Today we’d like to introduce you to Daxon Geldmacher
Hi Daxon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Not to be overly cliche, but I’ve always loved movies, particularly scary movies. As a wee lad I was obsessed with this tv show, that no other person on Earth remembers, called Lost Tapes. It was this very low-budget found footage horror show that played on Animal Planet where each week it would play a new ‘lost tape’ of some poor shmuck encountering a different cyrptid or folk tale creature. I watched every episode I could get my grubby little hands on, and following each episode with a visit to Wikipedia to try and learn everything I could about these fascinating creatures.
The only problem is that these monsters were all interesting and exciting to learn about during the day, but as soon as the sun fell I would be filled with a horrible and all-consuming fear. There were weeks I could not get a decent night’s sleep cause I was convinced that Bigfoot was standing outside my bedroom window, waiting in the dark night for me to look out at him. This led to my mom banning me from watching Lost Tapes and the other horror adjacent media. Of course, this ban just meant that I would have to be sneakier about my screenings. This was uncommon for me though, I rarely would disobey my mom. There was just something about this show that captivated me in a way that I physically could not stop myself from watching it.
This obsession ballooned until the point I was watching every horror movie I could get my hands on, often forcing my unwitting friends to watch them with me. But I wasn’t satisfied. I couldn’t just be fan of horror movies, I had to make my own. So my friends and I spent all of high school making terrible short films, some horror, some comedy, and some especially bad action films. While the movies were about as good as you’d expect them to be, they taught me that filmmaking is what I wanted to do with my life.
So, I enrolled in UVU to study filmmaking. There I spent four years taking advantage of school equipment and resources to make the strangest and scariest movies I could. By the time I graduated (May 2024) I had about three short films I was proud of, a student Emmy nomination, and a handful of connections.
That brings me to now, where I am doing some freelance film work while in the early stages of developing my next film.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There is no smooth road in filmmaking. Every project will threaten to fall apart several times before you even get to filming, and there it will threaten to collapse several more times. It is also an inherently costly medium which means you have to be creative when working on a project while also being broke. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have had to adjust a project last minute because of budgeting issues.
However, I have been so fortunate to have my supportive and loving family by my side. My parents, siblings, friends, and partner have always been there for me and are always willing to help me out when I need a truly insane favor. Not many people can say their mom transported giant (fake) meat walls for them, but I sure can. Thanks, Mom,
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in directing and writing deeply strange horror movies. Pretentiously, I like to say that I occupy the space between Pulp and Arthouse, taking equal inspiration from John Carpenter and Ingmar Bergman. I love taking a familiar horror premise and using that as a doorway into something more experimental and surreal, all while trying to make sure it’s still scary. I’ve found that an audience will follow you in pretty much any weird direction you go as long the movie is still scary. So that’s what I try to do. I’m particularly interested in exploring uncanny spaces and creating a sense of doom in films that do not rely on scenes of monsters or jumpscares. To be clear, I love monsters and jump scares, but I want them to be the cherry on top of the sundae, not the ice cream. The key to what I’m trying to do is to create a film that feels fundamentally ‘off’ in a way that makes the viewer almost relieved when a monster does show up, cause at least that’s a physical thing they can attach their anxieties to. The real source of horror should come from the mystery of not knowing exactly what is going to happen, but you (the audience) know something horrible is going to happen.
This is something I explored in my most recent work A Gaping Wound A Grinning Mouth. It follows a successful theater actress trapped within a supernatural production. I wanted to make a movie that captures the feeling of watching a horror movie when you’re young and watching something you’re not supposed to. It’s an uncanny and scary movie that I am very very proud of. It was just nominated for a Student Emmy and will be beginning its festival circuit later this year!
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I don’t know if I would advise everyone to do what I did, but I found that school to be a great way to find a creative mentor. If you actively talk with and connect with the faculty then you can develop a relationship to extends beyond the classroom and even after graduation. I still regularly message some of my professors for advice and general words of encouragement.
I also found school to be useful for networking as well, the connections I made with other students led me to getting work on commercial sets consistently over the past few months. All it took was making friends with the guy sitting next to me and asking if he knew anyone in need of help on set.
If you don’t have the desire or ability to attend school though, I would recommend joining a Facebook group or finding someone online who is local and whose work you really admire, and just message them! Being kind while putting yourself out there will get you a lot further than you would expect!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.daxongeldmacher.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daxgeldmacher/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080749822379
