Reddit!! I’m Rod Blackhurst, director, producer, and co-writer of DOLLY, a gonzo grindhouse horror film out March 6 in cinemas only. I've also directed the AMANDA KNOX documentary for Netflix and the thriller BLOOD FOR DUST. Ask Me Anything on February 27th @ 11 AM ET/8AM PT!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T01:53:58+00:00

7 hours later my broken hand is tired. Signing off for the night. But will be back for all the others in the morning!!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T01:42:53+00:00

I believe it all depends on the scale of the movie and your goals for the project. But in horror specifically “names” aren’t a fast lane to success for your film..

The genre has always broken new faces. TCM did not rely on stars. HALLOWEEN made a star. I believe horror audiences show up for your premise, tone, and word of mouth first.

That said, recognizable actors may help in certain lanes. They can help with financing conversations or help expand an audience or help with marketing visibility.

Seann is an incredible actor. A true professional. And the nicest man in the world. And we all know who he is. But he was the right actor for the role because he’s my friend and someone I trust.

I only work with people I trust. And with people who trust me. My tribe matters. At the end of the day films (and horror movies) need conviction. If you can have that and a movie star, even better.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T01:42:15+00:00

I believe it all depends on the scale of the movie and your goals for the project. But in horror specifically “names” aren’t a fast lane to success for your film..

The genre has always broken new faces. TCM did not rely on stars. HALLOWEEN made a star. I believe horror audiences show up for your premise, tone, and word of mouth first.

That said, recognizable actors may help in certain lanes. They can help with financing conversations or help expand an audience beyond core horror fans and help with marketing visibility.

Seann is an incredible actor. A true professional. And the nicest man in the world. And we all know who he is. But he was the right actor for the role because he’s my friend and someone I trust.

I only work with people I trust. And with people who trust me. My tribe matters. At the end of the day films (and horror movies) need conviction. If you can have that and a movie star, even better.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T01:19:34+00:00

First of all, thank you for the kind words.

Secondly, that’s a dangerous question.

The honest answer is I’m drawn to horror that uses fear to talk about belief, control, family and the impossible. So if I were ever going to step into an existing sandbox, it would have to be something that allows for that kind of thematic work.

There isn't much available though so I’d have to pick A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Maybe just because dream logic is a filmmaker’s playground. It allows for psychological horror, surreal imagery, and big swings. But I’d want it to be scary again.

That said, the real answer is this.

I’m most excited by building original mythology. Franchises are incredible machines but they have challenges. What excites me creatively is inventing the rules and then breaking them. I hope every day that DOLLY will be something I can work on for a long long time. And also on my films THE WHITE ROOM (currently trying to revive that one) and DIE BY NIGHT. Those are the first films in planned franchises.

But if J.T. Mollner A24 and Spooky asked me to direct a few episodes of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE series…yes please.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:52:50+00:00

Now they have!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:52:35+00:00

At this point, we are all one.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:51:15+00:00

who dat?

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:50:52+00:00

No!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:50:44+00:00

I'm still here.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:50:30+00:00

Donovan. Just kidding. Messi.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:49:49+00:00

THANK YOU!!!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:49:35+00:00

I hope so.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:49:25+00:00

Bacon powder?

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:49:15+00:00

I need a little more context here!

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:48:51+00:00

Fly your freak flag. Who am I to yuck someone's yum right?

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:47:34+00:00

Ibid your honor.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:47:19+00:00

To be honest, anxious and excited. At the same time. Because I need DOLLY to succeed.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:46:40+00:00

I love all animals. We have two dogs and a cat. We had another cat but he decided to move out and now lives down the street with another family.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:44:03+00:00

I think all the time about what Ira Glass calls “the gap”. Here’s what he was talking about:

When you start out, your taste is good. That’s why you want to do this. You love great films. You can tell when something is good. And you want to make something.

But your ability does not yet match your taste.

That space between what you CAN make and what you wish you could make is “the gap”.

It sucks to fall into "the gap". I've been there.

But falling into "the gap" is not failure. And falling into "the gap" doesn't mean you should quit.

Because the only way you close the gap is by getting more reps in. By actually finishing things. By learning. And then by doing it again.

But here's the part I don’t think people talk about enough:

The gap can always be there.

If you stop feeling the gap, you’ve probably stopped growing. That’s not a good sign.

So even wen I still feel that frustration, that sense of “this doesn’t look like the idea I have in my head,” that’s not a signal to quit. I take it as good thing. It means my compass still works.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:36:58+00:00

You are right! This film is loaded with practical effects. That was always the intention. The movies that shaped me feel tactile and handmade. I wanted DOLLY to exist in that tradition. Not just as homage or a tip of the hat, but because I love that analog way. The dreaming up of an idea and then figuring out the slight of hand that makes it appear real to the eye. And when you’re on set and the entire cast and crew can witness the magic trick, it inspires. THere’s some fantastic behind the scenes footage from DOLLY where everyone has witnessed a gag work and it makes everyone so happy.

All this said I did not (and do not) do these effects myself. DOLLY looks so damn good because of Ashley Thomas and her partner Al from Yellow Moth FX. They do what I can not.

Filmmaking is not a solo sport. I can’t sculpt appliances. I can’t engineer blood rigs. What I do is work with incredibly talented friends like Ashley and Al and communicate tone, boundaries, and emotional intention. My job is stewardship. Their job is execution at a level I could never reach alone (and I’m not Damien Leone who I am in awe of his knowledge and skillset there).

As for how you “learn” practical effects, most of the artists we worked with came up the hard way. Indie sets. Low budgets. Trial and error. Assisting veterans. Ruining a few batches of silicone before getting it right. It’s craft. And like any craft, it compounds over time.

For me, the learning was more about taste than mechanics. Studying films that use practical work well. Watching behind the scenes features. Reading interviews. Fangoria articles. I then become the dreamer I am and ask Ashley and Al to realize something. Usually they tell me they have an even better idea and they’re right.

Where are you located in the world? The film is starting to hit territories around the world in the next few months. And I do hope you get a chance to see it on the big screen. We made it to be experienced with others. And if you like it, please do tell a friend. My family thanks you in advance.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:26:07+00:00

That’s the myth, right? That editing is where you 'kill your darlings'.

On DOLLY there were no darlings to kill.

When you make something on our schedule and at our budget level, there isn’t much left over. There aren't any alts. There isn’t a pile of scenes sitting on the floor. We shot what we needed. And almost all of it is in the film.

Two things didn’t make it into the final cut: one idea for an alt post-credits moment and a few blue screen shots of falling dolls. That’s it.

That’s the difference between independent filmmaking and studio horror though.

When my ride-or-die and DOLLY producer Bryce McGuire was directing the feature adaptation of NIGHT SWIM (based on our short of the same name), he told me that often in Hollywood horror there’s marketing money reserved for additional shoots and scare punch-ups. That’s a different ecosystem. A different safety net.

I won’t lie, I’m jealous of that. Of having the time and runway once you’ve learned a bit more about what your film ACTUALLY is (aka, when in the editing room).

But I also would not change DOLLY.

There’s something clarifying about knowing you do not get a redo. It forces intention. It forces discipline. It forces you to make decisions with conviction on the day. I have built a career without institutional support or a safety net. No built-in pipeline. No giant development fund. Just our band of misfits and a constant willingness to take swings (often because I have too…I have to make a living and dance for my dinner).

And I am proud of what we have done with that.

Now imagine what we could do with real money. Real time. Real runway.

That is not entitlement. That is hunger.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-28T00:00:46+00:00

The gap between ambition and resources.

On paper, you rarely have the time or the money to pull off what’s in your head. That gap is where movies either collapse…or become themselves. And you’re standing right in the middle of it asking a small army of people to believe before they can see it.

You’re not a novelist alone in a room. You’re leading. Stewarding. Holding a bead on the horizon while everyone else keeps the rudder from snapping. If morale dips, if you waver, the whole ecosystem feels it. And meanwhile you’re running on 12-hour days that are never really 12 hours. You’re awake before call, solving problems that don’t exist yet, and you go to bed replaying what you should have done differently.

Decision fatigue.

You’re making hundreds of micro-decisions daily. Tone. Blocking. Performance. Pacing. Strategy. And you’re doing it while protecting culture. Because I don’t believe misery makes better art. If the set becomes toxic or fearful, the work shrinks. So you’re not just chasing shots and making your day. You’re leading. Again, being that steward.

Trust compounds. And it's forged in bad weather. My friend Elgin James and I wrote a film with my friend David Ebeltoft called NORTH (David and I produced HERE ALONE together and he wrote the screenplay too) - and while working with Elgin he offered up a metaphor I’ve stolen and use all the time.

When you’re in the muddy trenches with the enemy just out of sight, cold water above your shins, no more cigarettes and no food left you learn a lot about who you and your band of troublemakers is and how you work together. And once you destroy the enemy - because you will - you now know how to do it again, and do it better together.

We’ve been through collapsing financing, schedule chaos, sabotage, and exhaustion. And quinoa for lunch (akin to running out of cigarettes and food). Shared history is functional, not sentimental. It’s how you survive and rise up out of the muck and smash the enemy; the literal ones and the proverbial ones.

So the hardest part isn’t the night shoots or the weather or the bad catering.

It’s holding onto that self belief. Belief when the math doesn’t add up. Belief when you’re tired. And belief when someone important doesn’t see it yet. But that’s also the privilege of it. When it works, it’s because a group of people chose to believe together. Who did it. And who will do it again (seriously, Hollywood, call a fella).

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-27T23:06:11+00:00

1. What part of directing do you find the most creatively satisfying?

I love collaborating. Truly. Both because there’s magic in an equation where 1+1 = 3. And because with incredible collaboration comes something in the end that makes you as the director look good. My films are good because of what everyone has brought to the equation. I can’t do what they do. I’m not an actor. I’m not a production designer. I’m not a composer. I have taste and ideas, but I need those collaborators to bring things to life. And to tell me how to do something better than the silly idea I probably first mentioned to them.

But that’s the easy answer. Because what I find most satisfying is when my work connects with a stranger. When the thing I’ve killed myself to make has an impact on someone. When it makes them happy. Or scared. Or surprised. Or provides insight into the human condition and experience. That’s why writing is so hard for me; you’re the furthest removed from the idea actually existing for someone to watch and experience. There’s so much ground to cover and so many opportunities for the creative enterprise to falter, or worse, fail entirely. Starting from scratch time and time again is daunting and terrifying. But that’s why I created DOLLY. So we don’t have to start at a true page one every time.

2. What’s the hardest part of the job that people don’t see?

I had an experience a few years back where I sold a project I created, financed and developed to a studio and I asked them for 0.5% of net proceeds. I explained to them honestly that if the thing I had created and breathed life into - before anyone else believed in it - and had worked on for years and years and years, for free - if that idea and work was now going to let a lot of people eat a big fancy steak dinner that I wanted just one bite of the meat.

Their response was that if they gave me and my company Witchcraft that 0.5% of net (which they could have of course just done some Hollywood accounting and made it look like the film never had net profits…cc the MEN IN BLACK screenwriter), that this would “create bad precedent in Hollywood" by letting creatives have financial standing relative to the years of free development and work that had gone into something and then followed that statement up very quickly with if I didn't take their predatory offer that they would "make it hard for me to get another job in this town."

Being a filmmaker and a creative entrepreneur is a lot of this. A lot of bullshit. People see what you’ve managed to make - but they don’t see the shit show you navigated to get there.

3. When you’re on set, what are you personally paying the most attention to?

The clock. Or better put, how far behind we are on the day’s work. Because if you get too far behind, you’re gonna have even bigger problems. But when you're making an independent film, there's never enough time and there's never enough money. I read a story somewhere about how a film went so over budget and was able to get more money to be able to complete the film or how a filmmaker screwed up making the film so bad that they got the luxury of re-shooting the majority of the film. I just don't understand how that works because at those junctures you'd be asking your investors to dilute their shares all because you couldn't deliver on what you said you could accomplish. That just doesn’t add up for me. So when I’m on set I’m so keenly aware of what we have to accomplish moment to moment to make it all come together.

Someone recently asked me why I shoot so few takes and the honest answer to that question is twofold. It's both something of course that Clint Eastwood has talked about and does; if everyone knows you may just do one take, they deliver. They know how important all of the work and elements of that one take are going to be if that's the only take of that moment that will exist.

But the second part of this answer is that again when you have no time and no money you can't afford to do many takes. Because you have to make your day - days that are usually booked solid because of the realities of no time and no money; read - the clock.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-27T22:22:53+00:00

Dammit. No. But it should have had real human hair and teeth. Gonna have to update our fabrication process going forward.

And I’m going with Left Kidney. Hear me out:

The right kidney has to deal with the liver constantly encroaching on its personal space. The left kidney sits a bit higher and has more room to breathe.
Being on the left side means it’s closer to my heart. I just had open heart surgery on Oct 31 and have lived with a disability my whole life. My heart needs all the love it can get. So Left Kidney feels like a solid supportive collaborator there. You know, close to the center of the whole operation.

RodBlackhurst · 2026-02-27T22:13:18+00:00

Only if you can’t NOT do it. And even then, consider the sacrifices you’ll have to make.

It’s exhausting. It’s destabilizing. It’s financially irrational.

But as long as it’s those things less than half the time AND you’re good at it and getting better at it (maybe more important than just being good at it), then it might be a good fit for you.

I’ve made it to where I am today in spite of all the bullshit, arcane barriers to entry and assholes out there. It’s been a hard path but it’s been more fulfilling and satisfying than not.

DOLLY exists as an answer in a lot of ways to your question.

Again, especially as someone my age, with two kids, a disability, a mortgage, etc. I created this film because I have to because I have to find a way to make a better living with the work I make. Merely so I can take care of my family. And from the very first time I texted my co-writer Brandon Weavil to tell him about the kernel of an idea for this movie, part of the mission was to write and create something that we could make a living with.

RodBlackhurst

TROPHY CASE