Draft:Spending Some Time Together

Spending Some Time Together is a 2024 Horror Crime Drama written and directed by Jace Elton. Produced by Jace Elton Entertainment and DMart Productions and distributed by Jace Elton Entertainment in the United States. The film features an ensemble that includes Jace Elton, Jessica Pastor, Danilo Rocha, Dennis Brown II, Matt Robb, Derrick Similien, Eric Claussen, Katie Lyons, Daryan Lyew-Ayee, Daniel Mart, Chloe Schwinghammer, Nicole Musgrove-McIntosh, and Angel Padilla. Elton portrays Joshua Anderson, a lonely and deranged stalker, who's obsession with Pastor's Rose Starling reaches its peak just as all of his prior crime start to catch up to him.

The film had a short festival run, where it got accepted into the Orlando International Film Festival. and the Montreal Independent Film Festival before it widely released on January 26, 2024.

Plot
Detective David James is at a bar, observing two individuals as they leave the bar. Detective James follows them outside the bar, bumping into another patron as he leaves, only to discover that both individuals have been murdered.

Rose starling is at the grocery store, and is unknowingly being stalked by Joshua Anderson. As she leaves the store, she drop drops her house keys. Josh picks them up and follows Rose to her house to give them back to her. Although Rose is startled and weary by this interaction, she is still thankful. Josh however is angered by the fact that he forgot to ask for her name.

Later that night, Josh is smoking pot with his three friends Jake, Rick, and Austin. Josh pretends like he asked Rose out and all his friends cheer before leaving.

Rose and her fiance Derick discuss the fact that Josh returned Rose back her keys. They also discuss an upcoming party they will be attending before they begin to makeout; unbenknowest to them being observed by Josh who imagines himself in Derick's place. Joshua goes to the location of where the party is supposed to be and is confronted by the homeowner, Robert Allen. Despite trying to initally defuse the situation, Josh shoots Robert and leaves. When he arrives back home, Jake is there as he had left some of his pot at Joshua's house earlier that day. Joshua allows Jake to retrieve it, however as soon as Jake leaves he enters a fit of rage and hides the gun he just used to shoot Robert, something that Jake observes from out through the window before leaving.

The next day, Jerry, Robert's roommate, is talking with Detective James and Detective George Stewart about what he heard last night before he found Robert shot. Jerry asks the detectives if Robert will be alright and they reassure him that he should be but that's a question better suited for the hospital to answer. They discuss the upcoming party and any potential guests that may come.

During the party, both detectives are outside the house observing any partygoers who come into the house. Rose and Derick arrive to the house and greet Jerry and discuss the incident with Robert. Josh arrives to the party shortly thereafter, and upon entering, imagines himself talking to Rose about why he shot Robert, although he is quickly snapped out of his daydream when Jerry comes to talk to him. When questioned by Jerry, Josh lies and says his name is Peter and that he came with Rose. He is infuriated when he finds out that Rose is engaged with Derick. Rose, recognizing Josh from the other day, introduces Derick to Josh and the three of them begin to talk. Josh feigning sickness quickly leaves the party, but not before taking a selfie with Rose. The detectives, taking note of his odd behavior, assume that he may just be a bit drunk but still take down his car's plate number.

Josh gets back home where he hangs out with Jake and Rick. Jake, still shakened by what he saw the other day, pretends to be scared and asks Joshua if he may know where to get a gun. Taken aback with the question, Josh sternly tells him no before showing his friends a picture of Rose who he now claims is his new girlfriend. Jake and Rick smoke pot in celebration while Joshua angrily stares at Jake.

The next day, the detectives talk to Jerry after Robert succumbs to his injuries. Jerry is at a loss for words and doesn't know who could have attacked Robert. The detectives visit both Josh and Rose, and each recount different stories of how they met. Rose states she met Joshua when he returned her keys and Joshua states he met Rose at college. The detectives are suspicious about these conflicting stories and interview Josh again, asking him where he was on the night that Robert was attacked. He states that he was with his friends and went to sleep after they left. The detectives ask if they could get his friend's contact information so that they can verify his story.

The detectives meet with Jake and ask if they can verify where Joshua was the day of the attack, although he initally verifies what Josh said, he also adds that he returned later that night to Josh's house to pick something up, and that he saw Josh running back home. The detectives take note of this before leaving. Jake then calls Josh to tell him what happened. Josh, furious by this revelation, is able to keep calm enough to ask if he can come over to smoke pot with him, to which Jake excitedly agrees too. When Josh arrives at Jake's house however, he attacks him. When Jake regains consciousness, he asks Josh why he's doing this, to which the latter replies that he needs to cut off all loose ends, before saying that he never liked Jake, Rick, or Austin. Jake, fearing for his life, begs to be let go, but Josh kills him, making it seem like he commited suicide after the detectives came to talk to him and falsely confessing to Robert's murder. Despite this, something about the situation doesn't sit well with Detective James.

Rick discusses the apperent suicide with Joshua, with Rick being very distraught about it. Joshua tells him that he's going to possibly move in with Rose soon, and because of that they may not be able to talk as much any more. Later that night, Derick, shortly after arriving home, is attacked by Josh. He believes he killed him and buries him in the back yard before cleaning the house and taking a shower. Rose soon arrives, and much to her horror sees Josh and tries to escape.

Josh overpowers Rose and ties her to the bed. When asked about where Derick is, Josh pretends to not know who she's talking about and says that he is there to take care of her now. Josh leaves to give Rose her space. Derick, manages to dig himself out of where he was buried and enters the house. He sees Rose is tied up and tries to help her escape, however he is quickly found out and killed by Josh. Josh takes Derick's engagement ring and begins to wear it as his own.

For the next few days, Josh is being followed by Detective James, who has taken a leave of absence to investigate Josh, as he goes between his house and Rose's house. Detective James does confront Josh about what he's seeing, however Josh lies about what is truly going on while also now realizing that Detective James is onto him. During this time, Rose attempts to escape again to no avail, with one of the escapte attempts in resulting her getting raped.

The next day during breakfast, Rose attempts to escape one again by grabbing a knife, but fails. Josh ties her back up again before leaving the house. As he leaves, Josh runs into her neighbor Vicky, who asks about Rose as she hasn't heard from her in a few days. Josh explains that Rose thought Derick was cheating on her, and when confronted about this information, Derick left her, and that he's been trying to comfort Rose though all this. Josh invites Vicky to dinner that night.

That night, Vicky, and her girlfriend Emma, arrive at Rose's house. Although everything is seemingly normal at first, Rose tries to give Vicky and Emma subtle signs of what is truly going on. Although confused by this, both women do become aware that something is not right with Josh. Suddenly, Rose attacks Josh, and although he is initally able to fend for himself, he is then attacked by Both Emma and Vicky. Josh kills both women before trying Rose back to the bed and cleaning up the mess.

The next morning, Rose begins to prod at Josh to see if there are any weaknesses she can exploit to her advantage. She quickly realizes that he has immense trauma that stemmed from possible abuse fromhis mother. Realizing that this may be the best thing she can do to escape, she begins to comfort him before he forces himself onto her, with nothing that she can do about it.

The next day Detective James goes to talk to Rick and asks him if he knows anything about Jake's supposed suicide and Josh's recent activity. Rick tells him that Josh recently got a girlfriend and that Jake saw Josh with a gun the night Robert was attacked. Detective James slowly begins to add up the pieces of what is truly going on, and asks Rick to assist him in arresting Josh. Initally Rick wears a wire and knocks on Rose's door. Josh wearily greets him, and deducing he's wearing a wire, makes it seem like Rick and Jake are guilty of Robert's death and harrasing Rose and himself. When that doesn't work, Detective James comes up with the idea of that Rick should break into the house, and seeing as there is suspicious activity going on in the house, Detective James will enter the premises, allowing Rick to leave, and investiage the house. Rick manages to break into the house, but it soon discovered by Josh. Just as Josh is about to kill Rick, Detective James enters to save Rick and arrest Josh; however, he is bested and both Detective James and Rick are taken hostage.

When Detective James regains consciousness, he first makes sure that Roses and Rick are alright. When Josh enters the room. Detective James realizes who Josh truly is. Although Josh not understanding what he's talking about, Detective James says that he was at a bar one night watching over his neice Sophia and boyfriend when they were murdered. He recalls bumping into someone before that, saying he remembers his eyes, and that Josh has the exact same eyes as the man he bumped into, and the man he believes killed Sophia and her date. Josh recalls this as well and confesses to killing them both as revenge for Sophia supposedly breaking up with him. Josh states that he needs to think about what will happen next before he leaves the room for a moment. During this time, despite being tied up, Detective James and Rick manage to help Rose escape from her handcuffs and chains just as Josh enters the room again. Rose makes a run for the door; however, Josh accidentally kills her when fighting with her. Saddned by this, he returns her corpse to the bed, next to the captured Detective and Rick, and leaves the room.

The next morning, Josh kills Detective James, making it look like a suicide before leaving with Rick. Detective Stewart, along with Detective Joann Smith and some officers, raid the house and discover the apperent suicide. Detective Stewart doubts that Detective James killed everyone they found in the house and commited suicide and decides to pay Josh a visit. When asked about his relation to Rose, he states that he was comforting her over a recent break-up but that she pushed him away afterwards. Detective Stewart is suspcious about this and tasks Detective Smith to observe Josh for the time being while he works on getting a warrent ready to search his house.

Rick, still in captivity asks what will happen to him. Josh admits that he's going to have to kill him and researches chemicals to dissolve a body.

The next day, Detective Smith phones Detective Stewart about there being suspicious activity at Josh's house and goes in to investiage. She confronts Josh, telling him that she's part of the team investigating what happened at Rose's house and is justt trying to get more information. Josh invites her into the house and makes her coffee, which he has laced with poison. Josh momentarily leaves the kitchen while Detective Smith looks around the house. She reaches this vat, which Josh states is just meat extracts that he's holding for a friend, and looks into it, finding a skull floating in the mushed liquid. Josh attacks her from behind and knocks her out before running out the house.

As Josh leaves the house, he is shot several times by Detective Stewart. Detective Stewart goes inside the house to rescue Detective Smith as Josh slowly bleeds out and dies from his wounds.

Cast

 * Jace Elton as Joshua Anderson
 * Jessica Pastor as Rose Starling
 * Danilo Rocha as Detective David James
 * Dennis Brown II as Detective George Stewart
 * Matt Robb as Rick
 * Derrick Similien as Derick Jones
 * Eric Claussen as Jake Grayson
 * Katie Lyons as Joann Smith
 * Daryan Lyew-Ayee as Austin
 * Daniel Mart as Jerry
 * Chloe Schwinghammer as Vicky
 * Nicole Musgrove-McIntosh as Emma
 * Angel Padilla as Robert Allen
 * Rafael Mayfield as Police Officer #1
 * Prince Munroe as Police Officer #2
 * Javier Verde as Police Officer #3/Club Goer
 * Elizabeth Wesphal as Club Goer/Party Guest
 * Lucy Lopez as Sophia
 * Hernan Perez as Sophia's Date
 * Dinniah Bartholomew as Party Guest
 * May Lau as Party Guest
 * Nysa Morales as Party Guest/Crime Watch Lady
 * Nicole Silverman as Party Guest
 * Hughes Longelin as Club Bartender
 * Alejandro Cuadra as Background Market Shopper

Production
The idea for the film initally started as a short film proof of concept that went by the same name. The film was shot in March of 2021. The short film depicts the events of Derick's murder, who was initally portrayed by Angel Padilla, and Rose's kiddnapping and first escape attempt. The short film was released on Youtube on May 5, 2021 ; however, it was taken down at some point for unknown reasons. Daniel Mart is an uncredited associate producer for the short film. J.C. Betancourt was the original cinematographer for the short film before being replaced by Alejandro Cuadra for the feature film.

From Mid 2021 to Early 2022, Jace Elton attempted to raise money for the film through crowdfunding means in order to get better equipment and money to pay the cast and crew of the film.

Several key roles were cast during the intrem between the short film's completion and before the feature film began to shoot. Although both Jace Elton and Jessica Pastor remained in their respective roles of Joshua Anderson and Rose Starling, the role of Derick Jones was recast from Angel Padilla to Derrick Similien. Angel Padilla was later cast as Robert Allen, one of Josh's victims, and became a producer for the film. Producer Daniel Mart was also cast in the role of Jerry, Robert Allen's roommate. Danilo Rocha, Dennis Brown II, and Katie Lyons were cast as Detectives David James, Detective George Stewart, and Detective Joann Smith respectivley. Other key roles in the films were filled out by long time collaborators Eric Claussen, Matt Robb, Chloe Schwinghammer, Daryan Lyew-Ayee, Rafael Mayfield, Elizabeth Wesphal, and Javier Verde. Cinematographer Alejandro Cuadra and Production Assistant May Lau both have cameos in the film as well.

Filming for the film began on Febuary 7, 2022 and lasted until April 24, 2022. Scenes were shot all over Miami, Florida at locations that Jace Elton was able to secure. LeVar Leo was brought in to co-direct scene that took place at Robert's House.

During the post-production phase of the film, Jace Elton once again attempted to raise money so that he can submit the film to festivals.

Release
The film had a short festival run, where it got accepted into the Orlando International Film Festival and the Montreal Independent Film Festival.

The film was initally slated to release on Febuary 9, 2024 ; however, a technical mix-up on Amazon Prime led the film to being released two weeks earlier on January 26, 2024.

Reception
Soon after the film's release, the film attained a rating of 7.3 on IMDb