#FIRSTLOOK: “THE BUTCHERS” PREMIERES ON YOUTUBE

Rising actor Chad Andrews steps confidently behind the camera with his new short film The Butchers, a darkly comic, high-stakes thriller marking his writing and directing debut. The film is currently touring the festival circuit, including a screening at the 2026 Pendance Film Festival on February 28th at 8:00 PM at Carlton Cinema in Toronto and the 2026 Toronto Shorts International Film Festival at Paradise Cinema on March 21st at 8:00 PM, before making its red- carpet premiere on April 9th at The Royal in Toronto. Following these screenings, the film will make its global debut on YouTube on April 10, 2026. The film positions Andrews not only as a formidable on-screen presence, but as an emerging filmmaker with a sharp, assured voice and a fearless approach to genre.

Best known for his work opposite Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo in Netflix’s The Madness, Andrews has built a career defined by range and intensity, with credits spanning AMC’s Hell on Wheels, CBS’s Ghosts, Showtime’s Fellow Travelers, Netflix’s Ripple, and the Prime Video feature The Princess and the Bodyguard, where he portrayed British Royal Charles. With The Butchers, Andrews channels more than a decade of acting experience into a project that feels both deeply personal and wildly unrestrained, a natural evolution of an artist long immersed in storytelling.

A dark comedy thriller with razor-sharp pacing, The Butchers follows Steve played by Chad Andrews, and Morgan played by Andrew Merrigan, two best friends who also happen to be psychopathic butchers selling human body parts on the black market. When they arrive in the city hoping to impress a powerful crime boss, they realize, far too late, that they’ve forgotten the only thing they needed… a body. What follows is a spiraling chain of bad decisions, escalating violence, and absurd desperation as the duo fights to survive before becoming victims of their own incompetence.

The film hinges on the volatile dynamic between Steve and Morgan — Steve, the tightly wound strategist, and Morgan, his physically imposing yet strangely tender counterpart. Together, they form a partnership that is as unsettling as it is oddly intimate, anchoring the film’s escalating chaos in a twisted but sincere sense of loyalty. Equal parts tension and dark humor, the film explores morality, devotion, and the unsettling idea that even the most monstrous people are capable of genuine connection.

The film had its festival premiere in Los Angeles in December 2025 at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival, where it went on to win the Outstanding Cast Award, an early signal of Andrews’ confident command of both performance and direction. The cast includes Andrews himself as Steve, alongside Andrew Merrigan as Morgan and Conni Miu as Carissa. Miu, known for her roles in Priscilla, The Boys, and FOX’s breakout hit DOC, also serves as producer on the film, marking her first producing credit and the debut project for Bap House Productions, the independent company she co-founded with Andrews.

Inspired by the real-world concept of body brokering and the moral loopholes surrounding it, Andrews cites filmmakers like Martin McDonagh, Edgar Wright, and Quentin Tarantino as tonal influences, blending violence with wit and emotional truth. At its core, The Butchers is a story about connection and about two deeply flawed men who cling to each other as their only source of understanding in an unforgiving world. Through recurring animal imagery and tightly controlled chaos, the film asks audiences to confront uncomfortable questions about nature, morality, and whether empathy can exist alongside monstrosity.

Behind the camera, The Butchers is supported by an accomplished creative team, including Director of Photography Michael Hitoshi Maddeaux, Canadian Screen Award-winning composer Rachael Johnstone, editor Kevin Tuck, and production designer Magali LaFleur. The project also features an original song, Remains by Grammy-nominated songwriting duo Jenna Andrews and Stephen Kirk, whose global credits include BTS, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, and Sabrina Carpenter. As Andrews continues to pursue increasingly complex acting roles, The Butcherssignals a decisive expansion of his creative ambitions. With this debut, he demonstrates a keen ability to guide performances, shape tone, and balance genre with emotional depth, laying the groundwork for a promising future behind the camera. He is currently developing his first feature film, By Design.

See the Short Film:

(Photo/video credit: Shawn Goldberg/BAP House Productions)