Izzy Lee, known for her decade-long festival success with genre shorts at Fantasia, FrightFest, and Overlook, is set to make her feature film debut with House of Ashes. The sold-out world premiere will take place at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival on October 19th at Nighthawk Cinema Williamsburg. Starring Fayna Sanchez (Creepshow) and Vincent Stalba (Lessons in Chemistry), the film explores themes of grief, control, and far-right politics’ war on women’s bodies. Lee, along with co-writer/producer Steve Johanson and cast, will attend the screening.
House of Ashes (2024)
Grieving widow Mia must survive psychological and supernatural horrors while under house arrest in House of Ashes.
House of Ashes follows Mia (Sanchez), sentenced to house arrest for a miscarriage in a dystopian state. As she grieves the suspicious death of her husband, strange and dangerous phenomena plague her home. While Mia believes a supernatural force is responsible, her protective friend Marc (Stalba) thinks humans are behind the threats. As tensions rise, Mia must summon hidden strength to survive the escalating danger. Featuring a strong supporting cast and cameos by genre favorites Joe Lynch and Mick Garris, House of Ashes delivers a tense blend of psychological and supernatural horror. With stunning cinematography by Sophia Cacciola and a haunting score from Antoine Lamothe, this feature is a must-see for fans of genre-defying horror and we’re so glad we get feature film Izzy Lee now!
Izzy is an undeniable force in the horror world, consistently commanding attention on panels, juries, and lineups. Her unrelenting ingenuity, fierce tenacity, and sheer brilliance in crafting horror with depth, sharp wit, and unflinching thrills set her apart. Her dynamic shorts have garnered worldwide acclaim, with some leaving you breathless, others making you howl with laughter, and many keeping you glued to the edge of your seat. If you haven’t experienced an Izzy short yet, I urge you to make it a priority!
Izzy’s most recent short, MEAT FRIEND, was a nominee for the 2023 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards!
An ex-con, sentient pile of hamburger meat teaches after-school lessons to a child.
With this type of short film arsenal and dozens of film festival awards behind her, it’s no wonder she’s sat on the jury for the Bram Stoker Awards Short Film Showcase: Final Frame. Final Frame has grown into a must-see event at StokerCon, showcasing two hours of thrilling, diverse short films from around the world, and what a beautiful marriage to Izzy’s foray into the horror literary space. In February of this year, Izzy released ‘I Can See Your Lies’, a novella with Dark Hart Books.
I Can See Your Lies (2024)
Fin’s reality is crumbling. Her husband has abandoned her, she’s now a single mom to a nine-year-old daughter, her Los Angeles home is sweltering, and she’s being haunted by disturbing hallucinations that make life a waking nightmare. Are the visions a product of stress, trauma, psychosis, or something else? The answers to those questions become more clear when Fin starts digging up dark secrets connected to her mother’s cold-case disappearance, a once-rising actress who mysteriously vanished in 1979. Will Fin slowly unravel the truth? Or will it remain hidden forever beneath the glitz and glamour of illusion?
A true polymath of the horror genre, mastering everything from storytelling and film direction to in-depth analysis and genre innovation. Izzy’s multifaceted talents span every corner of horror, making her a visionary who can tackle any aspect of the genre with brilliance.
We got to ask Izzy how this genre has become a life-long friend.
“Horror is the genre I’ve been at most home in for a very long time, ever since kindergarten. It’s the genre that has the most tools, and includes every emotion. I’ve been in love with the darker side of things and I’ve never felt more welcome than in the horror community. I started out as a festival programmer and journalist, then started writing and directing shorts and publishing short stories. It wasn’t planned this way, but 2024 brought me my first feature, House of Ashes, and my first novella, I Can See Your Lies. Both focus on women who rally against impossible odds to survive and get stronger in the process, with fun bits of revenge.”
ABOUT IZZY LEE
You can find more about Izzy’s filmography, books and appearances at nihilnoctem.com
Named as one of A.V. Club’s 10 female filmmakers to hire, Izzy Lee is a two-time Rondo Award-nominated director. She’s also produced and written several award-winning shorts. Growing her loyal following of under-represented fans with every release, Lee’s socio-political tales have screened at major international genre festivals such as FrightFest, Fantasia, Overlook, Morbido, Brooklyn Horror, Boston Underground, Cinepocalypse, Chattanooga, Horrible Imaginings, and more.
Beyond her film credits, Lee has been published in Birth.Movies.Death., Rue Morgue, Fangoria, and Diabolique, and is an editor for ScreenAnarchy. She’s also written short stories for several anthologies and magazines.
Mo Moshaty is an acclaimed horror writer, lecturer, and producer whose work combines visceral storytelling with the psychological insight of her Cognitive Behavioral Therapy background. She has lectured internationally, including as a keynote speaker at Nightmares from Monkeypaw: A Jordan Peele Symposium (Prairie View A&M), No Return: A Yellowjackets Symposium (Horror Studies BAFSS Sig), The Whole Damn Swarm: Celebrating 30 Years of Candyman (University of California), and with the Centre for the History of the Gothic (University of Sheffield). Mo has also presented at the BFI, Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, and Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Brain Binge on women’s trauma in horror cinema, Cine-Excess on The Creepy Kid Horror Subgenre and Mother/Daughter Trauma in Horror, and Romancing the Gothic on Cosmic Horror’s Havoc on The Body Electric Her short film, 13 Minutes of Horror: Sci-Fi Horror, won the 2022 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film. As a core producer with Nyx Horror Collective, Mo co-created the 13 Minutes of Horror Film Fest and partnered with Shudder in 2021 and 2022, while also establishing a Stowe Story Labs fellowship supporting women creatives over 40+ in horror. A member of the Black Women in Horror Class of 2023 and featured in 160 Black Women in Horror, Mo’s short fiction appears in A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales (Brigid’s Gate Press) and 206 Word Stories (Bag O’ Bones Press). Her debut novella, Love the Sinner, was released July 5, 2024, with Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment released in October 2025. The first of her five-volume non-fiction series, The Annex of the Obscure: The Afterlife, will be released in 2027 from Tenebrous Press. As the Editor-in-Chief of NightTide Magazine and founder of Mourning Manor Media, Mo champions marginalized voices in horror. Under her leadership, NightTide plans to launch a film festival in 2028, furthering her mission to reshape the genre through inclusivity and representation.
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