ZOE – Featuring Stranger Things & LOTR Cast, Seeks Production Financing

The Project

Hook:

What happens when the protagonist of a zombie movie is a zombie herself? After waking as a zombie in the post-apocalyptic Midwest, Zoe—a former preschool teacher—tears her way through helpless survivors, ruthless survivalists, and even other undead. But as fragments of her humanity resurface, she must decide whether to embrace the monster she’s become or fight for the person she once was.

Concept:

Zoe lives in the gap between Amelie’s tender, whimsical humanism and the visceral dread of 28 Years Later: Bone Temple—a zombie picture with a beating heart instead of a body count. The tone is elevated horror with real emotional stakes: found family, first love, and the terror of losing yourself, filtered through a genre built for both scares and soul. It’s a rare zombie script that could travel on story alone, backed by a market that’s proven it will pay for a fresh take on the undead.

Format:

Feature Film · Independent Horror
Standalone

Comparables:

✓ Talk to Me (2023) – ~20× return

✓ Obsession (2026) – ~213× return

✓ Iron Lung (2026) – ~16× return

What’s Ready

Production Status:

✓ Completed feature screenplay
✓ Full budget: $2M, structured with 30% tax incentive
✓ $500,000 already raised
✓ Lead cast attached: Grace Van Dien, Keith Carradine, Dominic Monaghan
✓ Production window: March 2027
✓ Sizzle reel and teaser/trailer in development (Nov 2026 – Feb 2027)
✓ Full script, budget top sheet, and cast agreements available on request under NDA

The Team:

Grace Van Dien – Lead Cast – Best known for playing Chrissy Cunningham on Stranger Things; recent horror credits include Redux Redux (Sitges Film Festival, 2025); 5.7M followers across platforms.

Keith Carradine – Lead Cast – Film credits include The Power of the Dog, Cowboys and Aliens, and McCabe and Mrs. Miller; television includes Deadwood and Fear the Walking Dead.

Dominic Monaghan – Lead Cast – Film and television credits include The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Lost.

Keith Boynton – Director – Nine features and counting; his last horror film premiered at FrightFest London (2025) and won Best Narrative Feature and Best Horror Film on the festival circuit.

Cassie D’Agostino – Producer – Decade-plus producing unscripted television including The Amazing Race and Top Chef, alongside branded and narrative work.

Mashka Wolfe – Producer – Los Angeles-based producer and creative strategist, with credits including commercials for Grubhub, Carvana, and Spectrum, and music videos for Universal Music, Island Records, and Loma Vista Recordings, also specializing in audience growth and social media strategy.

The Opportunity

The Ask:

Production financing partner, ~$1M to complete a $2M budget already carrying a 30% tax incentive and $500,000 committed.

Open to:

✓ Equity investment
✓ Co-production partnership
✓ Pre-sale / distribution advance

Why Now:

Zombie horror is having a proven commercial moment. 28 Years Later and its sequel Bone Temple reignited mainstream interest, while low-budget indie horror continues to post outsized returns industry-wide. Zoe combines that commercial tailwind with an attached, recognizable cast and a director with a recent festival track record, reducing the execution risk financiers usually price in on genre films.

De-Risked From Day One:

✓ Confirmed lead cast: Grace Van Dien (5.7M social following), Keith Carradine (Deadwood, The Power of the Dog), and Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings, Lost)
✓ $500,000 already committed toward the $2M budget
✓ 30% production tax incentive locked into the budget structure
✓ Director’s prior feature secured both US and international distribution (Quiver; One Tree Entertainment), evidencing a working sales pipeline

Most Interesting Project For

 

Genre-Focused Equity Financiers – If you back indie horror for its proven ROI profile, this sits in a comp set already returning higher values.

 

Sales Agents & Distributors – If you’re building a 2027 festival horror slate, this arrives with a named cast and a director whose last film already cleared FrightFest London.

 

Tax-Incentive & Co-Production Partners – If you structure deals around regional incentives, the budget is already built around a 30% credit with a defined October 2026 shoot window.

Interested in this project, please submit your interest through the form

– Click Here.