Your roommate's smoothie obsession? It might cost you everything.
Computer programmer Donald (Ian Gary) is a man on a deadline, grappling with sanity...and a roommate that spends a little too much time with his blender. When Donald’s cohabitant Mickey (Ekon Soong) and his girlfriend, Jessica (Tatiana Paris), go overboard with their smoothie-making as part of their prep for Burning Man, Donald is pushed to the brink. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” we see Donald’s professional success ultimately reveals his horrific actions.
Writing
Clever Poe modernization with startup-bro flavor.
Acting
Ian Gary's unravelling programmer hits too close.
Director
Stephen Steelman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 10-minute runtime forces the Poe adaptation into pure escalation — no room for slow-burn guilt, just immediate tech-bro psychosis.
Burning Man as the catalyst for domestic horror perfectly captures 2021's collision of wellness culture and economic precarity. The smoothie becomes a symbol of performative self-optimization gone lethal.
US
