A Psychological Horror Short
A Sermon in Sulphur
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing a man he was a saint."
A film by Alec J. Booker. A claustrophobic reckoning in a sterile hospital room, where a dying priest learns his forty years of holiness were merely pieces moved across an infernal board.
I. The Synopsis
A final confession. A fatal truth.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing a man he was a saint."
Father Richardson has spent 40 years as a beacon of light in a world of shadows. Now, tethered to a fading heartbeat in a sterile hospital room, the light is dimming. He is ready for his reward. He is ready for the peace he has earned through decades of exorcisms, sermons, and sacrifice.
But he is not alone.
Sitting in the corner, shrouded in the amber glow of a flickering bedside lamp, is a stranger. He isn't a grief counsellor or a fellow man of the cloth. He is an architect.
As the night deepens, Father Richardson begins to reminisce, seeking validation for a life lived in service to the Divine. But with every memory Richardson shares, the Stranger offers a correction. A footnote. A terrifying revelation.
The "miraculous" healing in 1974? A calculated bait. The "demon" Richardson cast out of a young girl? A distraction to pressure her family to breaking point. Every soul he thought he saved was merely a piece moved across a board.
A Sermon In Sulphur is a claustrophobic, dark psychological horror short that explores the ultimate betrayal: the realisation that your "God-given" intuition was actually a leash held by something ancient, hungry, and cruel.
II. The Architecture of Damnation
This isn't a story of jump scares.
It's a story of spiritual vertigo.
Theme i
Spiritual Hubris
How the desire to be 'holy' can blind a man to his own vanity — and make him the perfect instrument for another's design.
Theme ii
The Infernal Game
A psychological cat-and-mouse match where the mouse didn't even know it was playing, and the board was built from his own prayers.
Theme iii
Divine Judgement / Diabolical Irony
What happens to a soul when it realises its 'good deeds' were the fuel for another's suffering?
III. The Credits
Those Who Bore Witness
Written By
Alec J. Booker
Directed By
Marc Zammit
Based on the Story
Alec J. Booker
Genre
Psychological Horror
Format
Short Film
Year
MMXXVIII
IV. The Invitation
Will you bear witness?
Father Richardson's confession is almost over. Be the first to hear what the architect has built.
V. The Offering
Help us build the room where the confession unfolds.
Support the film on Kickstarter and become part of the architecture.
Back on Kickstarter→