HELP ME! Lori tries to escape Timmy's grasp (movie still).

Is Anyone Out There? Kayla searches for Lori in the dark (movie still).

How did that get here? Kayla points at the mysterious artwork that appears in her kitchen (movie still).

Reflections of Lori. Lori browses through the comic store displays while the others converse (movie still).

Best Friends Forever? Kayla and Timmy share a hug just before the big kill scene.

Be The Timmy!

Order your official MUTE merchandise here.

By Writer Aaron Settle

Mute holds a special place in my heart. It's not the first script I ever wrote, nor is it my favorite. But there is something about it. I guess it's the fact I never intended to write it. It just sort of happened. I wrote another horror script entitled A Perfect Example of NC-17, which was my homage to slasher movies with a special nod to Wes Craven.

The plot centered around a horror movie director who had come under file from a Family Values lobbyist, and is being plagued by the killer from his popular trilogy of films. At this point, Mute was a plot point and backstory. Heck it wasn't even called Mute. The actual plot of the film wasn't revealed. All that was known was that the killer didn't speak, strangled people and wore a black hooded sweatshirt. I didn't need much more to tell the story of NC-17.

Then a funny thing happened. Kim and I were talking about shooting something longer, so on a lark I sat down and started writing something called Suburban Horror Story, which, a few title changes later, became Mute. It took almost no time to find the characters, and once I did, it was off to the races. Two days later I had the first draft. A week after that, I thought I was happy with it. A year and 50-odd rewrites later, I actually think I am happy with it.

The fun part of Mute is how organic it became once we prepared to shoot it. We couldn't find locations that matched up perfectly, so an office scene became outside. Kayla moved from an apartment to a house, and in the process, a prolonged apartment complex scene became a much more brutal scene in front of the house. And the great thing is, every change worked better than the way it was originally written.