FILMS
Numb
A film by Cai — written, directed, and produced.
Numb is a slow-paced drama — an English and Zomi (Myanmar) language film that bridges the space between traditional slow cinema and American independent film. Raw, unhurried, and deeply human, it is a socioeconomic portrait exploring postpartum depression, alcoholism, and domestic abuse.
Inspired by Cai's long-standing love of slow and contemplative cinema, Numb was his attempt to bring that sensibility to a distinctly American independent context — to make a film that moves at the pace of life, not the pace of plot. The result is a work of quiet intensity; one that earns its silences.
Vampirish
The ultimate final girl — an original St. Patrick's Day slasher.
Vampirish was born from two things Cai knows well: his Irish roots, and his 80s upbringing. Wanting to bring a kick-ass female slasher to the big screen, he and his wife Rachael created Vampirish together — building the ultimate final girl from the ground up, and putting her exactly where she belongs: front and centre.
An original script packed with nods to the genre classics that shaped Cai's love of cinema, Vampirish is brutal and gore-some — but never without a sense of fun. There are laughs here alongside the screams, and a knowing wink to the films that came before. Cai kept his approach simple and instinctive, returning to the spirit that made 80s horror so enduring: atmosphere, character, and the thrill of not knowing who makes it to the end.
Vampirish has everything it takes to become a cult classic — a St. Patrick's Day slasher with the ambition and craft to stand alongside the greats of the genre.
Cruz
AKA — The Kook Cook.
Cruz is a disgruntled surfer from surf central — Santa Cruz. During the week he hides out in the desert, quiet and largely invisible. On weekends, he heads to the coast with a singular purpose: hunting down Kooks.
A dark comedy-horror, Cruz is a light-hearted — and lethally funny — take on the very real phenomenon of localism in surf culture. The Kook, for the uninitiated, is the amateur surfer, the weekend warrior, the hipster in a brand-new wetsuit who drops in on your wave and doesn't apologise. Cruz has had enough. And Cruz has a plan.
Equal parts absurd and sinister, Cruz sits in the tradition of genre films that use horror as a lens for social comedy — finding something genuinely unsettling beneath the laughs, and something genuinely funny beneath the dread.
