Dying Is Easy
(Callum Gunning, 2025)

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

As a creative Callum has long dreamed to tackle the existential and absurdist on screen. Using horror as a cinematic tool, he aims to use these creative philosophies to tackle the unseeable terrors of our reality, with mental illness as a creative focus.
Through his University experience, Callum has worked in a variety of creative roles, leading to his final year in which he took upon the roles of writer, director, and producer on 3 separate projects in the span of 20 weeks. These projects (Dying Is Easy, Virtual Reality, and Faith in a Bottle) mark his proudest achievements, leading teams of up to 18 to bring his visions and dreams to life. He is excited to take what he has learnt from his experience and use it to prove himself, and to grant opportunity to learn more and grow to be a better creative and professional all together.

This film is produced as part of my practice-based dissertation project.

SYNOPSIS

After losing a friend, James embarks on a bender of drink and drugs with his friend Harry, but in the background something dark looms. Can James outrun what stalks him from the shadows, or will it catch him in his escape?
Dying Is Easy stands as an exploration of the abjection of mental illness through horror cinema, exploring the concept through an existentialist lens. The film tackles dark themes through method inspired by the ‘elevated horror’ movement of the 2010s, attempting to give form to what haunts us from the peripheries of our own minds.

CAST & CREW

HARRY played by CALLUM GUNNING

Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Sound
Designer – Callum Gunning

JAMES played by DYLAN PARKER

Assistant Director – Ella Ayres

Spark – Hana Achim

Cinematographer – Leon Furness

Gaffer – Roshan Adve

Assistant Camera, Gaffer, Sound Recordist – Samuel Poon

Sound Recordist – Adam Lawrence

Gaffer – Anysia Hall

CAST

JAMES played by DYLAN PARKER
HARRY played by CALLUM GUNNING

CREW

Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Sound
Designer – Callum Gunning
Assistant Director – Ella Ayres
Cinematographer – Leon Furness
Assistant Camera, Gaffer, Sound Recordist – Samuel Poon
Gaffer – Roshan Adve
Gaffer – Anysia Hall
Sound Recordist – Adam Lawrence
Sound Recordist – Kas Gee
Assistant Camera – Isaac Lord
Spark – Hana Achim

INSTAGRAM:

@gunning_filmmaking

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