Charybdis Pictures will present a 4K edition of Brian Patrick Butler’s debut feature Friend of the World as a YouTube Premiere on Saturday, August 15, 2026. The online event is scheduled for 1:00 PM PST / 4:00 PM EST and coincides with the film’s sixth anniversary.
About the film
Friend of the World is a roughly 50-minute experimental film that blends body horror, surrealism, dark comedy and post-apocalyptic paranoia. The story follows a filmmaker who awakens inside a devastated bunker and encounters an eccentric general tasked with guiding her through the ruins. Butler wrote and directed the piece, which is presented in stark black-and-white and relies on practical effects and unconventional visual techniques.
Production and release notes
- Produced by Charybdis Pictures and Gray Area Multimedia.
- Principal cast includes Nick Young (General Gore), Alexandra Slade (Diane), Michael C. Burgess (Berenger) and Kathryn Schott (Eva).
- Production took place in May 2017, with most shooting occurring in the basement of the century-old C Street Inn in downtown San Diego.
- The film was reportedly produced on a budget of roughly $3,000 and originally premiered online during the Oceanside International Film Festival on August 15, 2020.
- Friend of the World has been available on Tubi and Troma Now; this 4K presentation is the first time the complete film will be shown free in 4K on YouTube.
The YouTube Premiere link provided by the publisher is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZqOC4TxlQI
For viewers who follow indie and experimental horror, the 4K presentation offers a new way to experience Butler’s idiosyncratic visual approach and small‑scale practical effects that shaped the film’s atmosphere.
Source: Horror Society