David Michael Brown's Blog - April 11, 2008
Last time around we looked at the horror films haunting the state of New South Wales. Plenty to look forward to but as we know, Australia is a big place and filmmakers nationwide are turning to our favourite genre.
Queensland is doing very well out of producer Chris Brown. The British veteran who made his name producing The Company of Wolves and Mona Lisa for Neil Jordon is now an Australian resident and has recently finished shooting Daybreakers with the Spierig brothers. The siblings came to our attention with their low budget zombie gore fest Undead and have now definitely moved up the food chain. Daybreakers has attracted such Hollywood luminaries as Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke along with local talent like Claudia Karvan. This futuristic vampire epic promises to be an interesting take on the tried and trusted genre staple. The film will be joined on Brown's resume by Triangle which the producer is shooting later in the year. He is flying in Brit Christopher Smith to direct after the young directors sterling work on the horror comedy Severance.
The Gold Coast will also be the location for a low budget film with the best moniker in town. Goblin Shark Attack, previously known as Malibu Shark Attack, has such a fabulous synopsis that it just can't fail. "When a Tsunami floods the seaside town of Malibu, prehistoric sharks invade the streets and buildings of the town." With a premise like that I'm sure Spielberg won't be losing sleep, it sounds like this will less Jaws and more Tirentora The Great white crossed with Blood Beach. Turkey Shoot legend Brian Trenchard Smith was originally linked to the project.
As we head down the coast to Victoria we find that Jamie Blanks hot of Storm Warning headed to the Mornington Penisula, Victoria, to film his remake of Long Weekend. This time around Claudia Karvan returns to her new favourite genre along with Jesus Christ himself…Jim Cazaviel. The film, once again written by Everett de Roche, will update the storyline but rest assured, the Australian wildlife will be striking back against the beleaguered couple who take a vacation to try and save their struggling relationship. Whether the film takes the nature gone wild motif to the graphically over the top moments featuring the dog in Storm Warning it remains to be seen but its reassuring that Blanks seems happy back on home turf after his brief foray into Hollywood with Urban Legends and Valentine. Victoria is also the base for Daniel Armstrong and Strongman Pictures who have a couple of films in different stages of production. In pre production the team have The Disturbed; which, in an interesting diversion from the norm, they have shot the trailer for to help generate interest and more importantly funds, to complete the film. A zombie film set in an old disused mental institution looks like an incredible stylish and gory ride; let's hope that they get the cash to finish this project. In the meantime the team have From Parts Unknown in post production. The self proclaimed romantic, sci-fi, comedy horror about professional wrestling at the end of the world where technology has gone mad promises everything but a blood filled kitchen sink.
In Adelaide Ian 'James' Colmer is in pre production on The Fury. The production designer, who's work can be seen on the likes of House of Wax and Superman Returns is taking on writing and production duties along with directing the chiller about a group of teenagers who wander into an abandoned slaughterhouse that is haunted by poltergeist. Interestingly enough Calum Sanderson who will be composing the score for the film is also writing, directing, scoring and producing his own film, presently at development stage. The Ghost of Molly Brown, promises to return to the B-grade 70s trash. Molly is brutally murdered so her ghost, along with a zombie named Jack, goes on the hunt for her killer. Another Southern Australian feature in post production is Dark Souls. Directed, written and produced by Patrick. J. Callagher, there does seem to be a lot of multi tasking going on in the industry at the moment! The film tells the story of Carrie Nolan, the only survivor of a vicious psychopathic attack that left three of her friends dead. As the killer closed in; Carrie begins to realise that there maybe supernaturals powers at work.
Finally we have Dead Country, directed by Andrew Merkelbach. The population of a small rural town is turned into zombies when a spaceship carrying toxic waste explodes over the town releasing a deadly virus. The flesh eating tendencies of the townsfolk will spread unless it is stopped by a small group of survivors who must join forces the alien responsible for the mishap.
Well as you can see the horror industry down under is in relatively fine shape at both ends of the budget spectrum. As these projects get released lets hope they generate more local interest in the genre. You never know, maybe some of these will turn up at next years festival.
David Michael Brown's Blog - April 1, 2008
If you flicked on the news over the last week the image of Morris Iemma basking in the glory of his recent tax breaks announcements, mixing with a who's who of the Aussie film industry at Fox Studios you would think the whole industry would be bowing down prolapsed in front of the new saviour of cinema in New South Wales. Let alone the fact that he should have done this years ago and that his previous policies have driven filmmakers from their homes on the hunt for interstate or international work. As the industry does all it can to get the next big Hollywood film onto the Fox lot it seems to have been missed that a large amount of films are still being made in New South Wales and the reason for this oversight? It could well be that the majority of these film's are low budget films in that bete noire of the AFC, the horror genre. A quick glance at what film's are in production at the moment brings up a plethora of blood curdling delights. I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer, The Forest, The Fury, Zombies in Kombies..the list goes on. The success of the likes of Wolf Creek has made the various funding bodies take note of the genre but the chances of them reaching into their pockets to help finance anything with Zombie in the title are a long way off.
So its up to he filmmakers to raise the funds, or pay for it from their own wallets, as was the case with Doug Turner and Stacey Edmonds, the ex pat couple who, following their short film Swerve it Like Merv, put their money where there mouth is to produce the cricket themed slasher film I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer. Featuring a moustachioed killer complete with sharpened stumps, a cricket ball full of nails and nice line in bloodied cricket whites, the film takes its Friday the 13th meets The Professionals motif and runs with it seriously but never forgetting to remember how silly the whole bloody affair is. From it's A Nightmare on Elm Street style opening until the final bloodbath the film, going through the final stages of post production is an obvious labour of love from a couple of Brits who love the Aussie culture.
The Forest, on the other hand, is a far more ominous affair. A quick glance at their Myspace page shows a film where something dark and sinister lurks amongst the gum trees. The director Wayne Dixon promises a film that will "make Wolf Creek look like Dawson's Creek." Nothing like a bit of over exaggeration to excite the film going public and get bums on seats so let's hope this isn't a false promise. Zombies in Kombies looks like it is going for the slightly less serious approach to horror as the synopsis explains. A backpacking American is looking forward to meeting up with the girl of his dreams before an outbreak of zombiism thwarts his rural rendezvous. With his best mate, a team of underperforming Aussie soldiers and a wise old Aboriginal, they are left to find the girl and save the day. Standing in their way though is a town full of the undead and the only thing worse than a Sunday Volvo driver .... Zombies in Kombies! Director Mike Fitzpatrick is planning to shoot towards the end of 2008. One film, while not really a horror film, that will push the boundaries of what is possible on a low budget is director Dwayne Labbe's Kill Car 9. A fusion of Death Race 2000, Speed Racer and the old Spy Hunter video game, the film, using a combination of live action and CGI, Kill Car 9 will use the freeways of New South Wales as a racetrack with a difference. On the action front we also have The Hunt, "Five killers, five victims, one aim…to survive" searching for an audience. The film, directed and written by JD Cohen is presently in post-production.
Mark Hatley's Not Quite Hollywood, a documentary on the halcyon days of the Australian exploitation industry of the Sixties and Seventies may well be coming soon but the fact that elsewhere in Australia we have Daybreakers, Long Weekend, The Fury, Goblin Shark Attack and Acolytes in various stages of completion shows that the horror genre is in no way resting on its laurels.
