Phantom Four Films used the equipment and offices of Liverpool-based production company American High to shoot a horror film titled “The Night House” in central New York. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

“The Night House” is a horror movie about a widowed schoolteacher named Beth who seeks to find peace within herself in the lake house her husband left to her. When ghostly apparitions call to Beth in her dreams, she resorts to searching through the belongings of her late husband, only to find a dark secret, according to The Sundance Film Festival website.

While “The Night House” was not an American High production, select scenes were filmed within the walls of the abandoned high school set in Syracuse that is owned by the company.

 American High has been the production site of movies such as “Big Time Adolescence” starring Pete Davidson and “The Binge” with Vince Vaughn. According to their website, the company makes films that harken back to ‘80s teen comedies directed by John Hughes, such as “The Breakfast Club.”

 In July 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo created a 420 million dollar-incentive to help grow the film industry in New York state. With the help of this incentive, the production company American High eventually emerged, which was founded by Jeremy Garelick in 2017.

Also known as “Syracuse Studios,” the company specializes in filming movies and television shows geared towards high school life after the company bought an abandoned high school in the Syracuse suburb of Liverpool.

“We shot this summer and it was not cold and it was not dreary, and it was pretty nice most days,” said Chloe Mathieu, a Syracuse University senior that worked on the set. “Now it looks significantly more terrifying.”

Mathieu added that the diverse landscape of central New York, with its lakes and dense forests, lent itself to the backdrop for the horror film.

Since Cuomo’s film industry initiative, in 2019 alone, the Innovation Group of CNY Arts Film Fund reported that the benefits of their first five films total an estimated $10 million. This money directly benefits the regional community, as each film was averaged to provide “60 full-time equivalent jobs,” the report from Alexander Korman, the IGCNYA Film Fund program officer read.

 According to American High’s website, the production company has become a launchpad for Syracuse’s film industry, allowing for numerous movies to be created, including “The Night House.”

Jennifer Levin, a sophomore television, radio an film major at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, had the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals at American High. During her internship this past fall, Levin aided in the construction of sets and day-to-day tasks.

“There’s a handful of local people who work for American High,” Levin said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if more people slowly start to move here working for American High and if another company pops up.”

American High looks to produce four more feature films in 2020, according to its website.

Reflecting on her experience in working on the film set, Mathieu found central New York to be an ideal spot to launch her own career.

“I could definitely see myself writing the film and setting it here,” Mathieu said. “Especially having lived here for four years for college, they say write what you know, so now that I know central NY, I can definitely see using it as a setting in the near future.”

Published on January 22, 2020 at 11:14 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs