In director James Kondelik’s survival horror film Pitfall, starring Richard Harmon, Alexandra Essoe, and Randy Couture, a young man gets separated from his friends in the woods and falls into a 10-foot-deep pit of spikes, impaling him through the leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that his fall was not an accident. The backwoods slasher is more than just blood and guts, featuring a deeply moving storyline that explores the characters’ emotional core and the events that led them to be deep in these woods.

It’s an affecting film on every level, and goes above and beyond the usual stalk-and-kill vibes.

We spoke with director James Kondelik via Zoom all about Pitfall before it hits theatres in the US on Friday, May 29th.