Greetings from St. Helena is a folk psychological horror that follows a teenage boy as he comes to terms with his new role as the neighborhood enforcer.
The film explores the issues of classism that can exist in spaces of privilege like Napa. It's a film about survival in a world that can be unaccepting of you, examining themes of greed, identity, and manipulation. The film explores how people from different backgrounds exist in and perceive the same space. We’re following two families as they navigate their disparate worlds, while they’re dealing with the social and economic pressures that come with land ownership.
At its core, it taps into the heart of the Black Horror Renaissance, exploring social disparity against the deceptive background of picturesque Napa Valley.
Growing up in small agricultural town of East Salinas, California, I felt a natural connection to this story. I grew up near vineyards but never made the leap to explore more about them. That world seemed both close and yet out of reach.
As a result, I knew this was a project that I could grow with. The movie theater became my sanctuary. Ghosts, Monsters, and flesh eating Zombies are the leads of some of my favorite horror films — they’re always so entertaining. However, it was the films led by human villains that sent shivers down my spine, and kept me sleep deprived.
There is something so sinister about the capabilities of humans that has shook me to my core time and time again. Whether it’s a serial killer (like in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), a brain swapping family as seen in Get Out, or the cult-like terrors of Midsommar.
These are the films that have stuck with me all these years. Why is that? It took me a while to understand, but like James Baldwin said when talking about Satan in The Exorcist, “I can say only that Satan was never like that when he crossed my path. His concerns were more various, and his methods more subtle."
He compares Satan with traits that can be found in human beings. This made me realize that what truly frightens me is the subtlety of human behavior—how mannerisms and manipulation can reveal darker aspects of individuals. It’s these nuances that have often made me feel like an outsider in my own community. Recognizing this, I understood that these subtleties would be the focus of my film.
Greetings from St. Helena is more than just a horror film; it’s a psychological thriller that serves as a commentary on classism, set against the backdrop of Wine Country. Through these subtleties, the film will illustrate the duality of how two individuals from different backgrounds perceive the same world in contrasting ways.