Ryan Swantek Announces Hot New Project With Jaclyn Hales: ‘Vengeance Is Her Name’

Ever since first setting my veiny eyeballs on Writer/Director Ryan Swantek’s (our interview) short, White Willow (2017 – our review), five years ago, I’ve been following his work, and I’m thrilled to say each entry has been better than the last. Every story from the filmmaker’s resume—from White Willow to Panther Ridge (2018 – our review) to 5:26 See the Devil’s Eyes to Bathory: Virgin Blood—has come from his heart, and he has a personal reason for making each one. His next project is no different. Vengeance Is Her Name follows a woman who wakes up in Hell… but doesn’t know why. The story is partially inspired by Swantek’s parent’s divorce. We’ve just heard that Actress/Producer Jaclyn Hales (Alienate 2016 – our review) has signed onto the project. Read on for more info!

From the press release:

Synopsis:

A woman wakes up in Hell and must find out why.

Director: Ryan Swantek
Writer: Ryan Swantek
Executive Producers: Ryan Swantek, Jaclyn Hales
Starring: Jaclyn Hales

About the Film
Vengeance is Her Name is going to be an unforgiving film about a woman known only as Vengeance and her journey through Hell. Unsure of who she is and where she is at, her only choice is to navigate through this alternate reality being presented to her. The film is partially inspired by the divorce of writer/director Ryan Swantek’s parents. As of now, the film will shoot in Sarasota in January 2023.

About the Director
Ryan Swantek is a writer/director/producer who is a graduate of the University of Toledo. In 2017, he directed his first short film, White Willow, which went on to amass 362k views on Facebook and coverage from all the major horror websites, including the Blumhouse Studio. In 2018, his second short film, Panther Ridge, was released and gained 1.4 million views on YouTube (as of this writing) and praise from multiple horror sites. Ryan also directed a horror short about serial killer Elizabeth Báthory titled Báthory: Virgin Blood which features a score from the Grand Theft Auto franchise music director Craig Connor, who served as the music director of Rockstar Games for over twenty years. It currently has 34k views on YouTube. Ryan’s most recent action short film titled Rosary stars Alexis Knapp (Pitch Perfect) and features a score by John Wick franchise composer Joel J. Richard.

About Jaclyn Hales
Jaclyn Hales was born on September 4th in Syracuse, New York. A writer, director, producer and best known for her acting, her career began when she was offered the lead role in the Indie feature, Unicorn City, winning her the Best Actress award at the LA Comedy Festival. This led to her appearing in several more films and TV shows including FX’s Legion (Jean Smart, Jemaine Clement), HBO’s Mosaic (Garrett Hedlund, Sharon Stone), and Christmas Eve (Patrick Stewart). She has played two series regular roles: Lynn from Extinct (2017), which aired on BYUTV; and Claire from Cypher (2021) which aired on The Roku Channel as their first exclusive series.

Jaclyn studied acting at Utah Valley University and graduated with a BS in theater performance and some awards from the department including Best Actress of the Year 2009 and Best Student Director 2009. In 2021, Jaclyn partnered with Ash Lendzion as writer, director, producer and talent on the scripted dark comedy audio drama ‘The Bystanders’ (Kristin Chenoweth, Jane Lynch, Heather Morris, Oscar Nunez, Ed Westwick).