Daniel DeStefano's short follows a thorny path to modern love.

Just in time for Halloween, IndieWire is pleased to premiere a brand new short film that combines love, horror, and more than a dash of Lynchian-inspired madness into one economical package. Daniel DeStefano’s “Rose” may be a love story “at its root” (flower pun), but it’s also a canny send-up of the disconnect so many people feel when trying to find love in modern — and in the case of “Rose,” just sort of strange — ways.

As DeStefano explained, “‘Rose’ is especially relevant today because of all of the dating apps out there. How many times have you gone to a stranger’s house at 1am, and half-expected the person to not look like their photo, or worse, be an alien who sucks the love out of you and sells it to their neighbors. For me? Every time.”

Inspired by the works of David Lynch, “Rose” stars Meaghan Sands as the eponymous, opera-singing Rose, along with DeStefano himself and Joe Danbusky as her (sort of) victims.

DeStefano recently told IndieWire, “I originally wrote this film this past February as a sort of joke about how expensive roses are around Valentine’s Day. We originally had a whole ending sequence where the rose was transported to a flower shop, selling for $50, but our shoestring budget and last-minute production issues made that impossible.”

The price of the rose in “Rose” is just a touch higher, and perfectly timed to a much more spooky time of year. Check out the short film below.

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