Ace Austin, Red Velvet & More Set To Star In New Horror Short

Ace Austin and Red Velvet are among the wrestling stars set to star in a new queer horror short, as recently announced. Rocco Ciarrocchi has launched a Kickstarter for The Stutterer, a new horror short film that is set to debut next year.

The Kickstarter was launched in April and earned $3,760 out of the $3,000 goal. The film is written by Ciarrocchi and Stuart J. Mitchem, and directed by Ciarrocchi, Joe Lucas, Tim Manton, Lien Mya Nguyen Oost, AND Belinda Raia per IMDB.

The film stars Rhonda Shear, Mel Heflin, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, Ciarrocchi, and more. The wrestling talent listed includes Austin, who is playing a character named Tom, and Red Velvet. IMDB also lists Mercedes Martinez and Atsushi Onita in the cast.

The film is described as the first part of a trilogy, with the synopsis as follows:

A masked killer terrorizes parks, campsites, a house, and city streets, brutally murdering couples and strangers while hiding in plain sight as a trusted police officer. As the body count rises, the truth emerges: he is “The Stutterer,” a man scarred by lifelong bullying, rejection, and the loss of the only love he’s ever known. Fueled by grief and rage, his violent blood soaked spree becomes both revenge and twisted confession. Blending classic slasher brutality with emotionally charged queer themes, The Stutterer is a raw, provocative horror short that asks whether monsters are born… or created.

Ciarrocchi said in a statement about the film:

‘The Stutterer’ is my attempt to reclaim the slasher genre for the queer kids who grew up loving horror but rarely saw themselves centered in it — unless they were the joke, the sidekick, or the body on the floor. I wanted to flip that dynamic on its head and create a story where queerness isn’t the punchline or the tragedy, but the emotional engine driving the narrative.

At its core, The Stutterer is about the violence of being unheard. As someone who has lived with a stutter, I know the feeling of being talked over, underestimated, or dismissed before you even finish a sentence. That experience can shape you — sometimes into someone resilient, sometimes into someone angry, and sometimes into someone who wears a mask because the world refuses to see the real face underneath. This film channels that emotional truth into a heightened, stylized horror world where silence becomes power and voice becomes weaponized in unexpected ways.

The film is planned to be submitted to queer and horror film festivals once complated, followed by a wider release.