“We did our damndest to give you something you haven’t seen before that’ll feel like raw voltage in that theater,” beamed Marcus Dunstan (Saw IV, Piranha,Pacific Rim), director of the new teen horror film, #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead. The chilling tale finds a group of college friends renting an Airbnb during a huge music festival, but their party weekend soon takes a wicked turn. One by one, the posse gets murdered. Here’s the twist: They die according to their sin.

We’re in. The film stars Jade Pettyjohn (Little Fires Everywhere, Big Sky), Jennifer Ens, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Michaella Russell, Julian Haig, Justin Derickson, Cardi Wong, Jack Doupe-Smith, and Jojo Siwa. #AMFAD held its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, and is now in theaters and on digital and VOD. Marcus Dunstan and Jade Pettyjohn shared more about their twisted horror romp in this exclusive MovieWeb interview. Read on.

The Scream Backstory
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead (2024) A group of college friends rent an Airbnb for the biggest music festival of the year. A weekend of partying quickly takes a turn, as the group is murdered one by one, according to their sin. All My Friends Are Dead stars Jade Pettyjohn, Jennifer Ens, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Michaella Russell, Julian Haig, Justin Derickson, Cardi Wong, Jack Doupe-Smith, and Jojo Siwa.Release Date August 2, 2024 Cast JoJo Siwa , Jade Pettyjohn , Justin Derickson , Jennifer Ens , Ali Fumiko Whitney , Julian Haig , Cardi Wong , Peter Graham-Gaudreau Runtime 1h 31m Writers Jessica Sarah Flaum , John Baldecchi Distributor(s) Cineverse Expand

Marcus Dunstan always wanted to be part of the movie industry, but was especially motivated by the Scream films, which stoked his creative fire. “I was a movie theater projectionist in Iowa when the Scream movies came out, and I watched from the window. I watched the silhouettes of people jump and shriek, and I would turn up the volume [on the movie] because I knew when Ghostface was coming.”

He points out how influential the Scream franchise has been, noting, “Scream had such an impact that it was like throwing the best rock into the lake, then you’d see the Scream imitations come out. And I thought, ‘Now wait a minute.’ Scream is its own individual thing that was also respecting everything that came before it, but creating something new with that. That’s what I wanted to do.” Dunstan added:

“What did I take from that? I wanted to recreate that reaction in the audience. Some of the places, it didn’t have to be people talking about movies within movies [in
Scream
]. It had to be, ‘Is your guard down? Are you laughing?’ Wham! I got you. I was ruthless.”

Dunstan’s screenwriting with his partner, Patrick Melton, includes the horror films Feast 1-3, Saw IV-V-VI and Saw 3D, Piranha,Pacific Rim, Final Destination 6, and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead marks Dunstan’s sixth feature as a director.

#AMFAD keeps you guessing. Clever and suspenseful, expect jump scares and plot twists. With shades of Tarot, Violent Night, and, of course, Scream, the film culls from our favorite horror cravings and adds something new in the process.

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A Plot Twist That Will Make You Audibly Gasp

Jade Pettyjohn garnered a lovely fan base after turning heads in Nickelodeon’s Emmy-nominated School of Rock. Memorable roles in Little Fires Everywhere with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington — as the love-to-hate Lexi Richardson — and in David E. Kelley’s Big Sky followed. But #AMFAD took the young actress by surprise. She said:

“I remember reading the script, and I was like, ‘Okay, wow, this is great. There’s humor, there’s horror, there’s shock, this is really interesting.’ Then,
when that plot twist comes, I audibly gasped
. And that was the thing that really got me, where I was like, ‘Wow, I really didn’t see this coming.’”

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No doubt that was something Pettyjohn thoroughly enjoyed from a consumer standpoint. But then came a creative hurdle. “The character, Sarah, is very interesting, very nuanced and unlike any other character I’ve ever played before,” she added. “I’ve also really never done horror in the past, so to be in this new genre with people that I’ve looked up to for so long, like Marcus, was so incredible. And the experience only got better as we worked together because he’s so collaborative.”

His vision is incredible. We really did put our fake blood, real blood, and sweat and tears into this project. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

The Script Was a Pleasant Surprise

Director Marcus Dunstan loved the challenge of creating an ensemble horror film. He was jazzed by the twisty script penned by Josh Sims and Jessica Sarah Flaum, but was acutely aware that today’s horror genre is highly competitive. He had several Saw films under his belt, but this film’s big reveal was a gem, and he wanted to get everything right.

“I loved the Mount Everest of it,” he said of the challenge of finding the right pace and tone, “because this is saying, ‘OK, we’re going to enter the realm of lining up youth and making something that’s a bit of a commentary on the social media moment. Yet, it’s got to deliver all the goods while giving unexpected doses of humor, shock, and horror all the way, in this alchemy. And I thought, ‘How?’” It was about forging the film’s identity, he went on to say, and giving it the right throughline that the team could perfect.

It was also ultimately about respecting Josh and Jessica Sarah’s script […] And I’m going to call it right back to what Jade said — I, too, got to that doggone twist and thought, ‘OK, yes.’

As for premiering at Tribeca, Dunstan added: “Tribeca is a place that has embraced art forms from all over the world, and we fought and scraped the fake blood, and maybe a little bit of real blood, to make something we want to get seen, and we’re going to turn this screen red.” Let the blood pour. #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Deadwas released in select theaters and On Demand on August 2. You can get it on digital platforms like Prime Video, Google Play, Fandango at Home, YouTube, and on Apple TV through the link below. Check out a clip from the film below as well:

Watch #AMFAD