Two young, local filmmakers — Scott Schnurbusch and Gabriella Knupp — have completed a 16-minute comedy horror movie set and filmed in Cape Girardeau, called “Unsettled In”. This project blends humor and suspense in a story about a couple’s misadventures in a mansion run by unsettling twins. The film, produced under the name Rosebush Productions, is available on YouTube and was created with the support of local venues and community members. The film follows Jamie and Marco, recent college graduates searching for a place to live. After Jamie’s mother insists they move out, the couple finds a Facebook listing for a room in a mansion. Upon arrival, they are greeted not by the elderly woman who posted the ad, but by two strange twins, JJ and Bobo. The twins claim their grandmother is ill and accept the couple’s rent money. As Jamie and Marco settle in, the twins begin to torment Marco, escalating their pranks until the couple is drugged with brownies and locked in an underground cellar. The filmmakers drew inspiration from two blonde friends in high school, joking about making a horror film centered on their mischievous personalities. The cast, including the twins, are not related in real life, but the filmmakers note that everyone in the film happens to be blonde, a detail that was unplanned. “We were friends with these two blonde kids in high school, and we would always make jokes that they were twins. And so we were just like, we need to make like a horror movie or something that just stars them, and they're just like being evil the whole time. So we did that,” Knupp said. Principal filming took place at Robinson Farms, with the opening scene shot at a friend’s house in Cape Girardeau. The project took about six months from writing to completion, with three months dedicated to filming and one month to editing. The filmmakers faced several challenges, including recasting because of scheduling conflicts and an actress’s hospitalization. Equipment malfunctions also delayed production. “We had to recast a few times,” Knupp said. “But the actress we ended up with, Emily Lantz, was absolutely perfect for the role.” The filmmakers relied on local connections to assemble their cast and crew, distributing flyers through the Southeast Missouri State University theater department and drawing on high school theater contacts from when they were in school. Most costumes and props were sourced from family, including a scarecrow costume made from a parent’s old clothes and a potato sack mask.
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