When the onset of COVID-19 shut down workplaces, restaurants and schools, Rob Jankowski took a good look at a few screenplays he had written and decided to stay busy.
Jankowski, 36, of Reading, Berks County, used the time to produce “Attached: Paranormal,” which will premiere Oct. 26 on Amazon Prime, iTunes, OnDemand and Microsoft Google Play. The horror film joins a host of productions he has credits in, including “Tied and Tortured” -- a 2020 film he wrote, directed and starred in according to IMDB.
In “Attached: Paranormal,” a local detective brings home video footage from a cold case that had been deemed a suicide. His teenage son stumbles upon the footage and uses it to edit a film that he’ll post online with one question: is the paranormal real?
It’s a question Jankowksi didn’t have an answer for, despite his role writing and directing the film.
“I’ve always been on the fence,” he said.” I love watching a good horror film in the dark, but at the same time, it does freak me out and I'll be the one that's closing one eye… Part of me is almost afraid to say I believe in it, because it freaks me out.”
Yet the jump scares and horror in his own film don’t have the same effect on him; he knows and determined the ending. One thing he didn’t have control over, however, was the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working from home, Jankowski navigated the restrictions resulting from the pandemic by having actors send in footage from afar. “Attached: Paranormal” was produced in found-footage style, which as Jankowski explains, is a movie largely shot from the first person point of view.
“I basically had to go through and rewrite scenes, rewrite some stuff to make it all found footage style so that it's easier to shoot with less crew members and make it so that we can realistically shoot it and produce it during COVID,” Jankowski said.
Operating under the found footage style, California-based actor Jack Cullinan didn’t have to relocate to play the part of Nate. Cullinan played uncredited roles in the 2015 series “Shameless” and “Sirens.”
The found-footage style also adds an authentic feel to the movie that Jankowski was going for. It’s meant to stay true to the idea that the teenage son put the film together -- something that doesn’t stray too far from Jankowski’s own roots. He received his first video camera when he was 13 years old and quickly began shooting short films with his friends.
“There's no over-the-top special effects,” he said. “Some movies have horror and paranormal effects that are so over the top that it might scare people, but at the same time people sit there and go ‘wow that's so unrealistic.’”
Rob Jankowski hosted a private screening of "Attached: Paranormal" Oct. 7.
By the end of the film, Jankowksi wants his audience questioning what is real, and perhaps even if the paranormal is actually out there.
“If people walk away saying that question or questioning themselves, that's a win,” Jankowski said.
