Adults cowered in fear, anxiously awaiting the next jump scare. People covered their faces, fingers spread just wide enough so that they could occasionally peep at the movie screen while “Freddy vs. Jason” was premiering in theaters­­­ in 2003.

In a room full of terrified adults, as the deranged madmen murdered people in unimaginably terrible ways on the screen, 6-year-old Destinie Orndoff was captivated.

“I never wanted to watch anything else,” Orndoff said.

At the same age, Orndoff watched “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” which would turn out to be her all-time favorite movie on VHS. That Halloween Orndoff dressed as Freddy, and her passion had blossomed.

“My mom had two rules: that I wasn’t allowed to repeat any of it and I wasn’t allowed to do any of it,” Orndoff said of her “obsession” as a child.

Years have passed since Orndoff’s first theater experience, and she has transitioned from a 6-year-old with a passion for horror, to a young adult building her career around the genre.

Orndoff, a junior electronic media major, has appeared in over nine horror films and shorts, including the film she helped write and produce, “Red Eye.”

“As a child growing up and watching all of the movies, it became my biggest dream to be a part of one,” Orndoff said. “I remember thinking of my perfect life as a kid, and that always included being a part of horror movies and being a part of the genre.”

To help accomplish the pricey task of making a movie, Orndoff and her boyfriend Tristan Clay, director and writer of “Red Eye,” created an Indiegogo campaign, which is a website that fundraises for creative projects. They ended up raising a total of $12,314 on the site to go towards the costs of filming their movie.

“Red Eye” was written by Orndoff and Clay when they were 18, and tells the story of “red eye,” who lives in the woods of West Virginia. The inspiration for the movie came from one of the scary stories she would beg to hear from her stepfather as a child.

Based off of a short story she wrote in high school, Orndoff and Clay expanded the idea into a script.

“Where you get the original ideas is from people like us who really love the genre and have known it our whole lives,” Orndoff said. “We’re the ones making stuff that other horror fans want to see.”

To further reinforce her creative freedom in the making of the film, Orndoff and Clay decided to begin their own production company, “Deranged Minds Entertainment.”

“When we found out we wanted to make a movie, we knew we were going to want to try to do it ourselves,” Orndoff said. “We wanted “Red Eye” to be completely our own. We wanted to be our own bosses in a sense.”

After a year of preparation, filming and editing, Orndoff began entering “Red Eye” in film festivals, and the world premiere was at the Gateway Film Center May 26.

“Red Eye” was shown at the Midwest Horrorfest Indiana convention, and the crowd “absolutely loved it” according to Orndoff. “Red Eye” is also going to be distributed on several video-on-demand streaming services, including Amazon and Netflix.

Orndoff’s passion is represented from the pins decorating her backpack to the clothes she wears. The walls of her room are plastered with 80 to 90 autographs from her “heroes,” those involved in the creation of scary movies.

Orndoff has travelled to over 20 conventions, connecting with others who share her commitment to the genre.

“I go to horror conventions all the time to meet people from the movies,” Orndoff said. During her travels, she has been able to meet the entire cast of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” including Robert Englund, the original actor of Freddy Krueger and Linda Blair, the child from “The Excorcist” among others.

Since she has idolized many of the actors all of her life, “it means everything” to her to be able to meet them.

“It’s a lot of stuttering and then crying afterwards,” Orndoff said.

The internet also became a resource for Orndoff to interact with fellow horror movie fans and find common ground with those who share the unique interest.

Orndoff uses her Instagram as another outlet to post more horror-genre related content consistently to her 27,000 Instagram followers.

“Before I got on Instagram, I thought that I was the only one that really liked this stuff,” Orndoff said. “When I found that community on Instagram I really connected with it and it really sparked something to be who I am and embrace it.”

According to Orndoff, “all types” of scary movies from the “goriest and grittiest” to slasher films have been a lifelong passion of hers because they give a glimpse into something she may not have otherwise experienced.

“It’s all these things people don’t get to experience in real life they can experience through horror films,” Orndoff said. “It’s that adrenaline and that thrill.”