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

The Project

Hook:

She wakes up in the woods with no memory of dying — only a hunger she doesn’t understand yet. What follows is a love story between two people who’ve lost almost everything, told from inside a body that isn’t supposed to feel anything at all.

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 (Draft, June 2026)
✓ Full budget: $2M, structured with 30% tax incentive
✓ Lead cast attached: Grace Van Dien, Keith Carradine
✓ Production window: October 2026, 20-day shoot
✓ 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.

 

✓ 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.

 

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

The Opportunity

The Ask:

Production financing partner, ~$1.5M to complete a $2M budget already carrying a 30% tax incentive and $500,000 committed. Open to:
✓ Equity investment
✓ Co-production partnership
✓ Gap or tax-incentive-based structuring
✓ 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) and Keith Carradine (Deadwood, The Power of the Dog)

✓ $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.