Synopsis: Ten years ago, four college friends set out on the Bluegrass Bourbon Trail to visit their favorite Kentucky distilleries. But their exciting adventure took a dark turn when a terrible tragedy struck, something that would haunt them for the rest of their lives . . .

Now, ten years later in 1977, the friends reunite for Gordie’s bachelor party. Keaton, his best man, figures there’s no better way to celebrate than to relive the good ol’ days by completing the Bourbon Trail. But ever since the tragedy in college, Gordie’s life has been especially rough. Their shared secret continues to plague him, and after being injured in Vietnam, he hit the bottle pretty hard. Now that he’s sobered up and gotten his life back together, he’s in no shape to visit a bunch of distilleries.

Luckily, Gordie discovers a way out during their distillery tour. He hears of the Bullitt Treasure — buried Prohibition money out in the woods of Bullitt County. And legend has it that the Bullitt Family protects the money at all costs. Looking for any reason to hop off the Bourbon Trail, Gordie plays the groom card, and soon the friends are digging for treasure in the middle of nowhere. But something much worse than the Bullitt Family awaits them in Bullitt County. This reunion has begun to erode Gordie’s years of repression, and that dark secret they all share is about to resurface in violent and terrible ways. Ways that may rip the friends apart for good.

Some things are meant to stay buried . . .

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Bullitt County is my first feature film as Writer & Director. As such, it’s an extremely personal project, although it may not seem so at first glance.

I’ve always felt genre films provide immense freedom to explore important and personal subjects. On its surface, Bullitt County is a gritty action/thriller, but this is all window dressing for a film that explores much deeper issues like toxic masculinity, nostalgia, alcoholism, violence, and repression.

(It’s still a fun movie, I promise. It’s got action, thrills, laughs, scares, twists and turns, shocks and surprises, bourbon, and guns.)

Following my graduate studies at USC, I started a production company with my best friend and producing partner, Josh Riedford. For our first film, we wanted to use elements from our shared experiences, themes and ideas we find ourselves endlessly exploring in our own lives.

As long-time friends, we know what it’s like to have pangs of nostalgia and to want to repeat the past but be unable to do so. We share a fascination of the history, tradition, and taste of bourbon. I was Josh’s best man at his wedding (I play Gordie’s in the movie), and Josh and I both have had our lives affected by alcoholism. And we shot the entire film in our hometown of Evansville, IN.

So in the end, Bullitt County may be a genre film with action and thrills and betrayal, but it’s a movie made with affection and care by hundreds of people who not only love making movies, but most importantly, love each other.

DAVID McCRACKEN is a Director, Writer, Producer, and Actor. He earned his MFA in Film & Television Production at University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, as well as his MA in Creative Writing from Ball State University.

McCracken has achieved numerous honors, including USC’s prestigious James Bridges Memorial Scholarship for Directing, the Alfred P. Sloan Science Foundation Production Award, and his horror feature screenplay Stay at Home was a Semi-Finalist in the Academy Nicholl Screenplay Competition.

McCracken co-owns the film production company Mr. Pictures with his longtime producing partner Josh Riedford. McCracken wrote and directed their first feature Bullitt County, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival and was a success on the festival circuit, garnering six “Best Picture” awards. McCracken also won “Best Director” at the Hoboken Film Festival in New York.

Bullitt County theatrically premiered in AMC Theatres across the country, including LA and New York. Released worldwide by Gravitas Ventures, the film launched on over 100 VOD platforms, including Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.

In the online space, McCracken works closely with popular YouTube personality Lindsay Ellis on her wide array of projects, including her NY Times Bestselling series of science-fiction novels, her ongoing YouTube videos, and the PBS series It’s Lit.

McCracken currently writes, directs, and hosts The Stephen Kingdom, a YouTube series with in-depth analyses of each of Stephen King’s major works. The series premieres October 2021.

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