What do you get when you bring together a group of friends with a love for ’80s Horror cinema drenched with plenty of blood, screams, and laughs to go around? Simple, you get the new feature film Blood Barn. Co-written by filmmaking friends Gabriel Bernini and Alexandra Jade, the two have developed an affection for ’80s Horror films, and spend much of their free time seeking out vintage VHS tapes to consume. Taking in everything from mainstream titles like 1980’s Friday the 13th to deeper genre favorites like 1982’s The Slumber Party Massacre and 1986’s April Fool’s Day, these two have built an impressive internal memory bank of this unforgettable era of Horror films. As a result, they took matters to the next level, teaming to make Blood Barn, a fun little Horror film shot independently on a VHS camera. Also, approaching the effects practically and using creativity rather than CGI, Blood Barn seeks to be an authentic homage to something you might have found sitting on your local video store’s shelf in 1985.
A labor of love, the two called on a group of their friends to be part of it all, including well-known Actress Chloe Cherry, Lena Redford, among many others. Excited to see their film released via Cineverse on February 17, 2026, exclusively streaming on Screambox, Gabriel Bernini, Alexsandra Jade, and Lena Redford recently sat down to chat about their time on the set of Blood Barn, the film’s inspirations, and more.
Cryptic Rock – As passionate filmmakers, tell us: how did the Blood Barn project come about for everyone?
Alexandra Jade – Gabe and I had been making some shot-on-video Horror shorts in LA. We compiled them into an anthology that’s now on Troma. We had so much fun doing it. They kept getting a little bit crazier, a little bit longer. It felt like the natural progression to finally do a feature. Gabe has had access to this barn in Massachusetts, called Longview Farms, which was a recording studio in the ’70s and up till the 2000s. It’s a beautiful, very unique space that has fallen into a bit of disarray. As a last hurrah for that place, Bonnie, who owns the property, said somebody should make a movie in here. We wrote a movie about a barn so we could film it there and make it happen.
Gabriel Bernini – We had been making these zero-budget VHS-shot movies, had some success with them, and had people get really excited about them. When we knew we had use of the barn, it felt, at the very least, we’re gonna go and shoot something at the barn, even if we have to do it with $0 and with a VHS camera. Then the project snowballed as we knew that we were gonna do it. It got more and more serious as we brought in more people, secured a budget, and everything.
Cryptic Rock – That’s pretty exciting. This film pays homage to ’80s Horror films, which is great. It’s clear the film inspires you, but is ’80s Horror cinema something you are passionate about?
Gabriel Bernini – Absolutely. I’ll have to shout out, WHAMMY! Analog, which is a VHS store in Echo Park, where Alex and I were living when we were writing the movie. This store opened, they started having VHS screenings of Horror movies, and we would go to those. We started collecting VHS. It just became an obsession, getting into that whole culture, and watching those movies on tape. It was so fun and exciting. Having that outlet aligned with the time when we started thinking that we could maybe make our own feature. That’s where we first saw the movie Blood Lake (1987), which is also a big influence on Blood Barn. Watching those movies made us feel like we could do that too, so that was a huge piece for us.
Cryptic Rock – That’s great. What is refreshing about your film is that you do not take the CGI route. You do practical effects, which is fun and exciting. It actually shows that people put a little effort into things when they do things like that. It is understood that the technology can be used for other things, but it is nice that you use practical effects.
Gabriel Bernini – Yeah, for me, it’s the difference of being interested in watching something or not. I’m not that interested in CGI. Everybody talks about this, but it is true. CGI is not as exciting to watch. You don’t feel much from it. It’s got no feedback.
Cryptic Rock – You said that this snowballed into a bigger project. How did all the cast get involved?
Alexandra Jade – The cast and crew are all people that we know and have been friends with for a long time. We had everyone in mind when we were writing the script. A lot of people, including Lena (Redford), we asked before the script was even done if they would be interested, so that we could craft our ideas for the character around them. That really made writing fun and, honestly, much easier, since I knew exactly who was gonna be playing the character.
Cryptic Rock – It seems like a friends-and-family type of project.
Alexandra Jade – 100%. Yeah.
Cryptic Rock – Lena, how excited were you to be part of this project when you were approached? Were you all in or were you skeptical? What were your thoughts?
Lena Redford – I was all in. I didn’t read a script; I said, “Yes.” They said, “You’re going to Western Massachusetts in the winter, and you’ll be dressed for the summer.” I said “Yes.” They said, “You’re gonna be 18 years old.” I said, “Yes.” (Laughs all around)
Cryptic Rock – It sounds like you were pretty excited about it all. What was the experience like shooting this?
Lena Redford – It was awesome! (Laughs) It was really fun shooting with this group of people who were friends before and certainly after. It was also extremely cold. That infused the Horror performances because we were genuinely in pain. (Laughs) You could funnel that into feeling scared, because I actually felt scared sometimes.
Gabriel Bernini – Dealing with the cold was probably the biggest element of the actual production. Being cold and trying not to get sick. There was a mouse, a bird, or something that died in the wall of one of the main rooms that we were shooting in. We had space heaters that we were bringing around. I think maybe something was trying to reach that warmth and then died in the wall or something. There was a smell that wasn’t there, and then a few days later, it was very much there. We had to shoot in that room for more days.
There was Vaseline all over everything because the goopy roots that we have, the tendrils, so the Vaseline got this stench in it somehow. It baked into it. That Vaseline would get on your jacket, and then you would have the dead mouse smell on your jacket. It was really a horrible smell in the later days.
Alexandra Jade – We had all of our friends running around. All of our people, our crew, who wore tons of hats, did so much work all over the movie. In the latter half, after that happened, we lit a candle in that room before we filmed there, so it wouldn’t smell so bad. It’s a big wooden bar, and the candle couldn’t have been left by itself. One of the key roles was to sit in that room and watch the candle.
Gabriel Bernini – That was the PA’s job on set. One day, we had some friends from town come to help out and serve as PAs. That was the job I gave them. I figured it would be better to have two people hanging out watching the candle, rather than just one alone. It is also strange to give two people the job of just sitting and watching a candle in a room just so that it doesn’t burn down the barn. (Laughs) But yeah, they did a great job.
Cryptic Rock – It sounds like it was an interesting and fun experience, for sure. These little stories add to it when you watch it. Another thing that stands out about the film, which is lost in many modern Horror films, is that it does not seem like many modern films know how to balance Comedy and Horror. Comedy and Horror go hand in hand. Was that important to you to keep that Comedy involved?
Gabriel Bernini – Yeah, absolutely. We mostly come from a Comedy background. Everybody involved had worked together in some capacity on Comedy. A fair amount of the cast are actual comedians. We knew going into it that there was gonna be a Comedy element, and that it wasn’t gonna be a bleak, sad Horror movie. In a lot of ways, that was just baked in. We knew it would be fun and silly, but we also wanted to go for a genre piece based on these Horror movies, really. That was a balance to strike, but it was the Horror stuff that we had to work at. The Comedy was clear from the beginning.
Cryptic Rock – It is nice to strike that balance. As stated, many modern Horror films do not do it very well. They are either really bleak or they are over-the-top goofy.
Gabriel Bernini – I don’t understand these bleak movies. I don’t know who wants to see that. We just saw trailers for the new Psycho Killer movie. I’m really confused. I guess some people do like that and have the taste for that kind of thing. It’s so out of my taste. I don’t want a movie to make me feel gross.
Alexandra Jade – In contrast to the Comedy, part of what was great about having comedian actors is that they have a good sense of humor, but they all played it very straight. We really didn’t want anything to be funny in a wink-wink-at-the-camera way, like we know it’s funny or a trope. We really just wanted it played straight, so the humor comes from the movie itself, not the actors telling a joke to the camera.
Cryptic Rock – Yes. It makes for a good balance. Lena, being part of this project, would you consider doing a Horror movie again? Is that something you would want to do?
Lena Redford – Absolutely. I love it. (Laughs) If they asked me to do another movie, I would say yes.
Cryptic Rock – Very cool. Did you grow up as a Horror fan?
Lena Redford – No, not at all. In fact, the opposite, perhaps. I got into Horror the month before filming to do some research, and was very pleased by how funny most of them were. I guess I just didn’t clock that. I saw Scary Movie 3 (2003) when I was really young, which is a Comedy, but it scared me so badly that I couldn’t close my eyes in the shower for 2 years. I kept my distance from Horror. This was an awesome opportunity to dive back in and see how fun and playful this genre is.
Cryptic Rock – Fantastic. Influence from 1981’s The Evil Dead, among others, is evident in this movie. Here is a question for everyone: What are some of the ones that really inspire you, or just favorites in general?
Gabriel Bernini – Black Christmas (1974) is one we took a lot of influence from. Just the ambiance of that movie is so heavy. I like Horror movies where you actually want to live in the world that they’re in, even though they’re being murdered. Somebody’s written a thesis about this somewhere. I gotta find out why these movies are so comforting? What is it about these movies that makes you want to put them on over and over again, even though they’re supposed to be horrifying? They’re supposed to scare you, but there’s something about them that does the exact opposite.
I feel the same about all the Friday the 13ths. You just want to hang out at the camp with those kids and be near a lake. Those things were huge for Blood Barn. That’s actually how I feel about the barn, growing up there and stuff. It’s such a special place, so we wanted to bring people into that.
Alexandra Jade – Yeah, kind of in that same zone, like Sleepaway Camp (1983). Definitely, for such an intense Horror movie, it really has that comforting, humorous element. One that I think is underappreciated is April Fool’s Day (1986), which I think is an S-tier example of the genre. It’s not as popular as some of them, but it’s perfect. You have your archetypal characters. They’re all on vacation at this house together. I think it’s so good, and it’s very cozy and very silly. Yeah, just that tone.
Lena Redford – What was the movie that you recommended that was the Chainsaw Series?
Gabriel Bernini – Oh, The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)!
Lena Redford – Yeah. I like that one!
Alexandra Jade – Yes, love The Slumber Party Massacre!
Gabriel Bernini – Yes, those stories are awesome!
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