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A SHADOW OVER GRIMSBY

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DIRECTOR -

CARL GEORG RØDSTEN

Award-winning writer and director
Fiction and documentary
Of Norwegian and Burmese descent
Ambition to blend sharp political subtext with genre cinema

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PRODUCER -

ØYVIND L. ERIKSEN

Bachelor's degree in producing from The Norwegian Film School
Produced “The Architect”
Started Back of House

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PITCH

A Shadow Over Grimsby is a horror film where psychological horror meets the supernatural dread of H. P. Lovecraft.

Yousef Ahmed, a Norwegian-Somali adoptee and theology PhD, has spent his life studying deformity in religious worship — and quietly searching for his own origins.

After his academic defense collapses, he’s approached by Elias, a calm, magnetic pastor who invites him to the remote island of Grimsby off the coast of Norway.

Grimsby appears to be a prayer house community, but as Yousef gains their trust, he’s slowly drawn into a faith that hides something far older beneath its hymns.

When Yousef discovers that the island’s “holy lineage” is tied to him, his research turns into revelation. He must choose between blood and belonging, between the cult that claims him and the woman who loves him.

A Shadow over Grimsby is a psychological folk horror about identity, faith, and the terrifying cost of belonging.

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H. P. LOVECRAFT

- Cosmic insignificance

- The pact

- Faith in the flesh

- Blood over choice

- Survival at a cost�

The film is inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth, written within the tradition of cosmic horror. Lovecraft’s core idea is that humanity is insignificant in the face of older, incomprehensible forces. In Innsmouth, this cosmic dread takes a local, intimate form: a closed community surviving through a pact with an ancient sea entity it can never fully escape, where faith, biology, and identity slowly collapse into one another.

In Grimsby, similar to Innsmouth, life is shaped by a pact made with the sea. Children are born into a system where faith is written into the body and belonging is determined by blood. Ritual governs marriage and birth, deviation from tradition is framed as sin, and Christian language legitimizes practices rooted in something older and unnamed. The community no longer sees itself as cursed, but chosen. The pact endures not through fear, but because it works: the island survives, outsiders vanish, and the sea remains calm. But at a terrible cost.

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WHY

- In-between worlds�- Otherness�- Faith�- Belonging�- Folk horror�

I was born between two worlds, half Norwegian, half Burmese. In my Norwegian family, the older generation never fully accepted my mother or me. The message was quiet but clear: East and West don’t mix.

I also grew up with a congenital deformity in my right arm. The experience of being seen as “different,” both culturally and physically, has shaped my entire understanding of identity and belonging. My life´s journey, combined with my bachelor’s degree in psychology, gave me a deep curiosity about how faith, culture, and the need for acceptance shape who we become.

A Shadow over Grimsby is, in many ways, a synthesis of all these threads. It uses folk horror not as spectacle, but as metaphor, to explore how the longing to belong can make us surrender reason, even identity.

At its heart, this is a film about a man searching for his origins and discovering that family and faith are not inherited, they are chosen. It’s a very personal story for me, told through myth, atmosphere, and the kind of emotional truth that horror can reveal better than realism ever could.

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TARGET AUDIENCE

- Adult audience who enjoys films like Get Out and The Wicker Man

- Very loyal and dedicated

- Both horror purists and those seeking more complex narratives

- Resonate widely – both in Norway and internationally

The film is aimed at an adult audience who enjoys psychological thrillers and horror films like Get Out and The Wicker Man.

A Shadow over Grimsby aims to entertain, scare and challenge the audience's perspectives through a mix of horror and mythology, while at the same time providing a deeper reflection on the darker sides of society.

The film's target audience is known to be very loyal and dedicated to the genre. By combining the suspense of a thriller with the discomfort of horror, the film can appeal to both horror purists and those seeking more complex narratives.

The goal is to create a film that challenges audiences' preconceptions about both the genre and the human themes it addresses. Through a balanced combination of dark mystery, emotional depth, and a thought-provoking narrative, we hope the film can resonate widely – both in Norway and internationally.

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AUDIENCE WORK SO FAR

WORKSHOP WITH TARGET AUDIENCE AT NORWAY`S BIGGEST GENRE FILM FESTIVAL

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Phase one

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Phase 4

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PERSONAS

Demografi

Navn: Glenn Tore Jacobsen

Kjønn / alder: Mann / 20 år

Yrke: Bilmekaniker

Årlig inntekt: 510.480,-

Utdanning: VGS, to år lærling, fagbrev

Sivilstatus: I et forhold

Sted: Bø

Personlighetstype

Hobbyer / interesser: Råning og biler

Utfordringer / frustrasjoner: ADHD

Mål og drømmer: Starte egen familie og et eget verksted på sikt

Mediebruk

Favorittfilm / serie: The Fast & the Furious / Yellowstone

Sist sette film / serie: The Monkey / House of the Dragon

SoMe: Snapchat, Instagram og TikTok

Strømmetjenester: Netflix, HBO MAX og Prime

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HOW OUR AUDIENCE WORK

HAS AFFECTED OUR CREATIVE PROCESS

All data we have gathered has affected our creative process in a big way. Both in terms of the narrative of the film and the art direction.

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AUDIENCE WORK TO COME

- Collaboration with Will & Agency

- Further collaboration with the focus group from ramaskrik

- Contact with OMOD (Center for social justice)

- Contact with Association for congenital limb deficiencies

- Long term: dialogue with the locals where we are going to shoot

One of the biggest challenges with this project is getting the target audience to accept and become engaged in the film's Lovecraftian premise and universe. The genre, which mixes psychological thriller, gothic horror and dark mythology, is very much unexplored in Norwegian cinema, and there is a risk that the audience may experience the elements as alien or unrealistic. The question of "suspension of disbelief" thus becomes central: How can we get the audience to buy into the universe and accept the fantastical elements as an integral part of the story? To explore this question, we would like to enter into a collaboration with Will & Agency to test the premise on a larger group.

This will be very helpful going forward as we are now in the process of writing the first draft of the script. Our plan moving forward is also to stay in touch with the focus group from Ramaskrik in order to get their feedback on the entire story.

We also plan to collaborate with OMOD (the Center for Social Justice) in Oslo, as well as the Association for Congenital Limb Deficiencies. These partnerships are essential to the project’s development, as the film engages directly with themes of disability, biology, race, and belonging. External advisors will help ensure that these elements are explored with nuance and responsibility, strengthening the film’s thematic integrity and preventing the narrative from slipping into simplification or unintended discrimination. Their perspectives will serve as a critical counterbalance as the story moves into more abstract and symbolic territory.

We also hope to do some location scouting for the film, in order to travel to what will eventually become Grimsby, and connect with the locals there to get them onboard with the project and not least our depiction of the villagers.