For everyone who has suffered through the agonies of flat-sharing, and for anyone curious about Blinkink filmmaker, Will Wightman’s knack for blending absurdity, honesty and technical innovation into films that are as inventive as they are painfully relatable, his latest darkly horror short film, This Place is a Sh*thole, is a delight. It’s a deliriously relatable descent into the agony of living in overpriced yet filthy flat-shares.

The short, starring Paddy Young and Jack Shep, was shot entirely on an Insta360 camera and plunges viewers into a claustrophobic nightmare where the chaos and grime of communal living spiral into something both horrifying and hilariously familiar.

“Having spent my entire adult life in mind-bogglingly expensive, soul-destroyingly disgusting shared flats, This Place is a Sh*thole was part creative experiment, part therapy,” Wightman commented. “I’ve been playing with the capabilities of 360 cameras for the last couple of years as a way to shoot visceral, and dynamic action sequences quickly and on the cheap. For me, the distorted and lo-fi aesthetic that comes out of this amazing little camera when you really push it was perfect for a gross and claustrophobic story set in a shared flat.”

The idea for the film was born out of Wightman’s own experiences of shared living, a darkly comic reflection of the frustrations, filth and quiet horror that come with cramped and chaotic spaces. “I wanted to make something that captured the frustration of living somewhere that’s simply not designed for the number of people that occupy it, and also tap into the claustrophobic horror that comes from your home feeling so disgusting and out of your control,” he added.

“For me, the monster represents not just the culmination of all the filth in that flat, but the resentment that grows over time when your flatmate keeps leaving the fucking stupid bins by the fucking stupid door. I hope people will watch it and remember that they’re not alone.”

In an era where 360 cameras are often relegated to novelty “tiny planet” shots and vlogging, This Place is a Sh*thole stands out as a bold technical experiment. “Typically, 360 cameras are used in quite limited ways,” Wightman explained. “But I used one on a commercial shoot a few years ago and immediately got excited about its untapped potential. Blinkink had one lying around in the studio, so me and my DoP, Will Marchant, started experimenting with it in our spare time to see how far we could push it.”

With a mix of practical camera moves and post-production keyframing, Wightman and Marchant developed a unique, high-energy visual language that is both chaotic and meticulously controlled. “We refined the aesthetic shot by shot, and eventually, I wrote TPISH with the 360 camera in mind so that the story played into its strengths,” Wightman continued. “We even made a full pre-vis of the film, editing as we went to nail the timing and choreography of each shot. We’re both acting in it though, so that version will never see the light of day.”

Working with such a small and unconventional camera meant the production could be fast and flexible. “By the time we got to the shoot, we had a fully edited version of the film, so we knew the exact timing and choreography of every shot,” Wightman recalls. “We shot something like 70 shots a day, usually with over six takes per shot. It was intense, but honestly, the most fun I’ve ever had on set – and that’s thanks to the amazing cast and crew who totally threw themselves into it.”

The film’s monster costume, a grotesque, grimy embodiment of domestic decay, was created by Lani Hernandez-David, starting from a pre-made gorilla suit that was modified with handmade hands and a custom face before being covered in an unholy collection of sink filth and household grime.

Director, writer and composer, Wightman, specialises in comedy with heart, often turbocharged with dynamic camerawork and his own original music and has won Best Director awards at the BFI and the Young Director Awards.