It Waits at the Lodge Reaches 3,000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time

I'm happy to share a milestone for my independent found-footage horror film, It Waits at the Lodge: the film has officially reached 3,000 hours of watch time on YouTube.

Released in 2025, It Waits at the Lodge is an approximately 40-minute horror film about Chris Sanders, who seeks solitude at a remote lodge, only to experience a series of strange and troubling disturbances.

I wrote, directed, acted in, and edited the film myself, completing it in about two weeks while working full-time. It's a very independent production, made with the resources available to me, so seeing the film accumulate this much viewing time is especially meaningful.

Three thousand hours amounts to 125 days of cumulative viewing. Of course, that doesn't mean any one person spent that long watching the film. It means that, added together, viewers have devoted that much time to something I created.

The journey hasn't been without its challenges. Independent filmmaking means putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into a project without knowing how audiences or festivals will respond. That's part of what makes milestones like this encouraging: the film continues to find viewers beyond its original release.

I'm grateful to everyone who has watched It Waits at the Lodge, left a comment, shared it with another horror fan, or recommended it to someone else. Your support helps independent films continue to find an audience.

If you enjoy found-footage horror, slow-burning mysteries, and unsettling stories told through a camera's lens, you can watch the full film on YouTube here:

Watch It Waits at the Lodge on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cISCaaHyL6I

Thank you for watching and supporting my work!

I Kept Finding a Girl in My Mailbox

So...I found a tiny porcelain girl in my mailbox.

Naturally, I made a horror film about it.

I Kept Finding a Girl in My Mailbox is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vSidGNHWt3U

The premise is pretty simple: Chris opens his mailbox and discovers a tiny porcelain girl inside.

And then things get increasingly strange.

That's about as much as I want to reveal about the story here. There are a few things that happen along the way that I think are much more effective if you encounter them while watching the film rather than reading about them beforehand.

It's another short found-footage horror story, built around the idea of taking something completely ordinary — checking your mailbox — and introducing one very strange thing into it.

From there, I let the situation escalate.

Watch I Kept Finding a Girl in My Mailbox on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vSidGNHWt3U

This is my latest little horror film, following I Came Home But My Apartment Was Gone, which I released recently. I'm having fun continuing to make these strange, small-scale found-footage stories — especially ones that I can create largely on my own and that start with an ordinary situation before taking a turn into something much less ordinary.

I hope you'll give it a watch.

And if you do, I'd love to know what you think.

Bizarre Evening Deaths Receives Honorable Mention from LA Indie Horror Fest

I have some nice news about my short horror film Bizarre Evening Deaths.

The film was not selected for the official lineup of this year's LA Indie Horror Fest, but the festival has given it an Honorable Mention, recognizing what they described as its “innovative take on horror.”

The festival also had some particularly kind words about the film's creativity and inventiveness, encouraging me to continue pursuing unusual ideas and keeping my imagination active.

That part actually means quite a bit to me. One of the things I try hardest to do with my films is make something that feels a little different from what I've seen before, rather than simply making another variation on a familiar horror concept. So having a festival specifically recognize that quality is gratifying.

Bizarre Evening Deaths now has an official Honorable Mention laurel from LA Indie Horror Fest, which I'll be adding to the film's promotional materials.

Onward to the next weird thing.

The Ashes of Tomorrow Box Set Is Now Available

I’ve just released something a little different: the Ashes of Tomorrow Box Set, bringing three of my young adult dystopian books together in one collection.

[Get the Ashes of Tomorrow Box Set on Amazon for $6.99 → https://tinyurl.com/bdhu7uak]

The collection includes The Fourth Generation, Mass Exodus, and The Castle in the Girl—three stories that explore survival, identity, rebellion, secrets, and what happens when young people are forced to question the worlds they've been told to accept.

What's Inside?

The Fourth Generation

In a world where no one lives past seventeen, a dying boy's final wish to uncover the rulers' forbidden mansion leads to a secret that could determine the survival of humanity itself.

Mass Exodus

When her father vanishes from the last human settlement on Earth, seventeen-year-old Jayniss defies the rules to search for him—only to uncover terrifying truths about intelligent predators and the fragile survival of humankind.

The Castle in the Girl

When Princess Michelle begins dreaming of a strange modern world and hears a mysterious voice urging her to find the castle dungeon, she must uncover the terrifying truth behind her seemingly perfect kingdom—and the secrets hidden within her own identity.

Together, the three books total roughly 140,000 words, making the box set a substantial collection for readers who enjoy YA dystopian fiction.

The Ashes of Tomorrow Box Set is available now for $6.99 on Amazon.

[Get the Ashes of Tomorrow Box Set → https://tinyurl.com/bdhu7uak]

If you enjoy books such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, or The Maze Runner, you may find something to enjoy in these three dystopian adventures.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

The Castle in the Girl — New YA Novella

The Castle in the Girl Is Now Available

I'm excited to announce the release of my newest book, The Castle in the Girl, a YA science-fiction/fantasy novella: https://tinyurl.com/3pca44z2

This is a story that begins in what seems like a fairly traditional fantasy world.

Sixteen-year-old Michelle lives with her family in a magnificent castle in the peaceful kingdom of Allendia. She spends her days practicing sword fighting with her older brother Caleb, riding her beloved horse Snow, reading, attending elaborate royal balls, and spending time with her closest friends.

By all appearances, Michelle has an extraordinarily happy life.

But then she begins having nightmares.

They're not the usual nightmares, either.

Michelle keeps dreaming about enormous buildings made of glass and steel—towering structures that stretch impossibly high into the sky. She knows them as skyscrapers, even though no such buildings exist anywhere in her kingdom. In fact, as far as she knows, they've never existed anywhere in her world.

Her family dismisses the dreams as nonsense.

Michelle isn't so sure.

As the nightmares become increasingly vivid, small details of her supposedly perfect life begin to seem strange. Her family and friends repeatedly tell her how happy she is. She finds herself becoming less emotional about the people she supposedly loves most. And the closer she gets to understanding her dreams, the more unsettling the truth becomes.

Eventually, Michelle's nightmares take her somewhere very different from the castle she's always known.

And she discovers that the world she thought she understood is not the world she is actually living in.

I don't want to say too much more about the story because one of the things I enjoyed about The Castle in the Girl is the gradual discovery of what's really happening. What initially appears to be a fantasy story eventually becomes something quite different.

At its heart, though, the book is about Michelle and the people she loves.

It's about what happens when someone loses virtually everything—and about the strange ways the mind can try to protect itself from unbearable pain.

It's also a book about moving forward.

The Castle in the Girl is approximately 30,000 words and is being released exclusively as an ebook.

The ebook is available now for $2.99: https://tinyurl.com/3pca44z2

If you decide to read it, I'd love to hear what you think. And if you enjoy the book, leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads is enormously helpful to an independent author.

Thank you for supporting my writing!

Chris von Halle

I Came Home But My Apartment Was Gone — New Found-Footage Horror Short

Just in time for Halloween, my latest short film is now available on YouTube:

I Came Home But My Apartment Was Gone (https://youtu.be/JU2PTCOJQcc)

The basic premise is simple: a man comes home expecting to find his apartment, only to discover that it has somehow disappeared.

In its place is a cabin.

And that's only the beginning.

I wanted to make something that started with a fairly straightforward mystery and gradually became stranger and more unsettling. Like some of my other found-footage work, the story is largely told through the camera of the person experiencing it rather than through traditional cinematic coverage.

This one also allowed me to lean a little further into the weird side of horror. There are some intentionally absurd elements mixed in with the mystery, while the main character's situation becomes increasingly disturbing as time passes.

And yes, there is a reason for that extremely strange-looking person on the television.

I'm not going to explain what it is here. You'll have to watch the film.

Watch I Came Home But My Apartment Was Gone on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/JU2PTCOJQcc

#FoundFootage #HorrorShortFilm #IndieHorror #ShortFilm

The Jungle Vendetta Is Out Today!

I'm very excited to announce the release of my new novel, The Jungle Vendetta. (Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/2t7fj36b)

This one has a somewhat unusual history.

About thirteen years ago, while studying Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University, I wrote The Jungle Vendetta as my MFA thesis.

And then...it sat there.

For years.

I've published quite a few books since then, made films, produced short-form projects, and generally kept creating. But The Jungle Vendetta was always one of those books I remembered having written.

Now I'm finally giving it a life beyond the hard drive.

So what is it about?

Twelve-year-old Kreith Briggs is about to enter the most dangerous jungle in the universe.

When Kreith travels to the distant planet Metcor with his uncle, a retired Intergalactic Marine, he expects an exciting adventure.

He gets considerably more than he bargained for.

The Azkraal Jungle is filled with bizarre and deadly creatures, and Kreith quickly discovers that surviving there requires considerably more than courage. Along with his uncle and a young hunter named Azanda, he begins uncovering clues that suggest something much bigger—and much darker—is happening in the jungle.

What starts as a survival adventure eventually becomes a mystery involving secrets from the planet's past.

At its heart, though, The Jungle Vendetta is a story about fear, courage, friendship, family, and discovering that you may be capable of more than you think.

Why publish it now?

Partly because I still like the story.

But there's another reason.

Writing The Jungle Vendetta was an important part of my development as a writer. It was my MFA thesis, and it represents a particular point in my journey as an author.

I'm obviously not exactly the same writer I was thirteen years ago.

But rather than leave the book buried forever, I decided it was time to let readers decide what they think of it.

So, after all these years...

The Jungle Vendetta is finally available.

📚 The Jungle Vendetta by Chris von Halle
💰 Ebook: $4.99

👉 Get your copy on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/2t7fj36b

If you're a fan of middle-grade science fiction, alien worlds, dangerous creatures, mysteries, and old-fashioned adventure, I hope you'll give it a chance.

And if you do read it, I'd genuinely love to hear what you think.

Thanks for reading—and welcome to the Azkraal Jungle. 🌿