Filmmakers with local roots screen thriller in Olympia to benefit Paradise fire victims

Saturday, “Something Horrible” will lead to something good.

Jeremy Kriss and Kelly O’Neill Kriss, who grew up in Thurston County, will host a hometown screening of their 2016 psychological thriller to benefit the Teachers Association of Paradise, helping the California educators who are struggling in the wake of the Camp Fire.

The Krisses, who graduated from Timberline High School in 1989 and married in 1993, filmed most of “Something Horrible” near their home in Chico, California. Both are educators, and Kelly was until recently assistant principal of Paradise High School.

“My colleagues are living in tents in a Walmart parking lot, and people are running out of money,” Jeremy Kriss told The Olympian. “It’s terrible. The community is not going to be healthy for 5 to 10 years.”

The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history, burning 239 square miles, destroying more than 18,000 buildings and killing at least 85 people in Paradise and surrounding communities.

Only one school remains standing in Paradise, Rachel Frank, president of the Butte County Teachers’ Association, said in a press release for the benefit.

Most students now attend classes in vacant spaces at the mall, buildings near the Paradise Airport, and other donated spaces, she said. Many of the teachers who lost their homes are driving an hour or more to work each day, and many are helping to transport students to the makeshift classrooms and buying supplies and sometimes food for students.

The fire came close to destroying the Kriss home in Chico. The eastern side of the city was evacuated Nov. 8. That morning, Jeremy saw a huge mushroom cloud of fire.

“Everybody knew that this wasn’t just going to be another fire,” he said. “It was pitch black by 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and the street lights were all on. At 6:30 p.m., there were three huge pounds on my front door, and it was three words, ‘Get out now,’ and (the police officer) ran across the street to warn the neighbors.

“The fire came within 15 yards of our house,” he said. “I never believed in luck … but the wind was coming due west and it never wavered, and then all of a sudden, when it got within 15 yards of our house, it went due south.”

The Krisses hosted a benefit screening of “Something Horrible,” about a socially anxious screenwriter facing his demons in a dark and spooky house, last month in Chico.

While the press release describes the film as chilling, Jeremy said it will be rated PG-13 if it lands a distribution deal. The film features the vocal talents of Tippi Hedren, best known for Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” and Dennis Dunn (“Big Trouble in Little China”).

Because the Krisses have so many connections in Olympia, where they’ve lived off and on since graduating from Western Washington University in 1993, the couple decided to bring the film — which has been shown at several festivals — to their hometown.

“That’s where our families are and the people we grew up with,” Jeremy said. “Our closest friends still live in the area — Seattle to Oly to Portland.”

Several distributors are interested in releasing “Horrible,” he said, and he’s now at work on a script for a feature film about the Camp Fire.

Camp Fire Tales: A Benefit for Paradise

• What: Independent filmmakers Jeremy Kriss and Kelly O’Neill Kriss, both of whom grew up in Thurston County, will screen their 2016 psychological thriller “Something Horrible” to benefit teachers in Paradise, California.
  
  
• When: 7 p.m. Saturday, with doors opening at 6 p.m.
  
  
• Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
  
  
• Tickets: $10
  
  
• More information: 360-753-8586, washingtoncenter.org
  
  
• Watch: See the trailer for the film at https://youtu.be/q2OeeHxIroo.
  
  

This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 7:14 PM.