THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK
>>>>>> PREMIERING FALL 2026
>>>>>> 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 my first queer sexual encounter as a teenager in the early 1990s. It was the height of the AIDS crisis, a time when silence was survival and fear haunted every gay sexual encounter.
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 nightmares. Chris became the only person I could share my biggest shame with: that I was 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 the next morning, VIRGIN NO MORE, but instead I was shaking with fear: 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 completely uneducated. The boy wanted to see me again, but I was spiraling, so I turned to Chris.
What makes this film unique is that it captures a specific moment in queer history that is largely unknown to a new generation of queer people: a time when every act of intimacy, even a kiss, could feel dangerous, especially for a naive kid like me. The specter of AIDS was everywhere, along with misinformation and hatemongering. That fear shaped how my generation experienced desire, turning it into a threat. It continues to shape how many of us respond to intimacy today.
THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK isn’t a historical drama. It captures the precise moment when fear infects intimacy. Our history is always under threat of erasure and revision, and we are seeing the same rhetoric and repression rise again. As a filmmaker, I want to make sure our stories —even fleeting, strange, supernatural ones like mine—are preserved.
>>>>>> VINNY’S JOURNAL (Art by Bobby)
>>>>>> PRODUCTION STILLS
>>>>>> VISIT SKELETONROCK.COM
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