GARY DAVIES – Writer-Director
Gary is an award-winning New Zealand filmmaker who jumped in at the deep end - writing, funding, directing, shooting, producing and editing the horror-comedy feature, Flatmates Wanted, which, despite having almost no budget, obtained NZ-wide DVD release via Vendetta Films in 2007. He has developed his original horror feature script, Psychomanteum, with UK production company, Hummingbird Films, and more recently NZ’s Urgency Films, and was represented from 2015-2018 by LA based Atchity Entertainment International for his original horror-thriller feature script, In the Moonlight. This project has since received Early Development Funding and has been developed with NZ producer Simone Ashton.
Gary has been short-listed for numerous NZFC funding schemes, and he and Simone were participants in Script to Screen’s prestigious Short Film Lab in 2019. Gary’s short films have won awards and screened at festivals around the world, and his no-budget short, Whites Beach, starring Dwayne Cameron, was licensed to NZ Sky TV’s Rialto channel. Gary’s short horror script, Second Skin, was a Top 10 Finalist in the 2020 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition out of 765 entries, and his horror screenplay, Coulrophobia, won Best Feature Script at the 2020 Independent Horror Movie Awards (Spring Edition). Gary loves creating nightmares and dreamscapes to both provoke and entertain, and has numerous short and feature projects in development. His latest short horror film, Be Quiet, is currently on the festival circuit – so far the film has been nominated for best short (or 'micro-short') at the Austin After Dark Fest, the Diabolical Horror Film Fest, the Prince of Prestige Academy Awards, and the Monsterflix Awards, and was runner-up Best Film at the Taupo Halloween Film Fest, and the Indie Suspense Horror Sci-Fi Film Fest.
Unique traits: Atmospheric and provocative high-concept horror film production.
OUT OF TIME Budget: $5M - $10M | Sci-fi ⋄ Horror A wounded teenage girl with a unique ability is discovered hiding on an isolated propertyby a lonely widow, who insists on helping the girl defeat a terrifying creature relentlessly chasing her through Time.
Coulrophobia Budget: $5M - $10M | Horror While breaking the story of the 2016 ‘killer clown’ epidemic, a young female journalist with a childhood phobia is stalked by a sinister clown that may not be human.
Psychomanteum Budget: $1M - $5M | Horror A stressed skeptic’s retreat to the countryside descends into chaos after his wifevanishes from a strange room of mirrors they find hidden inside their new home.
Killer Script Budget: $1M - $5M | Horror ⋄ Comedy After a series of grisly attacks on agents who read his latest horror story, an aspiring writer struggles to defeat a monstrous demonic curse before his shot at a career goes to Hell.
Augmented Budget: $1M - $5M | Horror A famous horror writer given cutting-edge augmented reality glasses struggles to close a terrifying doorway when the tech malfunctions and brings his personal demons to life.
Broken Budget: $1M - $5M | Horror After discovering an ancient standing stone circle in the mountains, an estranged couple struggle to defeat a malevolent force hunting them and their friends.
In the Moonlight Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller ⋄ Horror A desperate youth reluctantly taking part in a home invasion must team up with one of the hostages when the tormented family’s monstrous secret is unleashed.
Beneath Budget: $1M - $5M | Horror After discovering an ancient tunnel under an old garden shed, a man with a tragic past struggles to reach impossible depths and face the horrors that lie beneath.
Be Quiet
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies
Writer-Director A young girl is woken in the night by her brother, who believes something is in the house with them.
AUGMENTED
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies
Writer-Director DON'T LOOK
Nextdoor
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A man conducting an inspection of a quirky old house happens upon a dark secret when something draws him to the attic.
Look Out
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer After completing a forest walk, a young couple notice something strange on the edge of the bush...
Labyrinth Rocks
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Fantasy and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A young girl must enter her fantasy world in order to save her older brother from a shadowy nemesis.
Two in the Bush
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Comedy and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer Things get weird for two kids playing Frisbee in the back yard one afternoon.
Home Alone?
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Comedy and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A Young Man shows up to house-sit and makes himself very much at home. However, he soon starts to wonder if he is in fact home alone.
Rosy Visions
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Comedy, Fantasy and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A triptych. Magical visions are experienced by three doppelgangers in their individual realities.
Hemp: NZ's Crop of the Future
(
Documentary
by Gary Davies (Documentary)
Writer-Director-Producer A short overview of New Zealand's growing hemp industry, featuring Anne and Dave of The Hemp Farm NZ Ltd.
Raising the Peaceable Kingdom
(
Documentary
by Gary Davies (Documentary)
Writer-Director-Producer A short film about author Jeffrey Masson.
Whites Beach
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Drama and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A man comes to on a remote beach after an ocean swim. As he heads for home over the bush-covered hills he begins to experience strange phenomena.
Wake Up: The Truth About Our Modern Diet
(
Documentary
by Gary Davies (Documentary)
Writer-Director-Producer Dr Aryan Tavakkoli reveals how our everyday dietary choices impact on ourselves and our planet.
Hypnagogia
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A man tells of experiencing a bad dream.
The Nightmare
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A young man receives an unsettling phone call late one night.
The Void
(
Film (short)
Writer-Director-Producer
What's Happening Wellington?!
(
Television
Writer-Director-Producer
The Creeping
(
Film (short)
by Gary Davies (Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer A Young Man all alone in a house suffers an accident which disturbs something in the roof. The Young Man assumes it is rats that he is hearing. Unfortunately for him, it isn't.
Flatmates Wanted
(
Film
by Gary Davies (Comedy and Horror)
Writer-Director-Producer Waking alone in his flat with no memory of the night before, young musician Luke finds the lines blurring between reality and dreamworld as he struggles to solve the mystery of the forgotten night and his missing flatmates.
'Be Quiet' Best Horror Micro Film finalist Austin After Dark Film Festival
(2021)
'Be Quiet' Short Film Finalist Monsterflix Awards
(2021)
'Be Quiet' 2nd place Micro Short Indie Suspense Horror Sci-fi Film Festival
(2021)
'Be Quiet' Runner-up Best Film Taupo Halloween Film Festival
(2021)
'Broken' feature script Nominated Best Script Beyond Time Genre Awards
(2021)
'Be Quiet' short film nominated for Outstanding VFX Work at the MLC Awards
(2021)
'Be Quiet' short film nominated for Best Color Treatment in a Production at the MLC Awards
(2021)
Short script 'Second Skin' top 10 finalist 2020 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition
(2020)
'Coulrophobia' Best Feature Script at the 2020 Independent Horror Movie Aw
(2020)
'Beneath' feature script Quarter-Finalist Page Turner Screenplay Competition
(2020)
'Broken' feature script Nominated Best Script Bloodstained Film Festival
(2020)
Supreme Award - "Golden Nikau" - for short horror, "Look Out", AllShorts Film Festival, Golden Bay, NZ 2014.
(2015)
Short doco, "Raising the Peaceable Kingdom", finalist in VOFF4 Viewster Online Film Festival 100K competition 2014
(2015)
Short fantasy, "Labyrinth Rocks", official selection VOFF3 Viewster Online Film Festival (only NZ representative) 2014
(2014)
'Highly Commended' for short comedy script, "Boom", by Short n Sharp Executive Producer group, NZFC funding 2013
(2011)
University of Waikato
(1993-1995)
Avalon Studios Education Centre
(1993-1995)