Presented by DARKFIELD for BBC Sounds


DEADHOUSE is a trilogy of immersive audio horror shorts, all for a single listener, lying down, with their eyes closed. The listener becomes the subject while the binaural sound surrounds and creeps toward them.


DEADHOUSE was created by DARKFIELD


ARTISTIC DIRECTORS: David Rosenberg & Glen Neath

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: Matthew Blake

CREATIVE PRODUCER: Victoria Eyton

WRITER: Glen Neath

SOUND DESIGNER: David Rosenberg

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS: Sara Codrington & Mario Ruiz

SOUND ASSOCIATE: Anna Sulley

CASTING: John Cannon

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Michael Salmon 


1. BETHLEHEM

What if death is merely a pause? If you could live for just one more day, is that an offer you would take up?


You come into consciousness. You cannot speak. You cannot move. You cannot even make it understood that you hear everything going on around you. All you can do is listen as your fate and the fate of all the other recovered bodies on the ward with you are determined by petty-minded bureaucrats.


CAST: John Dagleish, Nathalie Armin, Lanna Joffrey, Amit Shah with Kathryn McGarr, Mercy Ojelade, Nigel Barrett, Linden Walcott-Burton, Jun Kim, Matthew Blake, Rakhee Sharma and Walles Hamonde.


Content warning: Medical procedures, Bodily fluids, Death, Dead bodies, Physical violence, Strong Language.


  1. 2.SALEM

What if another mind could inhabit your body?  Would you happily hand over the reins to them?


Having been lulled into a hypnotic trance by a soporific voice you wake up somewhere you didn’t expect. You spend the next 20 minutes finding out where you have been and what you have done...


CAST: Rosie Cavaliero, Siyah the dog.


Content warning: Depictions of hypnosis, Extreme Violence, Murder, Animal Cruelty, strong language.


  1. 3.XANADU

What if consciousness outlives the body? What if there was an experience of being dead?


You are dead. Your eyes do not react to light, in fact all your reflexes are absent. And that is because you are dead. Even if you were to briefly sit up, like Lazarus, it wouldn’t alter the fact. And they are burying you in the ground because you are dead. Hell, it turns out, is simply disembodied life. 


CAST:

Kenneth Cranham, Amit Shah, Nathalie Armin, John Dagleish with Kathryn McGarr, Mia Jerome, Nigel Barrett, Mercy Ojelade, Linden Walcott-Burton, Jun Kim, Matthew Blake, Lanna Joffrey, Rakhee Sharma and Walles Hamonde.


Content Warning: Death, Injury, Dead bodies, Medical procedures, Confined spaces, Strong language.


Special thanks to: Premises Studio and Karolina Jedrezejczyk from Sound Disposition, Samuel Booth, Noa Bodner, Nasim and Jan Körting.


Available on BBC Sounds from 29 October 2021