ONCE UPON A TIME
THE
IN SAN FRANCISCO
BLACK HATCHET
FILMS



Death Knocked 3 Times | B/W | 16 mm | Short | Heist | Horror | Revenge | © Michael Trachiotis 2026
Proof-of-Concept for the Horror, Heist, Revenge, Thriller, Suspense, Creature feature screenplay.
A double-crossed gem thief on a heist gone bad returns from six years, six months and six days in prison to nick back the diamonds he was owed, but the decapitated hand he lopped off to steal them back reanimates as a five-finger beast from hell and embarks on a rampage of revenge and murder.
​
Filmed on location in San Francisco's nefarious and haunted 1850's Barbary Coast Dead Man's Alley. Small crew. Shot on Vintage 1950’s Bolex with plunger for frame-by-frame capture. Kodak Film. Filmmaker Michael Trachiotis - Writer, Producer, Director, Editor, Titles, Stop Motion Animation, Creature Design | Producer Curran Engel | Producer Eduardo Reifsen | DP - Brayton Austin | Stop Motion Animation Supervisor - Julian Meyer | Creature Design - Erik Andersen | Starring - Marlon Gonzalez as Glass Eye | Mike Rose as Rocko | VO by Elevenlabs | Projection frame size 4K – 3840 x 2800. 23.97 FPS. 2.0 Stereo. 6 minutes. Unrated. Disturbing and gruesome imagery of blood spraying, hammer head bashing, machete hand severing and creature strangulation. Creative Commons license for music. Budget $16,295.