Anna Diop and Andy Favreau star in POSIES
We are smack in the middle of Spooky Season 2024, and Los Angeles writer/director Rachel Stavis has teamed up with media company Alter to re-release Stavis’ 2022 short film POSIES which features an original score composed by none other than Chappell Roan.
The film will be released on Alter — the media company “at the forefront of celebrating the horror genre” — on Thursday, Oct. 10, timed to coincide with the end of Roan’s summer tour.
POSIES stars Anna Diop (Us, Nanny, Titans) and Andy Favreau (Ambulance, Little Fires Everywhere, Champions). It was co-directed by Stavis’ wife, Emmy-nominated Kate Fisher, and executive produced by Pamela Adlon (Californication, King of the Hill, Better Things).
POSIES first premiered at the LA Shorts International Film Festival and was then chosen by Alter to kick off Women’s History Month. The tells the story of one woman who, as people begin to devolve into monsters, attempts to hide her transformation by putting flowers under her skin.
A press release announcing the film’s re-release notes that Stavis, who is also known as a non-denominational exorcist, commissioned Roan to compose the score for the movie before the singer started her rise to the top of pop stardom.
Stavis said that having “Chappell Roan’s creativity and intensity strewn throughout POSIES by way of the score that she so eloquently created was a dream come true.
“Our earliest discussions about this project centered around using her greatest instrument — her voice — to create a haunting, emotional and atmospheric depth to the film,” Stavis continued. “She captured exactly what we envisioned for this and did it virtually on her first try. It was extraordinary.”
Rachel Stavis, right, writer and co-director of POSIES, said Chappell Roan’s score for the movie was “a dream come true.”
Stavis applauded Roan’s “amazing gift of storytelling through music,” saying the singer’s score “remains one of the most unique and unforgettable elements of the film. We’re beyond grateful that she was able to create something so special —specifically for me and my audience —before her inevitable rise to fame.”
Roan’s track “Bitter” also appears in the film.
Sophie Carroll, director of creative at Gunpowder & Sky’s Alter and Dust, said, “Rachel’s powerful narrative combined with Chappell Roan’s hauntingly beautiful score creates a masterclass in atmosphere and emotion. With Rachel now developing feature films and television projects and Chappell rising as a household name, POSIES perfectly illustrates why ALTER is dedicated to discovering and nurturing the next generation of horror innovators.”
— Tammye Nash