Estranged college friends Cole and Max reunite on a camping trip to remote Mt. Pinos, where buried resentments explode...until they find a neighbor murdered, their tires slashed, and a massive, terrifying CREATURE emerging from the dark woods. The two will have to fight for each other in a new way.
Inspired by a real unsettling encounter, PINOS explores our generation's friendship crisis—pandemic isolation, technology, and masculinity pulling people apart. A fun horror film where two old friends must fight a Creature to rediscover their connection.
PINOS was born from a real experience. When Manny went camping alone, he met an eccentric woman who offered to show him the campground in her car. After he politely declined multiple times, she became ominous—warning about bears, fire dangers, and driving at night—before finally exclaiming "I hope they don't eat ya!" and drove away. Manny left soon after, completely unnerved. We found this woman fascinating and were interested in her desire for connection.
We started thinking about this desire for connection in relation to people our age. We're in our late twenties, that pivotal moment when some friends are moving toward full adulthood, while others are still figuring out their lives. This often creates a divide in these friendships. This divide feels especially pronounced for our generation, who graduated from college during the pandemic and learned to become adults when we couldn’t see people in person. Add in our increased reliance on technology and social media, and genuine friendship feels harder to maintain than ever. We want to try to capture that struggle.
The film also explores masculinity and how it can erode male friendships. Max and Cole's bond has deteriorated because Cole stopped reaching out. This is partially due to his demanding job and serious relationship, but also because Max hasn't matured the way Cole has. Rather than addressing this directly, Cole has simply avoided him. This avoidance reflects how traditional masculinity prevents men from having honest, vulnerable conversations with each other.
Our Creature mirrors this struggle. Her own kind evolved past her and abandoned her centuries ago, much how Cole has evolved past Max in some ways. Desperate for connection, she learned to shape shift into human form to interact with people, but can never truly bond with them. When humans inevitably reject her, loneliness turns to rage and violence. She's both the antagonist but also a symbol for Max and Cole’s struggles.
While we want to explore these larger themes, PINOS is also a fun, gory horror movie. By forcing these friends to literally fight for their friendship against the Creature, we strip away all the walls they've built between them. Survival demands genuine vulnerability: admitting fear and confronting hard truths. Through this crucible, they forge a new kind of connection, one that isn't rooted in college nostalgia but in who they actually are now.
The style of this film will match the tonal shift. The movie will start with long takes, sweeping shots of nature and fluid camera movements, but as the tension escalates, the language will shift into quicker cuts, handheld shots and frenetic pacing. The lighting will go from soft to hard, the score will go from relaxed guitar strings to thrilling orchestral pieces.
PINOS captures this moment in our generation's lives while delivering a fun, bloody horror movie. We believe stories about fighting for friendship are important, and we want to create horror that says something real about what it means to truly connect.
