• Callum Blue
  • Danielle Kotch
  • Michael Schantz
  • A Film By
  • Elsa Levytsky
Platinum Awards

Best Thriller
Best Fantasy
Best Editor
Best Sound Designer

Gold Awards

Best Actor (Callum Blue)
Best Cinematographer
Best 1st Time Female Director

Goodnight Death is an independent short live-action film following Charles, a Grim Reaper responsible for guiding souls to their afterlife. As he reaps the victims of a serial killer with a long track record, he stumbles upon Jennifer, a young girl on a mission to stop the killer.

Charles is stuck in a world where he is neither alive nor dead. He looks like the living, breathing humans around him, but works day and night to help the recently deceased find their way to the “beyond.” These final destinations are marked by a single mysterious door. What lies beyond? Even Charles doesn’t know that. All he has is his trusty pocket watch, a silent, horrifying creature named Death following him, and a mysterious, young girl named Jennifer, who refuses to die.

Our aim is to tell the story of an unlikely duo in a neo-noir setting that reimagines the line between the Living and the Dead. Inspired by the beautiful style of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, we’ve put together an amazing cast and crew to produce an extraordinary short film re-establishing our view of the afterlife.

A Success Story

Goodnight Death was fully funded thanks to the incredibly generous support of our Indiegogo backers in May 2018. Every little bit counted as we ran our campaign for 2 months, successfully raising 100% of our goal to bring our story to life. None of this would have been possible without our fans.

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Our Grim Cast

Callum Blue
Charles is played by Callum Blue. Callum comes to us from London, England! Best known for his roles on the Showtime series Dead Like Me and The Tudors, as well as his roles as Zod in the television series Smallville, Alex in the British television series The Secret Diary of a Call Girl alongside Billie Piper, and Andrew Jacoby in the film The Princess Diaries 2 with Anne Hathaway.

Not only do we not know Charles’ true age, but the circumstances around his own death are a mystery. What we do know is that he’s spent quite a long time in his current ‘job.’  And sadly, working under Death doesn’t really come with any perks. When it’s time to reap, all he’s given is a name and a time of death. It’s up to Charles to track down the next victim using only his trusty pocket watch and intuition.

Once he finds his ‘client,’ it’s his responsibility to help that soul pass on. A door, unique to each soul appears out of nowhere, their name carved into the wood. Reapers like Charles only have a small window of time to unlock these doors and pass these souls on. But what happens if a soul doesn’t pass through before their time runs out?

Danielle Kotch
Jennifer is played by Danielle Kotch. You may have experienced her talent in films such as Sinister starring Ethan Hawke, The Brass Teapot starring Alexis Bledel, Lullaby starring Amy Adams and Richard Jenkins, Person of Interest, and more!

Jennifer’s character is shrouded in mystery. Who is she and how did she survive a killer on a rampage? After running away from home, she accidentally runs into Charles, who quickly realizes he’s met his match. To make matters worse for Jennifer, Death isn’t all too happy to see her alive.

Following her throughout the film is a strange, decaying black door. Where does it lead? Even Charles knows it can’t be good. Luckily, our heroine isn’t afraid of the black door, Grim Reapers, or Death. Not while she knows a serial killer is still at large. And whether Charles likes it or not… he’s helping her track him down.

Chris Samuels
Christopher Samuels plays our masked Death! Chris does it all! A pro-athlete, trainer, model, actor, motivational speaker, and more. We couldn’t have asked for a more talented performer to play such an important and mysterious character.

Death is half monster, half time. It watches over the Reapers, acting as their boss. It’s not only responsible for choosing who is next to die, but also for creating the doors through which they’ll pass. Whether those doors lead to happier endings or unspeakable pain, is also Death’s decision. We’re hard at work giving Death a spectacular costume. What will it look like? Stay tuned throughout our campaign as we reveal our final design.

Michael Schantz

Our serial killer is played by Michael Schantz. Michael is a New York based actor working in Theatre, TV and Film. He is known for his work on FBI as Walter Moss, The Blacklist as Dag Eriksson, Interference and more. Off-Broadway/NY work includes Othello (New York Theatre Workshop, starring Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo), the Obie Award winning play You Got Older (Page 73), The Slow Room (Performance Space NY), An Enemy of the People (Wheelhouse) and so many more. You’ll never meet a sweeter homicidal maniac!

David Warner is the ruthless serial killer responsible for the death of Jennifer’s entire family, and he is hell bent on taking as many lives as he can in one night. Charles knows who Warner’s next victim will be… but can he stand up to Death and prevent these murders?

Amanda Barron

Rebecca is the mother of two young girls, Jennifer and Katie in Goodnight Death. As our film opens, she must face Charles, our Reaper… 

Amanda Barron was recently seen in HBO’s The Deuce as Victoria. She has performed in many award-winning films including Mia (2018), Drawing with Debra (2017), One Fall (2016), Homo Faber: Trois Femmes (2014), Barren (2014). She is a frequent collaborator with the award-winning director Sabina Vajraca. Off-Broadway work includes the play Mindgame, alongside Keith Carradine. The play was directed by the legendary Ken Russell in one his last productions before his death.

Haley Kotch
Katie is Jennifer’s sister in Goodnight Death. Our film begins with Katie and her mother encountering our Grim Reaper, Charles under some very unfortunate circumstances…

Katie will be played by Haley Kotch! Believe it or not, Haley and Danielle are sisters in real life too! Katie is currently wrapping up filming as the lead in the feature film The Necromancer. Her other recent projects include Kiss of the Damned, Celebrity Ghost Stories, and The Banishing. When she isn’t acting, she is likely making jewelry, or working as a software developer.

Our Grim Crew

Elsa Levytsky
Elsa is the Creator and Director of Goodnight Death. She has a soft spot for the horror and thriller genres and has directed several award winning short films including Feed Me, Arthurs, Her Friend the Beast, and more. Throughout her career, she has worked for and learned from top production companies including Madoff Productions, where her clients included Victoria’s Secret and Ralph Lauren.

Her experience includes Creative Production for Kinetic Studios, script coverage for Random House Films, and production work on the sets of television shows and features films produced by Warner Brothers, Starz Productions, and Ease Entertainment. She currently aligns her talents with Cinedigm, the leading independent content distributor in the United States!

Giuseppe Masi
Giuseppe has been working in production and post-production for the past 10 years. His recent films include both fiction and documentary narratives such as A Roundabout Road to Broadway, QuivR, Stature, Beyond the Doors, Tonight at Webster Hall, and many more. He has worked with Oscar Winning actors including Neil Patrick Harris, Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.
Tom Brown
Tom Brown is a five-time Emmy Award nominated producer who has worked in the TV & Film Industry for over 20 years. Brown specializes in both live-action and animation in the formats of scripted, non-scripted and factual/documentary.

After working on over 200 TV commercials, Brown transitioned into producing animation for the Emmy Award winning New York studio, Little Airplane Productions. Serving there for 12 years as VP of Production and Operations, he was responsible for concurrent multi-million dollar projects. In 2015 Brown joined non-partisan / non-profit, Retro Report, a documentary news organization dedicated to examining stories after their headlines fade, as their VP of Business Operations.

Brown has produced six (6) short films which have been accepted and screened at the Palm Springs International Short Fest, Toronto International Short Film Festival, NY Shorts, LA Shorts and the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Andrew Anthony
Andrew comes to Goodnight Death by way of the midwest. Originally from Ohio, Andrew spent six years honing his skills in commercial production in New York with companies like Madoff Productions and Radical Media. While in New York he also freelanced on productions with clients such Victoria’s Secret, Google, ESPN, TV Land, Saturday Night Live and Smithsonian Channel.

In 2014 Andrew founded Down The Road Productions, which focuses on film and video. He has been a part of over 230 total productions. Goodnight Death will be Andrew’s third foray into the short film realm. His prior two shorts have played at festivals such as: The Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival, The Cincinnati Film Festival, and The ICE Film Festival.

Eulyn Hufkie
Helping to bring our characters and vision to life, is Costume Designer, Eulyn Hufkie. Not only will she be costuming Charles and Jennifer, but reimagining the design of Death, itself. Eulyn assisted and studied with top South African designers, including Dicky Longhurst.

Her business skills, talent and passion for characters and clothing were noticed by commercial producers who hired her to costume design for NESCAFE, M&M’s, BBC WORLD, Polish LOTTERY, GERMAN CHILDREN’S MUSEUM to name a few. Eulyn now lives and works in the U.S. as a Costume Designer for feature films and television. She is most well known for her work on the acclaimed television series, The Walking Dead.

Giuseppe Iacobellis
Giuseppe has been playing the piano since he was 8 years old. He went on to receive his master’s degree at the prestigious National Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome, the very same alma mater of Academy Award® winning composer, Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)! Giuseppe has since been performing both nationally and internationally, winning first place 26 times at festivals all over the world!

He will be creating an original score for Goodnight Death, but you can already hear his work in our campaign video! We’re so excited to have him as part of our team!

© 2021 Goodnight Death