Dear Esther: A look into Red Tower's Debut Short Film

Last Augest, I did something fun for myself. I watched a lot of short films. Now your probably thinking of you meant like 20 or something. Well I mean that I watched around 250. All sorts too, everything from George Melies Spookfests to 90s PDA's that got a little too fucked up so I would like to think that I'm fairly famalier with what makes a good horror short sing. 

Recently, I was sent an email down the grapevine discussing a nascent production company thats finding its footing in the social media horror niche. A place occupied with such horror junkies favorites as ALTER and of course CRYPT TV. 

Red Tower is utilizing a similar model, focusing on social media marketing and distribution and has released there flagship short film, Ester (2023). A story about a nuerotic women alone in her house, who keeps seeing an old imaginary friend out of the corner of her eye. 

Right off the bat theres a lot to like about the film, the atmosphere, the character acting, the set design. That while it definetly shows the limitations of the set speaks to the type of ingenuity an indie director can do with a limited budget. Which tends to be the charm that comes with these things

I will say that as short films go its reminscent of some of the nicer more high concept CRYPT TV shorts, which given that this was produced and directed with a much smaller budget then the Roth backed horror company is absolutely a compliment. 

At the moment its hard to ascertain where Red Tower will fit into the burgeoning horror niche of indie youtube horror but I will keep my eyes on it to let you know. 

Also Provided is some lovely ad copy from the creators enjoy. 

Red Tower is proud to announce today the launch of their new entertainment company and release of their first short feature, the haunting creature feature ESTHER.

Founded by filmmakers Brian Levin ("Union Bridge") and D. M. Cunningham ("The Spore", "3 Demons"), Red Tower is a genre production company and digital network focusing on short form high quality/low cost content. Red Tower's goal will be to leverage a deep network of the best filmmakers in the world and bring them online and to genre lovers everywhere.

“Having started in 2005 with one of the first online shows and later been involved in legacy television and film, I feel that the moment has truly arrived where old and new Hollywood have merged", said Brian Levin, CEO of Red Tower. "The opportunity to bring the best artists in the world into a direct relationship with audiences at a global reach is a century in the making."

Red Tower Co-Founder and CEO Brian Levin is a filmmaker who began his career creating content for digital networks Turner’s SuperDeluxe and 60Frames. After that he worked closely with Brian Robbins producing and writing for projects at Comedy Central and Spike as well as AwesomenessTV. In 2016 he wrote and produced the comedy “Flock Of Dudes” that was distributed by Hulu and Starz and in 2020 the film “Union Bridge” by Breaking Glass Pictures. He began his career on the creative side but is now involved on both the business and creative side of filmmaking as a producer and executive as well.

"We are thrilled to get Red Tower off the ground with our exciting first short, Esther, which will set the tone and voice of our digital network", said Levin.

Directed by D. M. Cunningham and starring Haley Heslip ("Void", "Case 137") , ESTHER is the story of Katy, who has moved back to her childhood home only to find that her nightly sleep is disrupted by a faulty smoke alarm. She soon learns that the faulty alarm is the least of her worries as her imaginary friend Esther has come back to play.

"Esther came to me late one night when I was having this issue with our smoke alarm going off because of bad batteries and I kept walking around the house trying to figure out which one it was", said Cunningham, who also created the FX heavy titular creature. "Then it hit me when I was laying down in bed. What if something was messing with me? Trying to get me to come downstairs and then attack me! The story evolved from there."

When his friend and mentor, Wes Craven, told him that he needed to get back to his dream of becoming a horror film writer/director, Matt formed Night Prowler Video in 2015 with his wife and Executive Producer, Tara Cunningham, to produce genre film and television with the same flair and style of his highly influential friend. From that point it has been blood and neon-soaked content that would make his friend proud, with his latest project Esther being the next step in his journey.

Written and directed by Cunningham, the Esther team is rounded out by Keith Golinski, a 26 year veteran behind the camera who served as Director of Photography, and Executive Producers Golinski and Tara Cunningham.

Red Tower is currently in production on a slate of short form horror titles, and is set to release new content weekly on their current digital channels including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.