The Withering

Logline

After an elderly woman discovers a mysterious amulet that restores her youth by draining the life from those around her, her caregiver must stop her as an entire town withers in a grotesque battle over renewal and the terror of aging.

Synopsis

Judith, an embittered woman in her seventies facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, becomes obsessed with a strange amulet she acquires at an estate sale-an ancient artifact that rejuvenates her body by siphoning vitality from the surrounding town. As Judith grows younger, stronger, and more violent, the community around her rapidly deteriorates, with illness, decay, and death spreading among its youngest residents. Haley, Judith's compassionate caregiver, begins to suspect the truth just as she is cast aside and left alone in a dying town, her only ally her troubled sister who senses the amulet's dark pull. When Judith's hunger escalates from passive draining to brutal murder, Haley races to destroy the artifact before it consumes everyone.

Credits

Sandaled Kid Productions  Cleopatra Entertainment  And  Pico Blvd Entertainment presents “The Withering”  Amelia Mahrie  Gareth Tidball  Debra J. Onsager  Zoe Fassler  Jarrod Langwinski  Max Williamson  Leslie Connelly  Julia Deane  Maggie Speer  Jordan Jael Thompson and David Bianchi  Music by Kanoa Wolfe-Doblin and  DerEk Schyvinck Production Designer Kim Reese  Special Effects Make-Up Dawn Emanuele  Costumes by Nicci Pico  Art Director Jennifer Smith  Edited by Daniel J. Pico and Matthew M. Jones  Director of Photography Jeff Siljenberg Executive Producers James Cullen Bressack  Brian Perera  Yvonne Perera and David Bianchi  Co-Produced by Tim Yasui  Produced by Sydney Possinger  Matthew M. Jones and Daniel J. Pico Written by  Daniel J. Pico and Wil Loper  Directed by Daniel J. Pico.

The Story

This journey started when my film school buddy Daniel J. Pico asked me to be in his weeding. In May of 2023, Dan was going to marry his high school friend Nicci. Nicci ended up doing art direction and wardrobe on the film, along with manning the catering with me during the shoot.  

During the pandemic, Dan and Nicci reconnected and he moved back to the midwest from LA to be with her. Not too long after my wife and I gave up our condo (adjacent) to the beach and did the same.

Leave it to Dan to suggest it, but instead of a traditional bachelor party he wanted to compete in the 48 Hour Film Festival. The event was the week before his wedding and I asked him, "Are you sure your getting married? I'm not sure that would fly with my wife. Doing a 48 the weekend before the wedding?" He assured me it was fine. I was like, "Ok, dude..."

The weekend was fun, tiring, but fun. The physical and mental exertion of it all, reminded me of why I chose to step away from Indie films. Long hours, tired feet, lack of sleep and hardly any personal time. Set life can be brutal. Anyway, we didn't place very high but a lot of people responded to our work. And it was the first time working producers on the film Sydney Possinger and Mic Frommet. Both who have roles in The Withering

In the late spring of 2025, Writer/Director/Editor approached me with a project that was going to be Executive Produced by Cleopatra Entertainment. The concept reminded me of Stephen King novel and checked all of the boxes on a concept that I had in my head about getting another film off the ground.

I spent over a decade in Hollywood, took a script to AFM, submitted to the Black List with decent remarks and the closest I got to making another movie was the entertainment marketing projects you can see in my portfolio site. People would ask me how I liked living in LA, I would say "I don't know, man. I just work here." The second I set foot in our West Hollywood apartment, that place had something for me to do. 50-60 hours a week for over a decade. Leave it me to have an empty feeling of failure rotting in my gut for getting to work on some the biggest films during that time frame. But, it wasn't why I moved there.

Deciding to move back to Chicago without getting a film off the ground felt like a life failure. A dream unfulfilled. Dan and his wife Nicci Pico were getting married in May of 2023, just after my wife and I moved back to Chicago. He asked me to be a groomsman at his wedding, which I was honored to accept.

I produced and edited on the project, along with a variety of props for the movie, with many of them on verge of a forgery charge. Lana Faraday probably could have gotten away with it.

Production

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