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Logline

Two movers reluctantly help a lost man in the dead of the night, only to realize far too late the trap they’ve gotten themselves into. A horror short, based on a story by Stephen King.

Synopsis

One for the Road is the story of two movers who help a waitress deal with a scary customer in the middle of the night. The script is based on a short story by Stephen King, as part of the “Dollar Babies” program. The non-commercial rights to the story have been granted to us by Mr. King in exchange for a one-dollar bill. The film starts out in a diner with a comedic introduction to our main characters. Once the stranger enters, the mood shifts to tension. The horror elements emerge after the movers agree to help. They use their truck to drive the stranger to the roadside where his car is stranded.

The story is told from the perspective of Booth, a naive young mover. He wants to help Gale, the waitress in distress. In the cosmology of Stephen King, he stands for the idealist who has his heart in the right place but doesn’t understand that life is a merciless struggle. According to the image that King draws of society, Booth needs to learn that only the most cut-throat survive.

The opposite role in King’s story universe is played by Took. He’s hard-boiled and reluctant to let emotions interfere with his decisions, having learned the hard way that there are no free meals in this world.

The waitress Gale needs help, but has enough life experience to know that nobody will help out of pure empathy. If only, then out of self-interest. She stands for the ideal of dealing with whatever hardship life dishes out without a word of complaint, in complete acceptance.

Instead of passing judgement, our film takes its joy out of observing how these different world views play out with and against each other.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Corey Slater – Writer
Born in Baltimore, but raised in Florida, Corey is an award winning writer/director specifying in horror and comedy. Corey says he’s “born to write horror” due to his middle name, Daniel, which his mom got from Stephen King’s The Shining.
A recent graduate of the American Film Institute writing program, he lives in Los Angeles where he is currently in pre-production of his next film, a feature inspired by G.G. Allin.

His last project before Puberty for Humans was entitled Kaaway(Enemy). It made its way around several festivals from 2019-2020, including the 42nd New York Asian American International Film Festival, the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.

Daniel Carsenty – Director
Daniel wrote and directed After Spring Comes Fall, an espionage-drama about a Syrian woman forced to work as an informer which won Best Feature in 2017 at the Zsigmond Vilmos Festival in Sziget, Hungary. His second film The Devil’s Drivers, a documentary funded by the Doha Film Institute, about a Bedouin who smuggles Palestinian workers into Israel, premiered at TIFF in 2021 and won the Special Jury Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and was nominated as Best Documentary by the Cinema for Peace Foundation.

 Daniel, a graduate of the American Film Institute Directing program, came to filmmaking after working as a TV journalist in the Middle East for ARTE and the BBC. He is interested in examining the origins of violence, inter-generational trauma and in exploring the possibilities of forgiveness.

Blaine Morris – Producer
Blaine is a bisexual Puerto Rican actress and filmmaker. Prior to graduating from Columbia University, she acted on MTV Skins, Master of None, and many more. She has directed, written, edited, and produced short films which premiered at Slamdance, NY Times Op Docs, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Outfest Fusion, won a DGA Student Jury Award and was nominated for a College Television Award.

She wrote, produced and starred in the psychological thriller feature film Anne, With Love featuring Mena Suvari, Academy Award nominated Adriana Barraza, and Danielle Harris which just secured distribution. She assisted Academy Award nominated writer/director Charles Shyer for Netflix’s The Noel Diary and is associate producer on The Grotto directed by Joanna Gleason, winner of Best Narrative First Feature at Heartland International Film Festival.

Blaine graduated USC as a MFA George Lucas Scholar in TV & Film Production, focus on directing, and is a WIF mentee of Good Trouble showrunner Joanna Johnson, whom she shadowed on the season 4 finale.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.