'Chucky" made him do it.

Ladner's Jason Mills remembers the mid 1980s horror movie with the diminutive, demonic, blue-eyed doll as the one that inspired him to become a film maker.

"It wasn't the scariest movie, but it was the one I always remember wanting to watch," he says.

Decades later, Mills, 26, has brought that ambition to life and is preparing to premiere his latest effort—a horror flick called They Came from the Attic—Oct. 29 at Genesis Theatre at Delta Secondary School (5005 45th Ave.).

The screening is a fundraiser for the Delta Hospital Auxiliary. Tickets are $6, with $1 going to the auxiliary, and are available at the door or from the movie’s web site (theycamefromtheattic.com).

Mills not only directed his new movie, but he also wrote and starred in the film. The story centres on the Hooper family, who move to an isolated farmhouse in a picturesque part of Montana after the tragic death of one of their sons.

The house was a bargain—or so they thought, until the teenage daughter, Jen, starts picking up clues that something isn’t quite right with their home. And as with any classic horror, she’s unable to convince her parents to believe her. Then one night when the parents are out and she’s babysitting her younger brother, Ben, creatures from the attic begin their attack.

They Came from the Attic was shot in and around the Ladner area, and Kirkland House on Arthur Drive stands in for the Hooper’s creepy farmhouse. It also stars some other Ladner talent, with Nicola Elbro playing Jen and Leon Bourikos as Ben.

Mills says he is pleased with the result—a 90-minute movie that with the help of 30 crew members who volunteered their time took 14 days of filming to get in the can.

It also required raising $30,000 raised from family members and his own savings to offset some costs.

The hope now is to regain that investment through sales of the movie which will be available starting Oct. 29 on the movie website.

When not dreaming up ideas for future projects, Mills sometimes enlists the keen imaginations of preschoolers at the Port Guichon daycare where he works part time.

"They're crazy," Mills says of the youngsters. "They come up with all these great creatures."

But there is another film in the works—and guess what, it's a horror story.

"It's a sequel called They came from the attic Part 2," Mills says.

Mills says he’s always been a horror fan, and often dressed up his mom’s house as a haunted house for Halloween.

This year, he is again setting up a display in Ladner (4720 52A Street) on Oct. 31 in using some of the actors and props from They Came from the Attic. Mills promises plenty of scares from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

—with files from Chris Bryan