What is Pyromaniac?

Pyromaniac began in 2023 when we were brainstorming ideas for our next short film. The concept was simple: what if we created a trailer for a movie that never actually existed, but absolutely should have?

During the golden era of slasher films, studios were constantly cranking out their own versions of masked killers based on whatever tropes they could think of…a miner, a camp groundskeeper, a deranged vet, even a rogue cop. But somehow, there was never a firefighter. And when we realized the title Pyromaniac had never been used (aside from being an alternate title for Don’t Go in the House), it just clicked.

Chris came up with the story: Jakob Stocker, a small-town fire chief who dies mysteriously in a blaze, only to return fifteen years later, seeking revenge. Eric took the helm with writing and directing the faux trailer, which began production earlier this year.

The entire goal behind this creative experiment was to make something fun, original, and totally ours. Most of our previous shorts were based on licensed properties, but Pyromaniac was our chance to build something from scratch that felt like it could’ve existed back in the 1980s.

Building a Lost Film

We wanted to make Pyromaniac feel real—as if someone had uncovered a forgotten film from a studio vault. That meant creating everything: poster art, music, marketing materials, even physical merch.

For the artwork, we turned to Justin Osbourn, who delivered an incredible poster design that doubled as the VHS cover. On the music side, I jumped in. One night, while tinkering with GarageBand on my iPad, I came up with a melody that sounded like it could’ve been a slasher theme from the early 80s. When Eric dropped it into some test footage, it just worked. 

I exported it to Logic, refined it, and it became the official Pyromaniac theme. I then composed a second track for the end credits. That led to the idea of pressing the music on vinyl, similar to our Spooky Sounds from the Morgue 7” we released in 2023. So now, the Pyromaniac soundtrack is getting a limited-edition vinyl release, in addition to an exclusive t-shirt with Justin’s artwork.

Our goal was simple: make it tangible. Something fans could hold, play, and display, like a genuine relic from a lost time.

Enter Fantom Films

We are releasing Pyromaniac under the banner of Fantom Films, our faux film company. Not only is it named after our mascot, but it’s also the umbrella for future projects that exist in this “alternate cinematic universe”...an imagined catalog of lost genre films that never were.

Think of it as our own archive of “phantom” films—projects that could’ve lived alongside The Burning, The Prowler, or My Bloody Valentine… if only they’d actually been made.

So Wait, Is It Going To Be A Movie?

No… well, not yet. We would love to turn it into a full feature someday but at the moment it’s just the trailer, soundtrack, and t-shirt. That said, we’ve talked about expanding it with more footage, new story ideas, and more music. We will see what the future holds but for now, get ready to TASTE THE FIRE! New trailer, soundtrack vinyl & exclusive tee all drop this Wednesday Oct 29 at 12pm ET. Only at Fright-Rags!

PS: Absolutely no AI was used to create the trailer. Old school to the core!