The BLDG: Five Stories of Horror, filmmakers Nikolai Basarich, Dane Benko, Nina Gielen, Zach Griffin, Nicholas Heet, Danny Kim, Heather Taylor, and David Wittlin are offering a special incentive to their campaign contributors: Their souls. They are giving their souls up in an effort to crowdfund for this exciting new anthology.

The BLDG originated with members of the Filmshop collective, coming together with the goal of creating a fun and unconventional omnibus film that wouldn’t just appeal to fans of the genre. The anthology is connected by a theme and a handful of recurring characters because of this the result is five tales of madness, mayhem and the supernatural. Each film can function as a stand-alone film but are all set in the same location, a creepy New York City building. THE BLDG takes inspiration from classic supernatural anthologies and films like Trilogy of Terror, Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath, and Rosemary’s Baby, as well as contemporary horror such as the V/H/S series or XX, The BLDG transforms the turmoil and anxiety dominating the news cycle and the everyday urban grind into a shared cinematic experience. The group approached the project with the same spirit of collaboration that defines the Filmshop community at large. They took a page from the Collective: Unconscious dream anthology and deliberately opted not to have writers adapt their own work for the screen but rather choose a director from among the rest of the team, to make for a more exciting and invigorating creative process.

From now through June 15, the project is participating in crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark’s “Communal Nightmares” rally, during which filmmakers compete for a chance at being awarded an additional $25,000 in production funds and a first-look distribution deal with 3311 Productions and The Orchard. If they succeed in raising a minimum of $7,500 in contributions and 1,000 campaign followers, the team will get to present their film to a jury including the producers of acclaimed indie horror films It Follows and Creep.

With the funds raised from the Seed&Spark campaign, the BLDG team plans to shoot the first of the five segments that make up the anthology, In the Bowels of the Building, in which an aged janitor fights the slow spread of an infectious goo that threatens to take over his place of work, if not his very life. The film also contains a measure of social commentary: “A building is a body as well as a hierarchy,”  explains writer Dane Benko. “At the bottom of the building is the bottom of the body and the bottom of the hierarchy. What happens at the bottom is not what the top wants to see.” After completing the first installment, the film teams hope to be able to access further routes to fundraising including approaching investors and production companies (though they don’t rule out additional crowdfunding campaigns).

The team is offering some more traditional perks, including digital “zombification” of a picture of the contributor and an appearance as an extra in In the Bowels of the Building. But they’re especially proud of the “filmmaker’s soul” incentive. We are particularly fond of this incentive.

“Getting one of our souls is a helluva perk at only $66,” comments Nicholas Heet. (The team was originally planning to offer it for $66.60, but the Seed&Spark platform didn’t allow decibels.) “The only problem is, there are only eight to go around, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

You might want to get in on this one ASAP.

To get in on the action and follow the BLDG campaign, visit:

https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/the-bldg-five-stories-of-horror