ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Within, a supernatural thriller, was shot in 20 days in and around Los Angeles. In her feature film debut, Director Hanelle Culpepper brings to life a harrowing story by Rebecca Sonnenshine about Rachel, a young girl who realizes she can see evil spirits. The opening scene of the film captures Rachel reluctantly entering an Italian deli. In the series of unsettling events that follow, Rachel becomes witness to the disturbing death of her mother. Though Rachel and her father retreat to a small town for a fresh start, Rachel finds she cannot escape the visions she experienced that dreadful day.

To prepare for the film, Culpepper conducted extensive research. She even consulted a shamanic master who warned her to beware of bad spirits lingering around the set and attempting to enter her life while she worked on the film. "It did freak me out a little bit," Culpepper said. And indeed, the production proved to have some challenging moments. Shooting a movie starring kids in 20 days was problematic in itself due to legal restrictions for child actors. Other issues included actress Janet Rotblatt (Mrs. Stanton) breaking her wrist just before filming began and fluctuating production resources, which threatened the realization of the crucial fire scene near the end of the film.

Before arriving on set, actress Janet Rotblatt (Mrs. Stanton) suffered a broken wrist. At another point during filming, it was unclear whether fluctuating production resources would even allow for the crucial fire scene to be shot near the end of the film!

However, for as many obstacles that were overcome on set, there were also plenty of laughs supplied by the young cast. Mia Ford and Sammi Hanratty were best of friends from the first audition and quickly became known as daft pranksters, often targeting producer Jerry Jacobs.