Table of Contents
Three Key Takeaways
- Matt Moeller’s Call 154 distills grief’s bargaining stage into a tense, one-location, one-actor supernatural thriller.
- Overcoming logistical nightmares amid Los Angeles wildfires, Moeller learned key lessons in minimalism and editing.
- The film exemplifies independent filmmaking’s greatest strength: trusting collaborators and embracing emotional storytelling.
Comedian-turned-horror auteur Matt Moeller makes a striking debut with his short film Call 154, selected for FilmQuest 2025.
Anchored by Kelly Lou Dennis’s powerhouse performance, the film explores a fractured mind battling an eldritch horror through cryptic, nightly calls.
Moeller’s minimalist approach—one location, one actor—allowed him to delve deep into grief’s emotional terrain while weathering unexpected production challenges.
What drew you to make this film? Why this story, and why now?
I actually wrote this at FilmQuest in 2024! It's about the bargaining process of grief and I wanted to try and shot something with as minimal complexity as possible. So this is a one room - one actor short that we shot over the weekend of the fires here in LA. Keeping it that small allowed me to learn a lot of lessons.
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process this time—creatively or logistically? Was there a moment on set or in post that completely changed how you saw the story?
OH man. Trying to shoot in the middle of the fires was a logistical nightmare that just popped up out of nowhere. And I realized halfway through day 1 of shooting that we were doing too much and needed to cut pages on the fly.
Is there a moment in the film that feels the most you—something only you could have made?
I think the montage is the part I'm proudest of. I wanted to do a time lapse pan of the interior of the room she's in, and we got it with just the steady hands of my cinematographer and a set decorator that was amazing.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making this film?
In the edit bay I ended up losing a good 1/4 of the script in order to make it tighter and more coherent. It was a tough lesson to learn that I should have done that on the page!
"Trying to shoot in the middle of the fires was a logistical nightmare that just popped up out of nowhere."
What do you hope audiences take away from your film?
I really hope that folks get inspired to make their own story that deals with dark, difficult feelings in a way that externalizes them and creates more space for them to be talked about.
How has this film shaped or shifted the kind of stories you want to tell next?
I really liked shooting this thing. One actor and one location gave me a lot of focus and ability to affect one thing and try and make it 'the best thing'. Next up for me is gonna be two actors one location, and to try and squeeze every bit of goodness out of that I can get.
What’s a tool, technique, or resource that really helped you during production?
Honestly the humble 3x5 notecard. Notecarding out my beats, emotional shifts, and then NOT using that for my shot list was a huge mistake. Woof.
Independent filmmakers often rewrite the rules out of necessity. What do you think is the greatest strength of independent filmmaking, and how did you lean into that on this project? Is there a lesson or breakthrough you’d share with others navigating this path?
I think the best rule that's never gonna be rewritten is choosing people who you love working with and allowing them to have more leeway with how things are done. As the writer and director, often I'd sit and talk with someone about the emotion or feeling I'm trying to evoke or the transformation of characters within the scene and then my makeup/cine/composer would come back with their idea or interpretation of that. I think basic trust and communication with empathy is always going to rule the day.
"Choosing people who you love working with and allowing them to have more leeway with how things are done... basic trust and communication with empathy is always going to rule the day."
What does it mean to you to have your film selected for FilmQuest, one of the world’s top reviewed genre film festivals?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Deep breath. But yes, I love LOVE filmquest and the way it's basically a halloween summer camp for all the nicest weirdos you've ever met.
"I WROTE this dang thing during FilmQuest 2024 after feeling super inspired and then to screen it at the 2025 festival is a literal dream come true."
FilmQuest celebrates the majesty and might of genre filmmaking across fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action, thriller, western, kung-fu, and beyond. How does your film fit within—or push the boundaries of—genre storytelling?
I think it's pretty squarely traditional low-budget horror of trying to to tell a tale of an internal monster externalized. There's a lot of wonderful acting by Kelly, the lead against Her own voice! So she had to both be the cause and the effect of a lot of her emotions in the story, so it was a TON of heavy lifting by a supremely talented acress.
Where do you see this film going next?
Straight into the bin - no but seriously I'd love to keep making a series of 'one location' type horror shorts and then roll them all up into an anthology of sorts.
At the core of all my work is a desire to express my hard feelings through art, and hopefully allow others to identify with that too.
Cast & Crew
- Matt Moeller — Writer/Director. Comedian turned horror filmmaker; Call 154 is his first short. mattmoeller.com, instagram.com/moeller_makes
- Kelly Lou Dennis — Producer/Actress. Up-and-coming writer/director/actress; award-winning with several projects underway, including a feature expansion of her short Good Girls Get Fed. kellyloudennis.com
For more on Call 154, visit the film's website.
