we made a horror short in the first-person about an AI therapy app that learns what calms you — then a bug inverts the goal and it uses that same data against you [TREADMILL]

TREADMILL is a 15-minute found footage horror/sci-fi short film about an indie dev team that test an AI therapy app on themselves at a remote cabin. The app learns each subject's biometric responses, behavioral patterns, and personal anchors in order to bring their heart rate down. When a bug flips the target metric, it uses everything it learned to do the opposite.

We crowdfunded the entire budget and shot it with a helmet cam at a Vrbo we found in the Poconos. We started submitting to festivals and were lucky enough to win "Best U.S. Short Film” at Austin Horror Film Festival 2025, "Best in Brooklyn” at Brooklyn SciFi 2024, and were nominated for awards at FilmQuest 2024 and Nightmares Film Festival 2024, as well as Official Selection for Panic Fest and Lund Fantastic.

Full film, free on YouTube.

Happy to answer any questions about the concept or the shoot.