A Bloody Horror Movie Satirizing Grind Culture

“Kombucha,” the new horror-comedy movie from director and co-writer Jake Myers, has been in the works for years, however the workplace tradition satire is hitting even more durable during the current financial local weather.

“It really does feel like this hits at a cultural moment,” Myers says. “In a way that I think causes some people discomfort, but also they can laugh at it.”

Myers, who wrote the movie with Geoff Bakken, has delivered a uniquely fashionable tackle company grind that doesn’t draw back from physique horror. In the movie, an nameless yet recognizable tech company provides new staff profitable beginning wages, doing one thing, in addition to a potent kombucha that finally ends up making them work to dying.

After debuting at Dances with Films in June and playing at festivals like FrightFest and Grimmfest, “Kombucha” was cheered on by business insiders and fellow filmmakers during the Friday feature slot at FilmQuest in Provo, Utah, on Oct. 24.

“Kombucha” started life as an unlikely thought, given that Myers would wish cash to make it, and those purse strings are often held by the type of businessmen the story satirizes.

“Geoff gave me three different script ideas, and ‘Kombucha’ … it seemed like everyone is feeling corporate burnout,” Myers said. “I don’t think anyone dreams of one day creating value for shareholders, and I loved the idea. It was a feature script at first. I said, ‘I don’t think anybody’s going to fund this as is. I don’t think that there’s going to be a producer — instead of private equity investors — that is going to be able to imagine it.’ So we worked together, we wrote a seven-minute short, toured with the short and then talked with Take Care Productions in Chicago. We said, ‘Hey, tax incentive, keeping it at this budget range. I think it’s something that we can actually pull off in Chicago with the Second City talent here.’”

Myers was in the end capable of play with recent concepts of company tradition, as he thought of this movie to be a satire of startups vs. normal cubical fare.

“I found it really refreshing in this idea that we’re all going to be productive, and it felt a little ‘woo,’” Myers said. “Kombucha is on tap at so many startups in different places. That’s why that drink felt really important. This idea of corporate family and these rituals felt culty in a way that I enjoyed. I’ve worked at startups before, and all of those things happen. You do feel love bombed at first, but you also feel the fear that any day we could do a mass layoff. It’s a terrifying but relatable sentiment, and I really liked that hook.”

Myers was also thrilled to efficiently shoot the feature in Chicago, the place he lives.

“I think Chicago has so much talent,” he says. “I don’t think there are any divas in Chicago. I don’t think there’s that culture at all. Everyone has this attitude of, ‘We’re going to get this done. We are going to solve this problem together.’ And I think there’s a little bit of a chip on our shoulder to prove that we can make a movie that can hold its own with the bigger cities and markets. I just like Chicago people.”

As for Myers’ future plans, he’s engaged on a tech slasher with a killer logline (“a woman with a mask uses a dating app to hunt down its developers”), however he sees real potential for another serving of “Kombucha.”

“I think we’re going to do a ‘Kombucha 2,’” he says. “It’s going to be down the road a little bit. We have to iron out the script, but we have an outline, and I’m going to work with Geoff again. I’m thinking more wellness cult, a little bit of NXIVM and branding, and multi-level marketing in there.”

Watch the “Kombucha” trailer below.