For filmmaker Jas Summers, STAY began as a reflection — one rooted in family, spirituality, and the kind of love that both heals and haunts. The supernatural thriller, premiering October 8 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ as part of Huluween, follows a couple — played by Mo McRae and Megalyn Echikunwoke — trapped in their home and forced to confront their inner demons. But for Summers, the story’s heart lies in something more personal.
READ: Mo McRae and Megalyn Echikunwoke on Love, Healing, and Fighting Their Shadow Selves in STAY
“A lot of it comes from my parents,” Summers said. “They went through a separation when I was young, and when I asked them years later what happened, they both answered through music — my mom with Whitney Houston’s Run to You, and my dad with Boyz II Men’s Water Runs Dry. That duality — love and pain, devotion and distance — became the foundation for STAY.”
Summers channels that duality into a genre-bending meditation on what it means to heal, forgive, and face the parts of ourselves we often avoid. Blending African spirituality, ancestral rhythm, and psychological tension, the film uses one confined space — the couple’s home — as both a literal and emotional battleground.
“We are often our own worst enemy,” he said. “The real horror isn’t external. It’s what happens when we don’t confront the pain within ourselves.”
With its spiritual symbolism, emotional honesty, and grounded performances, STAY positions Summers as one of the most compelling new voices in contemporary Black cinema — a director unafraid to merge the supernatural with the soulful, and the personal with the universal.