Director Ritesh Gupta’s new movie The Red Mask is not just an entertainingly scary indie slasher but it's also a tribute to the classic chillers - like Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street - that spooked and thrilled generations of horror lovers and filmmakers.

It's also an authentic representation of queer relationships, and an incredibly timely commentary on how toxic fandom and the “culture wars” in America have done immeasurable damage to present-day society. 

The Red Mask is about a struggling queer scribe - Allina, played by Helena Howard - whose next assignment is to rejuvenate a revered but dormant scream franchise in the fictional Red Mask series.

Overwhelmed by obscenely high expectations and high pressure from the studio, and repeatedly bullied and threatened by hateful fans online, Allina finds a change of scenery when she and her partner Deetz (played by Inanna Sarkis) retreat to a supposedly peaceful but very distant rental cabin. 

Unfortunately for both of them, two unexpected guests in Red Mask devotees Ryan (played by Jake Abell) and Claire (played by Kelli Garner) and a world of unimaginable evil turns their weekend of brainstorming and intimacy into a Hollywood nightmare that increasingly becomes all too real.

Ritesh Gupta joins me to tell the full story of how The Red Mask came to life on this week's Viewfinder Podcast.

Check out the trailer for The Red Mask here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUNxZWPqlKY

Follow The Red Mask's Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/theredmaskmovie/

Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast

The Viewfinder Podcast show logo designed by Matison LeBlanc

Music by Audionautix.com