Hillsborough 5-Year-Old Stars In Spooky Film Created By Dad

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Every night before bedtime Karl and Caroline Erikson read their 5-year-old son, Benjamin, books. Obsessed with outer space and spooky stories, Benjamin's favorite stories are those made up by his dad.

Karl Ryan Erikson is a filmmaker so he is used to creating new storylines. During the coronavirus quarantine, the family was stuck at home so he created a spooky story about a boy who is woken up by a noise that leads him to a haunted shed in their backyard.

This prompted Erikson to go one step further and turn the story into a short film called SHED. (See the film below)

"He likes to be scared to an extent," Erikson said. "That was the objective of the film. I wanted to make it for kids."

SHED was Benjamin's breakout role in the film industry. They prepped the storyline and Benjamin was excited to practice.

"Oh my gosh, he loved it," Erikson said. "The whole time we are getting ready to film he is walking around the house and acting it out."

It took four hours to shoot the film over two days since Erikson was limited by Benjamin's bedtime schedule.

In the original story, there are ghosts but to incorporate Benjamin's love of space and to add more to the movie, Erikson added in an alien element.

"Cinematically, it wasn't fulfilling enough so I added the aliens," Erikson said.

The film was completed in September and has already earned some rewards. It was selected as a finalist in the Venice Shorts Film Festival and a semi-finalist in the Sweden Film Awards.

SHED was also officially accepted into the Silicon Beach Film Festival in L.A., California this week.

Overall, Erikson is hoping to give families a fun scare this Halloween.

To see some of Erikson's other films click here.

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