Welcome to the official website of "Mad Island," a narrative short film set against the haunting landscapes of Lake Superior.
Welcome to the official website of "Mad Island," a narrative short film set against the haunting landscapes of Lake Superior.
A reclusive musician retreats to a frozen island on Lake Superior to capture the lake’s rare sonic phenomena - the eerie tones of ice as it begins to freeze. But, solitude quickly turns to dread as they’re drawn into unsettling encounters with an overfamiliar neighbor, a polar plunge gone wrong, and a mysterious voice echoing from beneath the ice.
As their recordings grow stranger and their grip on reality frays, the musician finds themself haunted by disjointed memories and something far more ancient beneath the surface.
Mad Island is a psychological thriller set against the stark beauty of winter. A study in isolation, trauma, and the supernatural, it builds toward a chilling descent into the unknown - where the line between madness and truth lies just beneath the ice.
Loosely inspired by the Nøkken - a shapeshifting water spirit from Nordic mythology said to lure victims with a siren's call and a stringed instrument - the entity in Mad Island is reimagined through a lens of alien intrusion and psychological disintegration. Rather than a mythic trickster, this version is more abstract and ancient - a force of memory, grief, and perception that defies easy explanation. The result is something spectral and unknowable, both grounded in folklore and untethered from it.
It reveals itself through a haunting blue liquid - a bioluminescent substance that infects memory, amplifies ambient sound, and carries the voices of the lost like ghostly feedback. This substance functions as a living echo, warping time and perception, and becomes a recurring symbol throughout the film. Its presence deepens the sense of dread, linking the natural world to something far older, colder, and more sentient than it first appears.
The entity’s visual identity was crafted by designer Maciek Sokalski, whose glacial, alien-inspired aesthetic brought eerie specificity to its form. Drawing on elements of ice, decay, and deep-sea creatures, Sokalski developed a design language that feels both organic and extraterrestrial. His practical concept work laid the foundation for the final appearance, which was enhanced through restrained post-production and subtle VFX - allowing the creature to emerge not with spectacle, but with eerie intimacy.
Nick Peet is a genre storyteller exploring grief, folklore, and the American wilderness.
A former writer/director on NBC’s Grimm, Nick blends psychological realism with mythic undertones. Mad Island is his most personal film to date - not only because of its themes, but because it was produced alongside his wife, Alexandra Peet, forming a husband-and-wife creative team for the first time.
The film was brought to life with the help of regional artists, musicians, and craftspeople - all with a deep connection to Madeline Island, a remote outpost in Northern Wisconsin. Their reverence for the land shaped every frame of the film.
Title: Mad Island
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Runtime: 17 minutes 13 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Resolution: 4K
Sound: 5.1 Surround & Stereo Mixes
Language: English
Shooting Format: Digital
Color Grade: Completed
Delivery Formats Available: DCP, ProRes, H.264