Movies
IFC Presents Original Web Series ‘Dead & Lonely’
IFC Original five episode web series Dead & Lonely, written, produced and directed by cult indie horror filmmaker Ti West (The Roost, Trigger Man, The House Of The Devil) premieres on IFC.com Monday, October 26 at [noon] ET/PT. Each additional episode will air every night that week on IFC.com at [noon]. In this series, two lonely Los Angeles singles are brought together via the popular Internet dating website DateOrDie.net. The only problem is…one of them is a vampire.
Starring Justin Rice (Mutual Appreciation, Alexander The Last) and Paige Stark, DEAD & LONELY brings the classic vampire love story to the modern Internet dating age. The series unfolds from both the predator and the victim’s perspective until the characters finally meet. In the vein of Let the Right One In the series focuses on the mundane reality of the day-to-day life of an immortal, while seeking to humanize her to the degree that she seems almost as desperate and lonely as the rest of modern society.
DEAD & LONELY- EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS
EPISODE 1: DATE OR DIE
Lee wakes up and gets ready for the evening. She goes online and searches for men on the dating site, DateOrDie.net. She clicks “Browse” and begins to scan through a series of photographs of potential suitors. She finally finds one that suits her, a 27-year-old with glasses named Justin. Page clicks “Message me” and begins typing him a message.
Justin comes home from an early evening out and appears depressed. Upon entering his apartment, he sees the remnants of his ex-girlfriends stuff and checks his messages to find one stating that she would pick up her things the next day. Justin logs onto DateOrDie.net feeling more depressed than ever, until a message appears in his inbox.
EPISODE 2: MAKING CONTACT
Justin responds to Lee’s very forward message…and is met with an even more forward response. She interrupts his stammering on the phone by asking if he would like her to come over so they can “hang out.” He is practically speechless. She takes this as a yes. The date is set for that night as Lee invites herself over to Justin’s apartment.
She wraps herself in a long coat and walks out of her apartment onto a small balcony. She takes off her shoes and steps up onto the railing. She quickly gains her balance and propels herself into the night.
EPISODE 3: SECOND THOUGHTS
As Lee is set to arrive, Justin worries he may be in over his head. He consults his friend for advice, nervous and unsure of Lee’s intentions or motives.
He frantically tries to clean up his apartment and make himself presentable. He begins fixing his hair when the doorbell rings. He hesitantly walks to the front door and finds Lee waiting outside. He opens the door and nervously introduces himself. She asks, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
EPISODE 4: THE DATE: PART 1
Justin invites Lee inside and they attempt get to know each other. Their interaction is awkward. Justin is nervous and confused until he unexpectedly discovers something about Lee that sheds some light on how the evening is likely to unfold.
EPISODE 5: THE DATE: PART 2
With the ice broken, Lee and Justin begin to enjoy their date. But all good things must come to and end.
Later that night, just before dawn, Lee returns to her apartment. She takes a shower and puts on her pajamas. She climbs into bed just as the sun is starting to come up.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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