Hair Wraith: About

SYNOPSIS

After learning of her mother’s death, Sally Torrance returns to Haddonhock, Ohio, the small town where she grew up. Still haunted by memories of her abusive mother, Candice, Sally is anxious and reliant on medication to function. Sally meets her sister, Emma, and learns that Emma has made a wreath from her mother’s hair, following an obscure Victorian practice. As Sally investigates her mother’s connection to the occult, she discovers the wreath contains a dark secret that threatens to result in madness and death.

HAIR WREATHS: THE VICTORIAN ART OF MOURNING

During the Victorian era, the custom of making art from hair became popular as a form of artistic memorial. It was used in jewelry, love tokens and hair wreaths, the latter of which could encompass hair from the members of one’s church, school, and family. To make a hair wreath, hair was collected from the deceased, formed into a shape (usually a flower), and added to a horseshoe-shaped wreath. The top was not connected and remained open to symbolize the ascent heavenward. Usually, the hair in the center of the wreath belonged to the most recently deceased family member; it would remain until another family member died, then be pushed aside to make room for the hair of the newly deceased.

INFUENCES

Stylistically, Hair Wraith pays tribute to horror films such as Halloween, Trilogy of Terror, Jacob’s Ladder, Child’s Play, and House of the Devil. Most of the effects in Hair Wraith are in camera or practical. Some of the effects date back to the very dawn of cinema itself! Thematically, Hair Wraith has affinities with the works of modern directors such as Jordan Peele, Jennifer Kent, and Mike Flanagan.

The script for Hair Wraith has placed in several script contests and festivals. The script was rated in the top 10% of Coverfly’s Short Horror projects and was on Coverfly’s Red List for July 2023. The finished film will begin the festival circuit in 2024.