Found Footage Directors Auction Off Their Duplex At Late-Night Screening
A few years ago, filmmaking duo Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti bought a decrepit duplex with the intention of using it to make movies. And that they did. That duplex is the filming location for their found footage festival-hit It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This and their upcoming film Homebody. And now, they’ve bid their beloved duplex a fond farewell by auctioning it off to the highest bidder at a late-night screening of their found footage film at the Cucalorus Film Festival.
A Surprise Twist to A Late-Night Screening
Yes, you read that right. Kempf and Toti auctioned off a duplex to the highest bidder at a film festival. Why? Simply because they could.
Toti told Dread Central, “We’d been contacted by a house flipper who wanted to buy the duplex. That would have been a very sensible way to recoup some, maybe even all, of the money we’d invested. But when the time came, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to go through with it. Both of the movies we shot there were made in the spirit of doing things the wrong way. We broke every common sense rule about filmmaking and distribution, so it seemed fitting to do the stupidest possible thing we could think of, which was to auction off the duplex during a Q&A at what may be our last big festival appearance.”
Aaron Hillis, programmer at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina, saw It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. From there, he knew he wanted the film as part of their late-night Convulsions program.
“Since my introduction to Cucalorus, I’ve witnessed many strange, hilarious, totally ephemeral, FOMO-inducing happenings over the better part of 30 years,” said Hillis. “When I realized Nick and Rachel were serious about auctioning off the duplex during our Q&A, I couldn’t tell if the mischievous spirits being conjured came from the festival or the netherworld.”
What Is This Found Footage Movie All About?
In the found footage film, Kempf and Toti blend fact and fiction as they star as a married couple who buy an abandoned duplex in Missouri to film a low-budget horror movie. But as they start to film, random strangers begin appearing outside, staring at the old building in an unsettling trance. It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This blends archival footage with footage filmed in the duplex to create a uniquely terrifying experience that will, according to Kempf and Toti, never be released online.
Welcome To The Duplex
After a lively auction, the duplex ended up going to Zoë Ligon and Lyndsay Rae, admins of the Effed Up Film Heads Discord, for $1000.
“Before I even had a chance to google Kirksville and how long of a drive it was from me, I knew I needed the Missouri mouth of hell to be a part of my life,” said Ligon. “Lyndsay and I quickly knew that we had to bid. Will she and I make a movie? Will this be where I finally actualize my ‘dildo house’ recycled sex toy art project? Will the Hellmouth swallow us both alive before we have a chance to do either of these things? Only time will tell…”
No Better Ending
Yes, there was a stipulation that when sold, the giant Hellmouth painting had to remain intact. It’s the perfect addition to any artist collective, don’t you think? For Kempf and Toti, the duplex couldn’t have gone to better buyers.
“This duplex served as the set for two horror movies. The walls and floors are covered in blood. There’s a giant fuck-off Hellmouth on the wall and a mural to crystal meth in the closet. There may or may not be a ghost in the basement whose voice we recorded when filming It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This,” said Kempf. “Knowing this beloved nightmare of a building will live on and be filled with weird art (and possibly a million dildos) is the best possible outcome a goth nerd like myself could possibly hope for.”
It seems that there could be no better fate for a haunted, abandoned, dilapidated, old duplex than to move from one group of artists to another. While it may be a “nightmare of a building”, it’s also home to art in its many forms.
It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This will have select screenings around the country following its festival run. You can request the film to come to your city here. You can also sign up for updates on their next film Homebody here.
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