‘Follow the Dark’ Nears Completion With Kickstarter Push

A British independent horror production more than a decade in the making is preparing to enter its final phase, with Follow the Dark set to launch a Kickstarter campaign later this month to support completion.

Produced by Happy Sisyphus, the film is written by Nathan Shane Miller and directed by Matthew Tibbenham, whose previous credits include work on Sinister, Directive 8020 and Peaky Blinders The King’s Ransom. The project, described as a multiverse horror thriller, is currently more than 90 per cent complete, with the remaining work focused on pick-up photography and post-production refinements.

The story centres on Ari, a detective dealing with personal loss who discovers an underground chamber capable of opening pathways to parallel worlds. According to the synopsis, the chamber contains a mirror offering access to an alternate reality in which his son is still alive. His attempt to navigate this shifting environment brings him into contact with a hostile presence said to inhabit the space between worlds.

The cast includes James Cosmo, known for roles in Game of Thrones, Braveheart and Trainspotting, alongside Arifin Putra, whose credits include The Raid 2, and Hannah Al Rashid of The Night Comes for Us. The production positions itself within a growing wave of genre films exploring multiverse concepts through a horror framework, while maintaining a contained setting built around a central location.

Happy Sisyphus has outlined the Kickstarter campaign as part of a wider pre-release strategy, aimed at raising both final-stage funding and audience awareness. The campaign, launching on 21 April, will offer early access incentives and supplementary materials tied to the production. The studio, which works across film, games and immersive media, is using the platform to extend engagement ahead of the film’s eventual release.

Development on Follow the Dark has spanned fourteen years, reflecting a prolonged independent production process that has gradually brought together cast, effects work and principal photography. The filmmakers have indicated that the final stretch will focus on completing visual elements and post-production detailing, including the presentation of a central creature featured within the film.

With its final phase now underway, Follow the Dark is approaching completion through a hybrid model that combines traditional filmmaking with crowdfunding support, a route increasingly utilised by independent genre productions seeking to bridge the gap between principal photography and release.

The Kickstarter campaign for Follow the Dark launches on 21 April. For more information, visit: kickstarter.com/projects/happy-sisyphus/follow-the-dark