BIOGRAPHY
Johnny Daggers entered the world of filmmaking in 2010 when his short film “Samhain: Night Feast” won the Bastards Of Horror Short Film Fest. In subsequent interviews throughout his career, Daggers openly states that he is still surprised to have found himself in the industry. “I never aspired to be a filmmaker. I was a musician and always thought that that is where I would stay. I made Samhain for nothing more than fun. I was sick and tired of Hollywood remakes and sequels and just wanted to make a film that I wanted to see. Later on, after it won the film fest I just knew that I needed to do this. Over the next four years, Daggers kept himself busy by working on various film projects, not only writing, directing, but also acting.
In 2012 he starred as Fritz Murnau in Brian Cottington’s film “Tablet Of Tales”. And then in 2013 when Daggers appeared in two episodes of the A&E television series “Those Who Kill”. “Appearing on Those Who Kill came at a very dark and pivotal point in my career. I had several films fall through the cracks due to lack of budget. One was a dark, animated, horror feature starring Doug Bradley (Pinhead in Hellraiser). When that fell through, I was ready to call it quits but after working on the television series I knew I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.”
In 2014, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, Daggers packed up and left his small Western Pennsylvania home town and relocated to Baltimore, Maryland. “I was ready for a change. And I was ready to throw myself headlong into film. I knew this was the now or never moment.” Within months of the move Daggers landed his first major distribution deal with SGL Entertainment where he released the indie horror documentary “Blood On The Reel: The Guts Behind Indie Horror”. It must be noted that while Daggers was working on Blood On The Reel, he was also working on his first novella. An adaptation of the dark, animated feature length script which had fallen through just several years prior. “I was told by a close friend that the story was so good that it would be a shame if it didn’t see the light of day and suggested that I adapt the screenplay into a novel. I thought that the idea was brilliant and immediately went to work. I came up with a new title, Neverlasting, and I started seeking out publishers.” Before Neverlasting was even complete Daggers had landed a publication deal with Burning Bulb Publishing which was released in 2016.
In 2015, Daggers decided to take an an endeavor that he had longed to delve into since the start of his career, and that was to make what he called his “dream film”, a 1920s inspired, black and white, silent-Noir thriller, entitled “Noctambulist”. “Noctambulist was the film that I have always wanted to make. I have never been a fan of gore and violent horror movies. I have always prefered psychological thrillers. And the films that I grew up with were black and white and leaned more to that directuion, so that is what I have always longed to make. I just needed to wait until I had enough experience under my belt to do it justice. I could not be any more proud than I am. In my opinion, none of my films before that count.” Noctambulist went on to become an Official Selection at the WorldCon 75 International Film Festival in Helsinki, Finland and was also released world-wide through SGL Entertainment in 2019.
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