There are plenty of things you don’t want to find lurking in the back of a dive bar. A body, perhaps. A particularly angry rat. Maybe a bloke who has been drinking there since 1987 and now considers the place his sovereign territory.

An old karaoke machine probably wouldn’t make the list. Until it starts killing people.

Bad Karaoke, the feature debut from directors Chris Lightbody and Robert J. Steinmiller Jr., will receive its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 30 at the ODEON Luxe West End. Lexi Underwood, Case Walker and singer Kat Cunning lead a cast that also includes Kate Miner, Jenna Karan, Jonathan Jason Green and Kevin Clayette.

The film follows wedding band keyboardist Emily, who discovers an old karaoke machine in the back of a dive bar and initially sees it as the perfect excuse for a night of singing and bonding with her bandmates. Unfortunately, the machine has considerably more murderous intentions.

Once the singing begins, so does the bloodshed. The group soon discovers that an excellent performance can apparently spare a singer from the machine’s wrath, giving them reason to believe they’ve figured out how to survive. Naturally, that theory doesn’t last long. More deaths and the arrival of a mysterious stranger leave the group trying to work out whether they have any chance of making it through the night alive.

The idea came from the directors’ own experiences with karaoke, which apparently became sufficiently traumatic to inspire a horror film. Lightbody and Steinmiller Jr. say they wanted to play with the idea of karaoke becoming a near-death experience while also attempting to say something about the state of new music. Instead, they made Bad Karaoke.

The film was written by Lightbody and Spencer Yaras, with Lightbody, Steinmiller Jr., Yaras and Brendan Petrizzo among the producers. Tommy Oceanak served as cinematographer and Cori Wapnowska as editor, with District 78 providing the score.

Bad Karaoke will have its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 30.