Horror Favourites – Joshua Morgan

Winner of Best Feature at Ice CineFest, Best Thriller at Indo-French Film Festival as well as an audience award at Gasparilla International Film Festival, Children of the Pines is the Directorial feature debut from Director and Screenwriter Joshua Morgan. We grabbed Joshua to chat about horror and find out what scary movie he loves the most.

Children of the Pines is set over a winter break, where Riley, a college junior, is persuaded by her estranged parents, Kathy and John, to visit home to fix their fractured relationship. As Riley settles in, she discovers that her parents have developed an unsettling friendship with her high school ex, Gordon, and that mysterious children are now living in the house. A series of disturbing flashbacks reveal Kathy and John’s time at an eerie, unconventional couples therapy retreat that promised to heal their problems through supernatural means. As the day progresses, Riley starts to uncover the dark and twisted truth of her parents’ desperate attempts to mend the deep issues plaguing their family.

Talking on Morgan’s award-winning Directorial debut, Producer Lucas A. Ferrara said “Children of the Pines is a different kind of horror film that refuses to follow formula. Unlike other projects of the genre, you won’t find any knives, guns, axes, guillotines, or even chainsaws. Violence and gore are kept to a minimum. But if you enjoy being tantalized by the unknown and witnessing the consequences of a misguided family’s cataclysmic quest for redemption, this film promises to be a uniquely compelling and thought-provoking journey – as all the “best film” wins and award nominations attest.”

Filmmaker Joshua Morgan embarked on his artistic journey in 2010, when he was 8 years old by joining a local youth theater company. Children of the Pines marks a special milestone as this is his debut feature film which he wrote at just 17 years old and directed at 18 years of age. Now at the age of 21 years old, he is proud for the world to finally see 4 years of hard work.

Speaking about the release Director Joshua Morgan said “Since starting this project at 17 years old, it’s been an amazing ride getting this feature developed and working alongside producers Lucas A. Ferrara and Danielle J. Bowman. Over the last 4 years our crew has unwaveringly given their all to make this movie possible. We are more than excited to get Children of the Pines in front of audiences to hopefully offer a refreshingly thoughtful, disturbing, and eerie thriller.”

Aside from Children of the Pines, Joshua’s most noteworthy achievements include a portrayal of “Napoleon” in an award-winning theater production of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” his co-direction and starring role in the award-winning short film “The Show,” as well as his contributions to a multitude of projects for the University of Central Florida (UCF), Miami Dade College (MDC), and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Most recently, his creative portfolio boasts the darkly comedic short film produced in association with Lucas A. Ferrara “Tapioca” and his upcoming horror short film “Blake Buried a Body”

Below Joshua Morgan tells us all about his favorite creepy movie:

“Long before making Children of the Pines, both my family and I have always loved horror. Growing up, my mom took pride in our house always having the most outrageous Halloween decorations, and my dad and I bonded a lot over our shared love for scary movies.

As for how my love for the season turned into a passion for filmmaking, the first movie that made me want to be a filmmaker was when I watched Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) in 7th grade. The film’s ability to walk a fine line between being bleak yet whimsical with such precision is astounding. Its transformation of both space and characters creeps up on you so incredibly well, bringing out the absolute worst in the characters while turning a seemingly harmless space into a larger-than-life, cursed location outside of reality.

This reminds me of classic Twilight Zone episodes or even Black Mirror, which served as great inspiration for the melodramatic elements in Children of the Pines—self-contained, character-driven stories that really allowed the talent to shine as they confront profound horror emerging from their own social surroundings.

Since most of the production for Children of the Pines took place when I was between 17 and 20, I’m now attending film school, where I’ve been exposed to so many wonderful horror films, particularly International ones, that I’ve come to love and would be honored to emulate in my future work. Some of my favorites include Possession (1981), Pulse (2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Audition (1999), and Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979).

To wrap up, here are some of my favorite new releases from this year (so far): The Substance, Long Legs, Alien Romulus, I Saw the TV Glow, and In a Violent Nature.”

Children of the Pines is on Digital platforms globally now.

Children of the Pines trailer