Stênio works the night shift at a morgue in a very large, very violent city. On the job, he sees cadavers in every conceivable state, often the victims of gang warfare. While most would be rather unsettled by it all, Stênio is not. For the dead speak to him. Not in any metaphorical sense but in a very literal way. Stênio was born with an occult gift and while not everyone would be at ease conversing with mutilated cadavers, he has realised there are endless secrets that can be gleaned this way. One day he learns a terrible secret about people in his own life. He commits the sin of acting on knowledge obtained from the dead, cursing himself and those dearest to him in the process.
“If you see my short films, you’ll see they are brutal. They are sexy, they are disorientating, they are shock oriented. In recent years I became more of a drama person. I think we need to try to reach the human substance of the story and we need to tell them stories about people. I changed my angle. I am still going to incorporate shock, brutality, violence, and sex into my writing, but now I also want to incorporate drama. That did become a priority for me during this process, to find the character’s voice, to find out what my characters’ drives and goals were. That was what needed to be protected the most, even over style.” (Dennison Ramalho)
Dennison Ramalho
Brazilian filmmaker Dennison Ramalho is known for his love and appreciation for cinema’s ability to delve into themes of violence, sex, and darkness. He is regular guest of the horror genre festivals, including the New York City Horror Film Festival and Fantasia Film Festival. He first established himself as a writer and director of shorts. The Nightshifter (2018) is his first feature film.