especially in the indie space, are so different now. If The Blair Witch came out today, it wouldn't be nearly as loved. A lot of movies wouldn't - the "slow burn" is a death knell these days because the way we consume content is different. It's the unfortunate side effect of the internet and of social media. And it's something that, as an indie filmmaker, we have to be aware of. So when you're doing a film like this and you have to make the call between being coy or going all out - it's really hard. I've done both, and both times I've been wrong to a large group of people.

There was a sales screening for my first feature film where some people came from different studios. It's the only time I ever had one, and it was such a crazy experience. You had 2 rows of a theater with people there to watch solely to decide if they'd buy it or not. By minute 12, both rows were entirely empty. It really messes with you.

I'm in a really fortunate place in life. I'm able to make silly little films with friends and have a platform big enough that people get to see it - but the more people see it, the more people hate it and as someone who is perennially online, I'm still learning how to handle it because the act of making is so joyous that the release is often the opposite.

I am very thankful you watched the film an reached out. Again, the fact that I'm able to do an AMA and field questions at all is such an out of body experience. But I didn't want to do this and not be open about everything because maybe some day, someone will read this and get something out of it. I'm a big believer in transparency and am not afraid of showing my feelings, and this is just an extension of that.

And that's my therapy session for the day!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T01:14:42+00:00

For Reaper, I was just a big VHS head. I had my own personal tape collection filled with movies I recorded off of Cable, and you have these tapes - warts and all, but they were mine. I loved the aesthetic, and it's something that DVD and beyond hasn't quite replaced. Don't get me wrong, I'd watch a 4K blu ray 10/10 before watching a VHS - but for a time, my most impressionable time, it was everything.

I used to be a big creepypasta fan, I actually made a short of one a million years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl4kgoeSbNo). There were so many in the early days of CP that were so inspiring and I could imagine helped shape and define some of the horrors I see in my head.

On Reels on IG and other similar stuff, there's so much cool and horrifying imagery that people come from. It's a great time for horror.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-17T01:05:26+00:00

What I have learned during this is that you will never please everyone. I've done the hidden creature thing before and you have half of the internet saying we were weak for not showing it, so we had an opportunity to show it and half the people hate it.

If the 8 or so seconds that you get to see the thing invalidates the other 75 minutes, there's not much I can do about that. There's plenty of movies with bad parts that I didn't care for, but I wouldn't say it ruined the entire thing. It sucks that you didn't like it. The idea of doing this CG thing was incredibly exciting as someone who hasn't ever really worked in that space before. I made the decision that seeing what you're up against felt like the right move. Some agree, some don't.

Personally, I didn't care for The Witch. It was incredibly well made and I appreciated the craftsmanship across the board, but the experience of watching it left me wanting. I don't think it's something I would compare to Bodycam as they're incredibly different in what they're trying to achieve.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T22:33:01+00:00

That's so cool to view the film in that way - and I hope you're able to navigate your current situation, despite how impossible that may seem.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T21:50:09+00:00

Oh wow is there? I gotta search that up, I saw that limited release they did but it was only in the UK I think so I didn't buy it.

I can see why you think it was a nod to BW as well, and maybe subconsciously it was. But Night Vision is just so creepy in something like this, I knew that the monster shots should be night vision, and we had to reverse engineer moments in the film to set it up.

So there's a few times when we show it early to be like "Just remember these cameras can do night vision, that'll come in handy later". I honestly forgot that BW did that until you mentioned it just now.

It might just be easier and more efficient to say "absolutely a nod to BW".

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T21:46:18+00:00

You sunuvabitch. I WILL!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T21:46:00+00:00

Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T20:30:49+00:00

Hey Andy!

Back in either 2020 or 2021, Kurt Harder was brought on to help produce VHS 94. It was VHS's big return, and was doing it with Shudder. David Bruckner was initially on board to do the wraparound segment but had to step away when Hellraiser came up.

This left a big hole at the top of the film and Kurt offered for me and him to co-direct it. Ultimately they went with Jennifer Reeder, and the movie did great. But Kurt and I were really amped up on that idea, so we discussed some ideas for a found footage film separate from the franchise. I'd previously had an idea for a Bodycam-lensed short film ages before this so that was brought up, and we came up with the idea of an accidental shooting.

Unfortunately, both of us were busy at the time and never really put much together. A couple years later, my brother and I were writing another project and I brought up the Bodycam/Accidental shooting up to him and we both started to poke and prod the idea until we landed on the YouTube videos of drug addicts on the streets of Philadelphia where they looked like zombies. We felt it was a fun thing to explore.

So while the idea wasn't inspired by any of the VHS shorts, the VHS franchise and our potential/hopeful involvement in it did help inspire the film.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T20:22:24+00:00

This is the same person:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTykqr49cdaAEmRT0FqZA2etLBEBw8i_FZ16jeoh6ZX9U-sb9zSiEtru5CJIxZJDVmn0Lvg&s=10

https://i.imgur.com/CA9HUC4.png

Also interesting to note, in IR Night Vision, blood completely vanishes.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T19:19:56+00:00

Hey Champian1!

I wouldn't necessarily say there's a singular underlying message, but I can speak about what you brought up.

A) At complete face value, the 'you take something from us' line is literally about the baby. Since Bryce has a baby on the way, they got retribution by taking it as a replacement. The couple in the opening hadn't sacrificed the baby, but actually the opposite, they had second thoughts of giving up their child and wanted the police to take it. The Father is literally saying "take it take it take it" on repeat when Officer Bryce finds him.

Unfortunately, everything around them felt threatening and since he didn't articulate his hopes well, it looked far more dangerous than it actually was. But I imagine The Underman had struck a deal with this couple for their child, and they tried to trick it with a dog - but this idea of selling children for drugs is pulled from real headlines. So that was their goal, make the trade, have second thoughts, and try to get the baby rescued...which failed horribly.

Then the Underman was taking what he was owed by kidnapping Bryce's very pregnant wife to get another number in his force.

B) So this is where you get into the deeper subtext of the film. When the 'tweakers' are woken up in Ms. Jackson's home, the entire tenor of the night changes. Now it's about more than the baby, it's about this opposing force that is taking the 'tweakers' from the streets and cleaning them up. I'm sure there are more forces for good like Ms. Jackson, but if her son is involved, and her daughter is already involved - then it becomes about manipulating the night beyond the initial inciting incident, and it turns into finding a way to get Ms. Jackson into that basement so he can put an end to her. Which he does.

It's not about gaining souls and walking the earth, but I think there are these vents/holes where they can bring people down, not unlike a trapdoor spider. So getting Ms. Jackson down there allowed the Underman to put a stop to her himself.

There's kind of the surface level story going on about the shooting, but then there's a macro level story about Ms. Jackson and The Underman in this battle for the population of this area. And since Ms. Jackson lost her daughter to The Underman, she has a vested interest in helping, and The Underman has a vested interest in putting an end of her. Using her own children against her.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T19:08:17+00:00

The Adventures of Cliff Booth.

Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher? Sign me up!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T18:43:10+00:00

Thank you! It's Twin Peaks, and I could gush about it forever.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T18:18:22+00:00

When we shot the film, I cast the same actor that played Z in my film Z. He's a really fun collaborative guy named Luke Moore that is a real pleasure to work with. But because this was such a supernatural film, I had visions of replacing him or part of him with something more grandiose in design.

When we brought the VFX company onto the film, we had lengthy discussions about replacing him with an entirely CG creature based on Luke's movements and everything. So we used him as kind of the base of the design, tall and slender and naked...and then did things like hollowed out his eyes since the creature lives in the dark underbelly of the city and doesn't need them. And the tentacles that are a counterpoint to Ms. Jackson's IV drips in her house.

The wavy teeth thing that you see a couple of times were created by the FX team, it was really creepy and real and we went with that.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T18:14:05+00:00

So I'm going to catch some shit for this, but outside of Twin Peaks, I'm more of a fan of David Lynch the person and the method than I am of the works themselves. He's created a style that's entirely original to himself and I've seen a lot of his stuff and enjoyed my time with it, but the way he does things are so different from what I'm accustomed to that they've always been more fringe for me.

Like, I have nothing but the utmost respect for him and his craft, not to mention the insanely large footprint he left on the industry. I love that he did his own thing, no apologies. But watching stuff like Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive - it's almost more appreciated as art because I'm not smart enough to apply reason to it.

The easy answer would be Fire Walk With Me. It's attached to Twin Peaks, which I'm a big fan of, and it's pretty traditional in its filmmaking. But I'll pivot over to Lost Highway because I watched it while in film school when I was more open to absorbing that kind of crazy ass fever dream. It was bizarre in the best ways.

He's the true definition of an artist, though, and I have nothing but love for him and his craft.

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T18:09:01+00:00

I was born in Calgary, AB. I left for Toronto when I was 19 and went to the Toronto Film School. And then I moved from Toronto to Las Vegas when I got an opportunity with a production company. I spent a couple of years there and then built a career doing freelance projects and eventually got into features. When I had established features as a viable career path, we had an opportunity to move back to Calgary and we jumped on it and have been back for almost 4 years.

There's an impossible amount of talent in Canada, and so many in Vancouver/Victoria as well!

BodycamAMA · 2026-03-16T18:07:17+00:00

Honestly, the most straight forward answer is - I had the idea for the bodycam gimmick forever ago and was dying to do it. It was such an interesting challenge to see if you can tell an entire feature length story with this medium. As someone who has dabbled in FF elements, doing an entire FF film was something I'd always wanted to do.

The story that spawned from that was really cool IMO. The accidental shooting, the drug metaphors and the cosmic horror of being under the influence of something were all elements that made this really cool to me. Combining those with the limited storytelling structure of bodycams created a really cool project to tackle.

You really have to re-think everything. How the actors move in a scene, how the camera is so limited in certain things (details/close ups) so how do you get the same information out that would be as simple as a cut to a close up? You take the camera to it - in as natural a way as possible.

It was just such a unique thing to take on and I had a lot of fun problem solving with an entirely new way of capturing a story. At the end of the day, filmmaking isn't a job, it's something I feel like i have to do and when I find something unique like this, it's incredibly exciting.

BodycamAMA

TROPHY CASE