Darren Callahan

Darren Callahan is a critically acclaimed Los Angeles-based film director, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and musician whose primary works include the novels The Audrey Green Chronicles and City of Human Remains, plays The White Airplane, Horror Academy, Desperate Dolls, and Beautiful Women in Terrible Trouble, the films Under the Table and Children of the Invisible Man, the 24-volume set The Collected Screenplays of Darren Callahan (published by Battery Filmtext), and the 12-album discography of TRAVEL, a noise rock band featuring poet Matt Hart.

His work has been reviewed and he has been interviewed in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, Dayton Daily News, Time Out Magazine, Chicago Examiner, Daily Herald, Metromix, and the Chicago Sun-Times, and others.

His plays have been produced by Chicago's Strawdog Theatre, Babes With Blades, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Breadline Theatre, Stage 773, PROP THTR, and City Lit. Chicago Reader named him Critics Choice for his novel The Vanishing of Archie Gray (2004).

He is the author of several produced radio dramas, including Uncle Ant (1997), The Death Guard (2000), The Tokyo Tourist Bureau (2005), The Wave (1998), and Carnival of Spies (2001) as well as the audio book The 30 Day Baby Company. He is winner of the NPR Best Audio Drama Award.

He is president and founder of Phantom Soundtracks, a U.S.-based recording company. Releases include The White Airplane (2009), Spikes (2010), Alien Terrain (2011), North Point (2012), Chrysalis (later releases as Battle Apocalypse) (2014) and Cry It Out (2017), American Barbarian (2018), LVRS (2018), and All The Flowers That Cut Through The Earth (2018). The label has released scores by Darren Callahan, Demetri Fox, Christopher LaPorte, Eric Leonardson, and others.

In 2012, he wrote, directed, and composed the score for Glass City Films' production of Under the Table, a horror movie. The film played several festivals and led to other assignments as a director, including Death & Devils, Children of the Invisible Man, Don't Call Me Loretta, and Desperate Dolls (film version).

In 2014, his stage play Desperate Dolls was produced and caused a significant controversy due to the violent and sexual content. The play was reviewed by the Chicago Tribune,Chicago Reader,Windy City Times, Gapers Block,Stage and Cinema, LA Splash Magazine, and The Independent.

In 2015, he produced the film Chat Room, directed by Emily Bennett. That year also saw the re-release of 1993's debut album from his pop band, OO OO WA, entitled Screen Kiss, as well as a release by Trouble Press of a collection of 31 fiction and non-fiction pieces, entitled Twin Cinema.

In 2017, Battery Filmtext of LA began publishing a multi-volume series highlighting Callahan's exploitation screenplays. The set includes Documentia, Kiss Me with Blood, Red Park Road, Nerves, Weird Double Features (with Desperate Dolls and I Am An Agent), Summer of Ghosts, Afterschool Specials (with Scott Carson & Susan Rose, Turn Signals, Under the Table, and Lesbian Pornographic Feature Film), Terror/13, The Battle For Carlyle, All These Devils, Sexxina, Schoolgirl Sweethearts, Dead Stranger, 16MM Accident Film, Water Pressure, All A Girl Call Get, In Control, All These Demons, Salamander Lake, Pleasure Zone IV, All These Witches, Conventioneers, The Judy Solution, and The Airship. He also scored the horror film Cry It Out, about haunted baby monitors, and contributed to articles about the legacy of David Bowie for The Federalist and other publications. His screenplay All These Devils was named a finalist for Shriekfest, a Los Angeles horror film festival, where he had placed several scripts in the past. Terror/13 was named a semi-finalist in the 2018-19 Shriekfest festival competition as well as the ScreenCraft competition; In Control was a semi-finalist for the latter as well.

In 2018, he scored the films LVRS (dir. Emily Bennett), All The Flowers That Cut Through The Earth (dir. Ward Crockett) and American Barbarian (dir. Paul Carr). Also in 2018, Brazildisc released "Broken Punk Records: The Starfish Recordings," a 100-song box set of his band TRAVEL, as well as the re-issue of the 1986 industrial music album HUH? by DEMENTIA PRECOX, for which Callahan served as executive producer.

In 2019, Hooper Cinema Classics, a publisher specializing in entertainment-based releases, published a two-volume set of Callahan's work. Devil Films (an omnibus edition of All These Devils, All These Demons, and All These Witches) and Sex Films (which includes Sexxina, All a Girl Can Get, and Pleasure Zone IV) capture six of his most popular screenplays.

His son, Liam Callahan, is a recording artist and filmmaker and his daughter, Charlotte Callahan, is an actor and singer, featured on American Horror Story, Brooklyn-99, This is Us, Black-ish, Mixed-ish, Grey's Anatomy, and the films Bird Box and Space Jam 2.

Musical Groups

• DJ POWDA
• ITALIAN AVIATION
• OO OO WA
• TEENAGE BLACKOUT
• TELEGRAPH
• THE DICTIONARY
• THE LIFE AND TIMES
• THE SAD COMEDIES
• TRAVEL

Novels

• 6 THE RISE
• CITY OF HUMAN REMAINS
• FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY (aka DEEP FREEZE)
• HOURS UNTIL WE SLEEP
• THE NUMBING OF AUDREY GREEN
• THE SEARCH FOR AUDREY GREEN
• THE TRAVELS OF AUDREY GREEN
• THE VANISHING OF ARCHIE GRAY
• UNSETTLED

Feature-Length Screenplays

• 16MM ACCIDENT FILM
• ALL A GIRL CAN GET
• ALL THESE DEMONS
• ALL THESE DEVILS
• ALL THESE WITCHES
• CONVENTIONEERS
• DEAD STRANGER
• DESPERATE DOLLS
• DOCTOR MORTEER MEETS THE PROFESSOR
• DOCUMENTIA
• (TOP SECRET HALLOWEEN FRANCHISE FILM)
• HORRORTHON
• I AM AN AGENT
• IN CONTROL
• KISS ME WITH BLOOD
• LESBIAN PORNOGRAPHIC FEATURE FILM
• NERVES
• NIHILISTS
• PLEASURE ZONE IV
• RED PARK ROAD
• SALAMANDAR LAKE
• SEXXINA
• SCHOOLGIRL SWEETHEARTS
• SUMMER OF GHOSTS
• TERROR/13
• TOGETHER ALONE (with Mark Davidov)
• THE AIRSHIP
• THE BATTLE FOR CARLYLE
• THE JUDY SOLUTION
• THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY
• WATER PRESSURE

Films

• CHILDREN OF THE INVISIBLE MAN
• DESPERATE DOLLS
• UNDER THE TABLE

Stage Plays

• CASTLE VON DEATH (SHORT)
• DESPERATE DOLLS (BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN TERRIBLE TROUBLE, PART TWO)
• HORROR ACADEMY
• KILL YOUR EMENIES
• MASS GRAVE
• SUB-GENRE
• SOURCES (BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN TERRIBLE TROUBLE, PART THREE)
• THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE
• THE ESSENTIALS (SHORT)
• THE WHITE AIRPLANE
• THROW THE CONTROL DARTS
• TWO GIRLS KISSING
• UNDER THE TABLE (SHORT)
• WATER PRESSURE
• WITNESS TO AN ACCIDENT (BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN TERRIBLE TROUBLE, PART ONE)

Original Scores

• AFTER HOURS
• ALIEN TERRAIN (as Demetri Fox)
• ALL THE FLOWERS THAT CUT THROUGH THE EARTH
• AMERICAN BARBARIAN
• CHRYSALIS (aka BATTLE APOCALYPSE)
• CRY IT OUT
• LVRS
• PRAY WITH US
• SPIKES
• UNDER THE TABLE