ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
When strangers arrive at her toddler’s birthday party, an expectant mother confronts her son’s unexpected popularity.

SYNOPSIS
There is so much he has learned! There is so much he can do! We can’t believe our little Benny is already turning two!

You are cordially invited to attend BENNY’S SECOND BIRTHDAY. Please come celebrate with us in our backyard. There will be cake, balloons, secrets, and more than a few surprises. Everyone is coming, friends and strangers alike. They wouldn’t miss this for the world and they’ve all brought gifts. Benny would just love for you to be there. You wouldn’t want to disappoint him on his special day, would you?

BENNY’S SECOND BIRTHDAY is a short psychological horror film in the spirit of ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE OMEN. Where these iconic horror films of the 60s and 70s presaged the Satanic Panic, here we’re more interested in the cult than the occult.

Our protagonist is Claire, Benny’s mother, who’s isolated and detached, undermined and underestimated at every turn. Claire’s suspicions and intuitions are never validated. She knows deep down that something’s wrong but is beset by self-doubt and saving face. Is this all in her head? Or is she being steamrolled?

This story is a paranoiac fairy tale that reflects an increasingly paranoid world. It’s a story about motherhood, about domesticity, and more specifically it’s about the dread of being trapped in gender roles. It’s about the experience of watching your child come into their own, developing relationships outside of your immediate family. Seeing a child individuate and become their own person. It’s about the obliteration of the self in favor of a child’s love.

PROJECT TYPE Narrative Short

DIRECTOR R.J. Glass
PRODUCER Amanda Freedman, Daniel Leighton
line producer Cindy Zhang