The Midnight Garden
A Halloween Holiday Romance – Movie
Required Investment: EUR 50 K
HAUNTED FOREST
MEETS
ROMANTIC DRAMA
A skeptical botanist inherits her eccentric aunt’s home in a mystical Ozark town, only to uncover a hidden world of sentient plants, glowing crystals, and a legacy tied to the town’s enchanted springs.
As she teams up with a charming local herbalist and soap maker, she must balance science and belief to unlock the secrets of her aunt’s mysterious past and her own future.
Synopsis
When pragmatic botanist Callie Rivers inherits her free-spirited Aunt Hazel’s country home and overgrown greenhouse in the quirky town of Eureka Springs, she expects a brief escape from city life. However, Callie’s arrival is marked by strange phenomena: glowing plants, a cryptic journal, and a mysterious crystal necklace with a life of its own.
Teaming up with Elliot Sage, a charming herbalist known as the “Soap Shaman,” she begins uncovering Hazel’s secrets, which hint that the springs surrounding the town may possess living energy, deeply entwined with nature and human intent. As Callie’s skepticism fades, she is pulled deeper into a legacy of balance and magic that her aunt may have crafted just for her.
Driven by curiosity and a budding connection with Elliot, Callie’s scientific mind clashes with the town’s mystical lore as she follows her aunt’s trail through enchanted forests, hidden pools, and the enigmatic Heartseed, a glowing plant seemingly tied to the very soul of Eureka Springs.
As the local community grows wary of her experiments, Callie must learn to trust her instincts, embrace the unknown, and bridge the gap between logic and belief. With Hazel’s journal as her guide and the springs responding to her presence, Callie embarks on a journey not just of discovery, but of transformation, realizing that the magic she once dismissed might hold the answers to healing both the land and herself.
What is special about the project.
Marketing
Unlike most independent films, there are already early marketing plans for this movie tied into the team’s access and expertise. Connections to relevant genre festivals in Europe and the US will support a strong festival run amongst tastemakers within the target audience. Years of experience in marketing help shape online campaigns and promotional pop-up events related to Halloween romance. There have already been early conversations with potential distribution partners.
Team
The producers behind “The Midnight Garden” are not just established in film and marketing, but bring expertise in international genre media and mystery content. Their connections to the horror industry and Halloween scene give the film an advantage beyond the average independent production.
Purpose
The film is meant to evoke positivity by reintroducing universal themes of love and magic to an otherwise dark, divided, and over-explained world. It reminds us that humans play a small part in the large and mysterious natural world, and that only by looking past our differences can we come together to save our future.
The Team
LADY MARIAM
Mariam is a cross-media horror producer, working in film, television, video games, events, and marketing. Most notably she co-created marketing campaigns for Terrifier 2&3. Mariam co-founded the Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival.
DAVID CHRISTOPHER PITT
David is an award winning independent filmmaker and producer known for using innovative techniques and immersive cinematography. His eclectic career includes collaborations with partners such as Fangoria, Nike, and most recently Epic Pictures.
COLTAN SCRIVNER PH.D.
Coltan is an author and internationally leading expert on the psychology behind horror, true crime, and morbid curiosity. He is also a co-founder of the Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival and the director of the Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl.
USP
Halloween Romance:
Though there are individual titles, generally Halloween romance films are popular but an under-explored genre of film, leaving less competition.
Romantacy Audience:
As the literary world has fully embraced this trend, there is already a large audience for romantic fantasy the film can tap into.
Eureka Springs Marketing:
The film’s producers run two of the largest genre and Halloween events in the US, the Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival and the Eureka Springs Zombie crawl, which gives
the team access to unusual marketing opportunities.
Eureka Springs Access:
The producers’ connections in the area mean that a lean production budget can be enhanced in production value due to the extraordinary access to local ressources.
Projections, numbers, investment needed:
Private Equity: EUR 10.5 K
Endorsements & Sponsorships: EUR 95.2 K
Required Investment: EUR 50 K
Total budget: EUR 155.7 K
Timeline
Nov. 2025 – Production, Shooting in Eureka Springs
Dec/Jan 25/26 Rough Cut, First Version of the films edit
Feb/Mar 2026 Completion of a final version
Aug-Nov 2026 Festival Circuit – Screenings
If you’re interested in investing
and make this project come to life –
Contact our team now!