Former Glass Eye intern Nick Funess releases two feature films this year. His debut flick YOUNG BLONDES, STALKED AND MURDERED lands distribution with Anchor Bay, available to watch on various VOD platforms and several theatrical engagements lined up. His second feature THE HEDONIST, starring Funess (with a cameo by GEP Intern Alumn Santiago Saba Salem) premiered at Panic Fest 2025, continues its festival circuit.

Screen Anarchy on THE HEDONIST: There’s a layered sense of play, melancholy and almost dangerous uncertainty throughout The Hedonist that works perfectly for this movie about a young man we sympathize with but wouldn’t actually want to meet. It’s a difficult and distinct tonal balancing act that builds on the promise of his first feature and only makes me more excited to see whatever Funess does next.

Screen Anarchy on YOUNG BLONDES, STALKED AND MURDERED: Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is perhaps more tragedy than slasher. And rather than combine them, Funess makes them clash: murder isn’t the cause of tragedy, it’s the possibility of not being murdered that’s tragic.

Congrats, Nick!