If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a savage Hong Kong action movie crashed headfirst into a blood-soaked supernatural horror nightmare, Christian Kang Bachini has your answer.
His short film Escalation is finally available online for horror fans to watch for free, and it sounds like the filmmaker fought hard to make sure the movie arrived exactly the way he intended.
Bachini first caught attention with the viral fan short Teela and The Masters of the Universe, but Escalation takes things into much darker territory.
The film follows a man trapped in isolation as increasingly terrifying events begin twisting reality into something nightmarish and violent.
The story concept may sound simple, but the execution swings for the fences with psychological horror, splatter film insanity, supernatural terror, and brutal action colliding together.
The filmmaker spent over a decade working in Asia in the action film industry before pivoting into horror, and that background bleeds all over Escalation.
The film has been described as The Raid smashing into Evil Dead, with traces of Italian horror influences, cult midnight movies, and chaotic practical gore madness thrown into the blender.
What makes the story around the release especially interesting is that Bachini had multiple opportunities to cash in after the short made a strong festival run. Streaming platforms came calling, and even a major studio reportedly expressed interest in developing a feature adaptation.
But there was a catch. The filmmaker was asked to tone down the violence and reshape the movie into something more commercially friendly. Instead, he walked away from all of it.
Escalation follows a man trapped in isolation as terrifying events begin to blur the line between reality and nightmare got a great run in festivals, a run that lead to many streaming platform to court the director in order to obtain the rights to release the film online with the promise of visibility and not much else.
At the same time a major studio reached out to Christian, interested in the feature film version of the short film itself, but also there the request was to water down the original no-holds barred and gory vision in order “to attract” a wider audience and make more bucks at the box office.
Despite many calling Christian crazy he told no to everybody and kept the film tucked away waiting for the right moment to release it. And now it is live for everyone to watch.
That decision feels pretty rare these days, especially in horror where films often get softened around the edges for broader appeal. Bachini clearly had a very specific vision for Escalation, and he chose patience over compromise.
The release also arrives at an interesting moment for the filmmaker because he’s already moving into his next project. “It’s a short film proof of concept that mixes horror, western and sci-fi and so I decided that horror fans should see Escalation before my new work comes out.
“Escalation was a lot of sweat and blood and hard decision but it opened the way to this new film which will also lead to the release of my first two novels at Halloween time this year.” Details about this project are kept under wraps.
That upcoming horror-western-sci-fi project sounds like the kind of genre mashup horror fans are going to eat up. The fact that Bachini is also releasing his first two novels this Halloween makes it clear he’s building something much bigger than a single short film.
During its festival run, Escalation picked up strong reactions from horror outlets. Dread Central called it “gorier and meaner than Evil Dead,” while Rue Morgue described it as “intense, frenetic.” MovieMaker labeled it “a masterfully crafted injection of pain,” and yes, even GeekTyrant praised the short as “wild, crazy horror galore.”
For horror fans craving practical gore, frantic action, nightmare imagery, and filmmakers willing to protect their original vision, Escalation is the kind of underground genre project worth checking out. So, enjoy!
