Within the decaying and neglected state of the gothic family house, Mary Ann soon discovers that her once highly religious and abusive mother is now secretly engaging in black magic.
Haunting events and emergence of suppressed memories force Mary Ann to unlock secrets of her painful childhood as she journeys through the realms of the dream world, landing in a final confrontation with the Red King.
Director Navin Dev was inspired by real accounts of adult survivors of child abuse and wanted to portray a symbolic, nightmarish world that evoked the psychological horrors they endured.
Visual inspirations for Red Kingdom Rising ranged from Gustav Dore’s fable paintings, artist Mark Ryden’s work, numerous graphic novels to Jaromil Jireš' 1970 film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.
The latter described that 'to most viewers, Joss Whedon's Much Ado won't look much different than an equally well-crafted 16mm film such as Red Kingdom Rising, Navin Dev's 2014 horror adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice novels.'