International rock star Nigel Wrathbone had everything. Then he died and went to Hell.

Part horror-comedy, part mockumentary, part visual album—Wrathbone features five original songs, with writer/director/songwriter Steve Flavin performing as both Nigel and his evil pop idol nemesis, Frankie Ecco.

DIRECTOR BIO

Steve Flavin is an award-winning filmmaker and content creator based in Los Angeles. His films have screened at international festivals including Fantastic Fest, Panic Fest, Vancouver Horror Show, and Queer Screams, where Wrathbone won Best in Show and Best Editing in 2026.

Flavin’s work blends horror, comedy, and a love of practical, old-school filmmaking. His previous shorts include the creature feature Blood Oranges and queer vampire thriller Thirst Trap. He is also the co-founder and artistic director of SpookFest, San Francisco’s annual horror film festival, now in its tenth year.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

My previous film, Thirst Trap, was the kind of project you dream about and dread at the same time. Incredible cast, talented team, bigger budget, but also more red tape, more oversight, more stress. The result was a film I’m proud of, but a process that burned me out.

I walked away realizing that growth doesn’t just mean scaling up. Sometimes it means getting back to why you love making things in the first place. That’s what led me to Wrathbone.

Nigel Wrathbone is a character I played in YouTube sketches over a decade ago, a washed-up, egomaniacal rocker who thinks he’s a legend. At first, I thought revisiting him would be a scrappy palette cleanser between bigger projects. Instead, it snowballed into the most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted: a full concept album, five music videos, and a 29-minute narrative film that tripled the scope of my last short. It was chaotic, exhausting, and occasionally ridiculous.

It’s also the most fun I’ve ever had.

At its heart, Wrathbone is about a frontman who discovers that the real magic wasn’t the fame or the spectacle, but the people he created with. That’s my experience, too. My cast, crew, and collaborators are the reason this rock-opera-from-Hell came to fruition. It’s unhinged, it’s excessive—and it’s f***ing metal.

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