MK Ultra Violence

Hopper, a homeless Vietnam veteran crippled with PTSD is picked up off the streets under the wing of a charismatic undercover CIA agent, Reese, promising him a newly repaired mind. However, the true horror ensues when Hopper is ushered into a ramshackle lodge, where a sequence of unsettling events, from a forced makeover to hypnotic manipulation, intensifies his trauma with alarming consequences.

Written, Cut, Produced & Directed by Jay Curtis Miller
Cinematography by Jason Hassell
Production Designer Maddie Klaus
Special Makeup Effects by Lily Murray
Sound Design by Clay Howard
Music by Clint Roberts & Bridger Dunnigan

Cast of Characters
Hopper/Tape Narrator…….CLINT ROBERTS
Reese ……..….………….…TAYLOR NOVAK
Mr. Tambourine Man ……..…… CHIP HALL
Lucy………….…………..…. TORI SIMPSON
Patrick ……..…….…………. SETH DUNLAP
Jess …….…………………..LAUREN STARR
Lover ….…………….……… HELENA ROSE

Hippies
LINDSAY BALLIF
BARRON BOEDECKER
MADDIE KLAUS
ETHAN BUCK

Crew
Assistant Director………………..Taylor Dupius
Script Supervisor……….….……….Alex Berka
Colorist …….………………. …….Ryan Berger
Gaffer ……………..……..….…. John Spencer
First AC ……………………….. Tristan Hallman
Second AC ………………..…. Quentin Lesser
Camera PA …………….…….. Howie Griffin II
Production Sound …………..…. Clay Howard
Makeup Assistant ……… Constance Maria Hill
End Credit Title Design …….Joe Halberstadt
Caterer..…………………….. Julio Berrones III
& TEMPO NASHVILLE
BTS Photographer ……….…… Lindsay Ballif

Special Thanks
Daniel Swaw
Jonathon Gower
John Theo
Joshua Giuliano
Jared Bentley
Alec Hank
Jason Smith
Ben Rittenhouse
Zylah Solis

MK Ultra Violence is a culmination in what I consider all things equally fascinating and horrifying that is embedded in American history (and our collective psyche) of the past 70 years. I’ve always been a fan of late 1960s American culture, with the explosion of music, cinema, and literature acting as a proverbial middle finger to the institutions and establishments of America. Yet, as time passes and history slowly reveals itself to us, a sense of paranoia and conspiracy seems to be embedded in this time, even down to the celluloid of these films, from the brutal finale of Easy Rider to the distrust of political power in The Parallax View. With this short, I manifested these obsessions of mine and tried to exercise a paranoid political horror film that morphs into a bloody slasher by the very end, and hope to explore this fuse with more films like it in the future.