In My Blood
Desperate to live up to his father’s expectations, a talented but inconsistent minor league baseball player turns to steroids, igniting a dangerous transformation of body and mind.
Alex Bendo‘s SXSW 2026 TV pilot In My Blood explores the intersection of baseball and horror, following a young player whose ambition and family legacy pull him into the sport’s darkest rituals as he seeks success at any cost. The trappings of sports success can be truly atrocious.
I come from a baseball family. I grew up running my fingers across a chainlink fence, watching my aunt in the outfield and my mother on the pitcher’s mound. I played t-ball. My younger brother played Little League, which meant I spent my formative years living in the dugout. There are photos of me at every age in the stands up against the Green Monster at Fenway. Baseball is in my blood.
Daniel Diemer nails each beat as our protagonist, Jack, with equal parts intensity and vulnerability. His character strives to get the ultimate call, to move up from the minors after a few solid moments in his season. The story comes with unresolved generational trauma and a whole lot of appropriately negative sports culture. Dialogue is clever, laced with clues as to what to expect from Bendo’s narrative, but also emotional abuse, something any sports family will instantly recognize.
Not even three minutes in, and Jack speaks directly to the camera. Perfectly utilized tropes boost the film’s dark visual aura: a flickering overhead halogen, an open doorway, and a cell phone light. The sound editing creates genuine tension. Bravo to the makeup team. There is undoubtedly an audience for In My Blood, and enough meat on the bone for a full season. It is a horror homerun.
SXSW 2026 Watchlist
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