THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK
>>>>>> PREMIERING OCT 2, 2026 at OUT ON FILM
>>>>>> FEATURING MUSIC BY BJÖRK and THE BREEDERS
>>>>>> VISIT SKELETONROCK.COM
In the summer of 1992, at the height of the AIDS crisis, 18-year-old Vinny reels after his first hookup with another boy, a goth from the city named Gabe. In the tiny enclave of Callicoon, New York, his only confidant is CHRIS, a ghost he's been secretly communicating with through a handmade Ouija board.
Consumed by fear over his first sexual encounter, Vinny brings Gabe beneath the ruins of a crumbling bridge to summon Chris. Gabe quickly discovers Chris isn't just a figment of Vinny's imagination, he's a jealous ghost with the power to twist reality into nightmares.
WRITER/DIRECTOR: BOBBY ABATE
PRODUCER: TODD STEPHENS
CINEMATOGRAPHY: BRIAN RIGNEY-HUBBARD
CAST:
JORDI BERTRÁN RAMÍREZ (VINNY)
RIVER KNIGHT (GABE)
JACK QUINN (CHRIS)
ARRI ALEXA / CINEMASCOPE
TRT: 19:28
SHOOT: FALL 2024
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>>>>>> DIRECTOR STATEMENT
THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK is a film I always wanted to make about the circumstances around my first hook-up as a teenager in the early 1990s, a time when there was no being gay or having gay sex without the specter of AIDS.
At 17, I was a horny, fledgling artist with Kurt Cobain-bleached hair, filling my journal with frantic drawings and rambling thoughts: When the hell will I finally hook up for the first time? At the same time, one of my closest friends introduced me to the Ouija board and a spirit named Chris, who had the power to give people trippy, sexy dreams... or terrible nightmares. I quickly began talking to Chris alone and learned he was gay and had taken his own life. We were two sad teenagers. Chris became my confidant, the only one who knew that I was still a virgin.
Then I finally met a boy, and we hooked up, lust leading the way. I expected to wake up on the most supreme high. Instead, I was shaking with fear and wondering: What did I do? What did I expose myself to? Who was this person I had just swapped bodily fluids with? Am I going to die from AIDS? I was uneducated. The lies and misinformation of my Catholic upbringing took hold. The boy I was with wanted to see me again, but I was spiraling, so I turned to Chris to break us up.
What makes this film unique is that it captures a specific moment in queer history that is largely unknown to the newest generation of queer people: a time when every act of intimacy, even a kiss, felt dangerous. Politicians and leaders turned their backs and let millions around the world die. This fear shaped how my generation experienced desire, turning it into a threat.
THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK isn’t a historical drama. It’s a fleeting, strange, supernatural love triangle set against the backdrop of an unaccepting world. Queer history is always under threat of erasure and revision, and we’re seeing the same rhetoric and repression on the rise again. As a filmmaker, I want to make sure our stories are preserved.
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>>>>>> VINNY’S JOURNAL (Art by Bobby
>>>>>> PRODUCTION STILLS
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