Filmmaker wants Verona's Kip's Castle as setting for horror series

An aspiring storyteller considers a historic Verona locale a spooky place.

Though he hasn’t visited it himself yet, Isaac Polnitz views Kip’s Castle on Crestmont Road as the perfect spot for a horror story. Polnitz, 30, would like to use the location to film a horror miniseries there. 

“Our goal was to create a story full of mystery and horror that can actually take place in a real-life setting,” he said. “The story is about three friends who set out on an adventure to find the castle they heard about from old wives tales throughout their childhood. What they find is much more sinister than what they could have ever imagined.”

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Polnitz is from Florida, and plans to move to California. He first learned about Kip’s Castle from a co-writer Deborah J. Rodd who lived in New Jersey. Kip’s Castle is a 9,000-square-foot mansion built in the early 1900s of local trap rock trimmed with sandstone to resemble a medieval castle. 

Frederic Ellsworth Kip and his wife, Charlotte Bishop Williams Kip, built the castle in 1903, according to the Essex County Parks’ website. Frederic Kip was a wealthy textile inventor and industrialist who published several books related to United States tariff laws. Charlotte Kip is credited for the design of the building and grounds, including an octagonal rose garden in the southwest corner of the property, the website stated.

“It definitely has some very vivid history toward it from the research I found about it and that’s why I wanted to bring it to life in the film project," Polnitz said.

As a teenager, Rodd recalled scaling the hill up to the castle with an eerie atmosphere due to the stories she would hear about it. 

"There were different things that people believed they saw," she said. "People going up there at weird times of nights, different sounds. It was from there to the extreme of midgets riding on Dobermans and children going up there and never going down. It was such a mysterious rumor."

Polnitz was always interested in filmmaking but studied the legal system at Florida A&M. He went on to earn a master’s degree in fine arts, filmmaking and cinematic arts at New York Film Academy.

“I’ve been writing stories all my life,” he said. 

To make his series happen, Polnitz sought help through an online fundraiser. His Kickstarter site raised nearly $700 of its $25,000 goal as of July 21.

“I have film equipment, it’s just getting actors to location and all that,” he said of the obstacles ahead. “We want to do the filming in November because the story takes place in late fall and winter.”

A car chase scene will also prove to be a challenge to film, he added. Polnitz would like to film a trailer in November and pitch to an outlet like Netflix to produce his series. 

Email: jongsma@northjersey.com