A Horde of EVIL Won’t Stop a Father from Seeing His Child for the First Time. “Day Zero” reviewed! (Well Go USA / Entertainment)

Posted by Steven Lewis on July 16, 2023

“Day Zero” on Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment

Convicted on charges of assault, ex-special forces and all-around big guy Emon looks to keep his nose clean, banking off his good behavior to get him released from prison to see his wife and child, who he has never laid eyes on since being incarcerated. When trouble finds him behind bars, Emon loses his chance with a dismissive warden until a mutated dengue fever virus sweeps through the city. The virus turns people crazed and blood hungry, quickly engulfing the populated city and streets with chaos that fortuitously, as well as unfortunately, sets all the prisoners free in a tumultuous fight between the living and the infected dead. Emon must battle through to save his family trapped inside their multi-storied apartment building but inside the dark, densely-packed corridors, the structure is infested with infected with not many places to hide and not much room to evade the bite of the hungry dead.

A running Z-charged, fight-for-your-life thriller hailing from the Philippines with “Day Zero,” the sophomore feature length film from brothers Joey De Guzman, the director, and Ays De Guzman, the screenwriter. “The Ghosting” director, Joey De Guzman, revs up the slow-motion and high-octane gunplay and the barreling running zombie action set to the tune of a “28 Days Later” type virus that quickly spreads through the one of major metropolises of the Pilipino microcosm. Ays De Guzman, authorial designer of a few independent Pinoy horror of the past decade with the horror-comedy “Da Possessed” and the dysfunctional family thriller “Santigwar,” Ays bends himself down a different avenue of anxiety-gear terror that taps into a semblance of Zack Snyder caffeinated zombie-violence. “Day Zero” remarks the return of the “Rabid” producing team of Glenn Mark Salamat, Michaela Reyes, and Stacy Bascon under the production banners of Reality MM Studios and Regal Entertainment.

Speaking about Zack Snyder, I’m convinced hiring a leading man who looks like a Dave Bautista doppelganger playing a large-and-in-charge ex-special forces is undoubtedly derived from Snyder’s 2021 “Army of the Dead.” Also, a shaved head doesn’t help avoid the lookalike image as Brandon “The Truth” Vera exits the mixed-martial arts arena for greener, lower-impact pastures of the picture business. The Filipino-American made his feature film debut in 2018 with BuyBust, a narcotics bust and drug war shootout actioner filmed in Manila, going back to his heritage roots to be featured in homegrown productions. Vera’s latest bout with action “Day Zero” has ingrained much of the same hand-to-hand and weaponry discharging skirmishes except with zombies. Much like Bautista, Vera’s a broad shouldered, big dude and he’s massive in the tight corridors of the building interior sets yet the former arena fighter just doesn’t bring his large and imposing presence to the screen, he also brings his agility and grace choreographing complex tussles with the forsaken fiends trying to feast on him and others. Amongst the axe slashing, neck breaking, face impaling, and gunplay galore, Vera also shows his softer side being a puppy-eyed father attempting to connect with his 7 to 8 year old daughter for the first time and rationalize with her on why he didn’t want her to see him in prison. The softer side of the Emon incorporeally clashes with the rough and ready former special forces kill machine, diluting his character by pulling him in different directions that never consummated a mesh of the two sides. Instead, we’re delivered a better arc in his wife Sheryl (Mary Jean Lastimosa, “Santigwar”) with initial discomfort with Emon’s troublesome woes only to then understand his internal hardships. Coming out on top after injury over injury, Sheryl becomes a survivor for not only her deaf daughter but also for Emon who has finally made it back into their lives. Because the Republic of Philippines is geographically limited, “Day Zero” has a relatively convey Pinoy cast that have crossed paths on previous projects; these actors and actresses include Pepe Herrera, Freya Fury Montierro, Yohance Levi Buie, Joey Marquez, Jema Galanza, Ricci Rivero, Shermaine Santiago, and Jovit Moya.

“Day Zero” is enjoyable, zombie destroying cannonade without the supplements of a patient zero other than radio chatter on the dengue fever mutation. The well-traversed plot doesn’t ring any originality bells and adds nothing new overall to the zombie canon in what’s simplistically a good-ole fashion romp of the routine. What Joey De Guzman renders well is progressing the intensity from a slow setup of familiarizing ourselves with Emon and his family to turning up the volume on the convulsing savagery between the rampaging infected and Emon busting out his full-on commando skillset that can eliminate scads of a charging herd. Guzman’s able to deliver fast action and decent camera work with some satisfying scenes of sanguine splatter. The sound design of the zombie war cry hones in on the maddening and frightening being cornered and out of options as survivors scatter in a deemed-derelict apartment building with junk-riddled hallways and sturdy but thin cardboard doors, the latter may denote poor set design, but the overall look and feel of enveloping darkness and cluttered walking spaces makes “Day Zero” have that original Resident Evil 2 environment atmosphere to a point. By no means am I comparing “Day Zero’s” acclaim to the popular 90’s sequel of iconic survival horror but the narrative also plays into a similar storyline scenario which, ironically enough, is more parallel to the franchise than Paul W.S. Anderson’s adaptations aside from the lack of a diabolically Umbrella corporation. Guzman shows his influencing hand with his latest venture and comes out unscathed with a tachycardia zombie-action movie that won’t flatline on you.

Not the usually novel, alternative horror Well Go USA Entertainment has released onto Blu-ray as of late, but “Day Zero” is no zero on our book with its nonstop, large scale, and gripping action on a limited budget. The AVC encoded, high-definition 1080p, BD25 is presented in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. Graded with a grim cinereal of cadet blue and turquoise, the image has a nipping and snappy delineation within the heavily shadowed interiors with exteriors often bright but still greatly detailed and contoured for depth. No issues with the format storage and transfer compression within those shadowy compartments that amply decode, or rather unload, the visual markers, perhaps aided by the limited color scale. The Filipino, mixed with a smidgen of English, DTS-HD 5.1 track has immense depth surrounding the zombie war cry, hitting those rear channels nicely for distinct localization. Though a lot of action is in confined spaces, depth also translate well to other environmental aspects of the sound design. Muzzle fire has a brawniness with a consistent impact complimenting the nonstop action. Dialogue is clean, clear, and intelligible with optional, error-free English subtitles in synch with the narrative flow. Usually, Well Go Entertainment releases have promotional behind-the-scenes and interviews, special effects insight, or something in the bonus features content but, alas, this particular release only sees itself into our players with the film’s trailer on the static menu. Same goes with the omitted slipcover that was present in their two previous horror releases. The Blu-ray is housed in a standard snapper case with Vera peering intently forward overtop a near silhouette of an apocalyptic Pinoy street with an odd, near-skeletal figure at the top right adjacent to Vera’s right shoulder and standing on a roof. This particular, pretty-cool designed character is not in the film. While the front cover can grab a prospective buyer or renter’s attention, the back cover diminuendos “Day Zero’s” appeal with a prominently goofy, white-eyed infected in the middle looking stupor than scary. Inside, an advert tableau of other Well GO USA distributions, such as Donnie Yen’s “Sakra,” “The Tank,” and Jackie Chan’s “Ride On,” fill the insert section, which may vary per batch made. Pressed disc art resembles “Evil Dead” with a red background and a profiled hand reaching upward. Region A locked, the feature comes not rated at 82 minutes long. “Day Zero” is my first Filipino horror film experience in nearly four years with the last being 1971’s “Beast of the Yellow Night” and continues to always be a pleasing sit-down with its taste for terror no matter how hackneyed or homage traced.

“Day Zero” on Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment

Survival Doesn’t Always Rely on the Obvious EVIL. “Among the Living” reviewed! (Dread / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on March 1, 2023

“Among the Living” on Blu-ray home video at Amazon.com. Click the Blu-ray Cover to Purchase!

In a post-viral outbreak world, Harry and his little sister Lily backpack from their mother’s house to the father’s rural home. The journey requires a long hike through the English countryside and mountainous terrain, avoiding marauding thugs and the savage infected who have a keen sense for sniffing out a single drop of blood. Pitching a tent every night becomes their only way of shielding them from the hungry eyes of both sides of the outbreak spectrum. When Lily becomes injured, they bump into the rigid survivalist Karl and boy Tom who provide them refuge for a few days. Harry can’t scratch the itch that Karl isn’t a good man and pursues out into the woods looking for a new place to take shelf with Lily. Harry has various run-ins with the infected and the unaffected that possibly clue him into who Karl really is and why the man with the hammer has been terribly obstinate and hardnosed. Suspicions and tensions spill out between them that leave Harry no choice but to take matters into his own hands and save Lily and Tom from a suspected killer.

Let’s preface this review by saying “Among the Living” is one of the bordering maybe undead, maybe not genre flicks that will continue the polarizing debate amongst fans on whether the infected are just that, infected and crazed, or are akin to the sprinting-zombie-like flesh-eating thing that Danny Boyle has put on the table ever since “28 Days Later.” “Among the Living” is very similar to the successful 2002 film that is also bred from the United Kingdom and began, or at least put in high gear, the running zombie revolution that continues to this day. Writer-director Rob Worsey, who was approx. 8 years of age when “28 Days Later” was released theatrically, channels his best Danny Boyle energy while on a budget with the first feature film released last year. As the short film cinematographer transitions into his first feature directorial, Worsey challenges himself to on a large-scale story done on a minimalist level of one brother and sister’s perilous venture to dad’s house and still sustain, to the viewer, that world-ending impression without a ton of background actors, a handful of principal characters, and a wooded, rural location away from large cities or even small municipalities or villages. “Among the Living” is also the first full-length producing credit for Worsey along with fellow producers Oliver Mitchell and Kate Humphries, Worsey’s Wife, under Worsey and Mitchell’s cofounded Relic Films production company.

“Among the Living’s” cast is centered around four characters in an intimate show of dichotomous dynamics between the age differences. Dean Michael Gregory and Melissa Worsey perform in their introductory feature film roles as on the younger side brother and sister, Harry and Lily, who have departed home in search for their dad living in the English countryside. Melissa Worsey, along with Leon Worsey, as the boy Tom, are director Rob Worsey’s younger siblings who both have had roles in their older brother’s short films. The fourth amongst the living is the acting veteran of the bunch by the name of George Newton. “The Slayers” and “Tales of Creeping Death” actor brings forth Karl’s harden chops to be a wary survivalist, especially when coming across Harry who immediately is dishonest with Karl about his own situation. A triggered defense mechanism activated by his inexperience to survive outside the comforts of routine, Harry must use what’s at his disposal in order to protect his younger sibling, Lily, from the horrors she’s seemingly insouciant to, but with Lily’s hurt leg and Karl’s seasoned ability to see through lies, Harry has no choice but to bunk with Karl and Tom, a pair we don’t initially know yet if related or otherwise. Like most older brothers, Harry has something to prove not only to Karl but to himself when it comes to protecting his family and that leads to the constant suspicion of Karl with his ability to setup minor, debilitating traps, handle himself in combat against the infected, and modestly peacock his confidence and surety to handle what’s thrown at him. George Newton’s style is perfect for this type of resolute survivalist and Dean Michael Gregory pairs well the lesser, inferior model of protection perfection as he struggles, mentally and physically, to care of what needs to be done. Lily and Tom often feel like a waste of value story space as their teenage antics are not mischievous or even hormonally driven but the way the characters are written and the way Melissa and Leon Worsey address the minor half can only be described is innocently nonchalant. Instead of sheltering in place, staying safe from the infected, or being curious about the cataclysmic change that is happening all around them, Lily and Tom throw the ball around in broad daylight, sneak out at night to check out a beautiful light display, or just dawdle around the forest in a contrary manner until something bad comes their way. “Among the Living” rounds out the supporting cast with Alexander King (“Chesterberg”), Rob Humphries, Gary Stead, Emily Rose Holt, and Emma Wise.

Much like the shark with their rapierlike olfactory, Rob Worsey’s infected can smell a droplet of blood from a faraway distance. The scent sends a guttural roar of excitement into the air before they run full speed to track down the injured prey, but this doesn’t mean the infected are incapable of seeing or hearing the unaffected; the blood scent is an additional hunt tactic Worsey supplements one of the more frightening genre creatures to existed – a wild-eyed, running and rampaging, flesh-eater. For Worsey’s world where chaos reigns with savagery from all sides, there didn’t appear to be a significant threat from the infected as Harry and Lily, as well as Lily and Tom, tramps through less-thicket forests, setup their flimsy camping tent in conspicuous places, and the infected a scarce despite their instant presence as soon as blood is spilled. To the viewer, survival seems easy-enough as there is no sense of a Darwinian theory or a predatory hierarchy to warrant concern – just don’t scrape your knee and everything will be dandy. Of course, scraping the knee comes easy to accident prone Lily as she becomes the device to ring the dinner bell and put her and her brother into constant danger. Where Worsey succeeds better is within the interactive drama between young, green-horned survivalist Harry and older, saltier survivalist Karl as Worsey’s able to delineate suspicion and misdirect assumptions to create a barrier that Harry can’t climb over in order to befriend Karl to the fullest and like a new to the force detective trying to solve his first case, Harry eager wants the pieces to fit despite not completing before his due diligence of gathering facts, truths, and evidence. A dubious Harry keeps the viewers on the edge until the very end when the revelation is known what kind of man Karl really is among the living. As far as zombie/infected films go, “Among the Living” doesn’t offer much in the way of something new, especially with the same adult man and teen girl narrative we’ve seen before but is only the backdrop to the bigger picture of trust and betrayal when faced with desperation and we get more of the latter from Rob Worsey’s debut film than really anything else.

Dread Central presents an Epic Pictures’ Blu-ray release of “Among the Living.” The AVC encoded, 1080p, high-definition BD50 carries with it an IMAX extended widescreen 1.90.1 extended aspect ratio and the image is lush with foliage bursts, leaving the contours of the terrain clearly visible as much of the narrative takes place in the forest or the picturesque rolling hills of the English countryside. Muted colors often run the show to convey a darker toned theme but are graded naturally. Jordan Lee’s cinematography isn’t exactly exciting but delivers a balance of contrast between brilliant lighting and keeping the black voids nice and inky, leading to note no obvious compression issues on the disc as well. The Blu-ray comes with two audio options – a UK English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and a Dolby Stereo 2.0. I couldn’t really distinguish between the two channels suggest that the girth of soundtrack, ambience, and dialogue are primary funneling through a two-channel output, leaving depth confined to the same space, and there’s hardly any range to speak of when it’s just characters in the woods for the length of the film with only their wits about them. Dialogue is clean and clear despite some hard to follow regional dialect, but there are English SDH, as well as Spanish subtitles, available. Special features include a director’s commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew interviews, Rob Worsey’s “Bee Sting” short film horror, the theatrical trailer, and Dread trailers for “Tiny Cinema,” “Midnight,” “Bad Candy,” and “Tin Can.” The physical release comes in a standard Blu-ray snapper with a composite cover art of characters in mute greys, blacks, and blues. The region free release comes not rated and has an 85-minute runtime. Rob Worsey’s bland, derived horror doesn’t impede the complexities of social disorder during a state of anarchy as the filmmaker seeks to subtly show the world crash and burn and those unwittingly turning a blind eye to the unconventional compassion until it’s too late.

“Among the Living” on Blu-ray home video at Amazon.com. Click the Blu-ray Cover to Purchase!

The EVIL In Our Past Will Forever Plague. “Ever After” reviewed!

Posted by Steven Lewis on January 15, 2020

A plague has decimated the world, turning citizens into crazed, flesh eating zombies. In Germany, only two cities have survived the devastating apocalypse the last two years – Weimar and Jena. In Weimar, the infected are immediately eradicated on site without exceptions. In Jena, compassionate individuals strive for a cure for the diseased. Weimar residents, Vivi and Eva, sneak out of the authoritative camp for their own personal reasons and flee toward Jena’s safe-haven policy in hopes for a better way of life, but a perilous journey through the horde occupied Black Forest stands in between them and salvation. Without weapons, food, and one liter of water between them, chances of coming out unscathed are slim-to-none as long as nothing separates them from assisting their survival.

Based off the illustrated graphic novel of the same name written by Olivia Viewig, “Endzeit,” also known as “Ever After” in the English translation, hits the big screen in the 2018 film adaptation under the orchestration of a female, Sweden-born director Carolina Hellsgård as her sophomore feature with Viewig herself providing the script treatment. With pop culture entrenched and seemingly an extension of herself, Olivia Viewig is by trade a German cartoonist best known for her quirky “Why Cats…” series, a children’s book author, and regularly contributions to the world of Manga to which she was influenced. Viewig then turned to horror with “Endzeit” that served as a graduating studies project that earned her a University degree in 2012. The initially 72-page full-length comic became extended six years later in 2018 by a major German publisher named Carlsen and served as the basis of the script for the film about to be covered below that’s a coming-of-age film that also symbolizes passing of the torch for two young and dissimilar women scrambling between two opposing worlds with a common calamity.

Initially, “Ever After” focuses around the immense struggles of a shut-in named Vivi, a character instilled with paralyzing fear and guilt that has more or less clinically diagnoses her as an extreme agoraphobic whose been hasn’t stepped outside the last two years ever since the plague occurred. “Nothing Bad Can Happen” actress Gro Swantje Kohlhof envelopes herself as the “weakling” her character is ascribed by hardened and callous Weimar survivors, but as Kohlhof evolves Vivi’s fragile resolve into something more concrete, Kohlhof also opens a little more trait range for Vivi when she is finally pushed across the threshold of letting go her fear and guilt. Eva can be said as Vivi’s hard-bitten muse whose looking for a softer slice of life and as Eva becomes engulfed in Vivi’s massively sheltered circle by chance, the former Weimar grunt is able to crack through the hardened exterior and let someone like Vivi into be a calming force in her own anxiety riddled interior. Maja Lehrer compliments as the aggressor in an encouraging pair of diverse female characters driven by their regrettable past to never look back on it and keep moving forward to a better prospect that’ll wash their souls clean. Haired tied back tight, form-fitting mercenary-esque clothing, and a self-preserving attitude to match, Lehrer rounds Eva out well to arch her role hard when Vivi is ready to take the reins as an apocalyptic ranger of the Black Forest. In the forest, Vivi and Eva encounter a mystical being, a half-breed of sorts between living and dead, who doesn’t have a name but goes by The Gardener is played by Denmark actress Trine Dyrholm. Since “Ever After” references quite a bit about nature taking the world from man, I’d like Dyrholm represents Mother Nature as the character invites Vivi to her abundant tomato green house, a serene scenery of low-hanging fruit trees, and the character herself has vines and leaves growing out of the side of a human face and can temporary restore or extend life to a person. Vivi and Eva’s brief encounter prompt’s a change in them both that defines their destiny going forward toward Jena. The cast rounds out with minor roles from Barbara Philipp, Yuho Yamashita, Amy Schuk, Axel Warner, Muriel Wimmer, and Ute Wieckhorst.

If you’re looking for blood, “Ever After” is not that kind of zombie film that glorifies the flesh chomping violence but rather utilizes the violence as a motivator for Vivi and Eva to embark from safety, but that isn’t to say the sheer zombie terror is omitted or even diluted. The mass of running undead continues to be a force of concentrated fear with heart pounding side effects, much carried over from Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Late” and Zack Synder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” and director Hellsgård seldomly relies on a crazed horde to be the mindless exploit of “Ever After’s” core message. Instead, the story clearly defines the growth and understanding Vivi and Eva as individuals and as part of something more, taught in part by their short time with The Gardener, and a highly reflective poignant past that ripples through their memory banks over and over again. Their ambitions nearly shot from existence at the beginning of the apocalypse to the start of their Black Forest voyage have found harmony in letting the past be the past by the end of the story. Once could call it a coming-of-age to see the two women elevate themselves from a place of inner turmoil and, in my opinion, the two women part of that is greatly important because “Ever After” is almost, about 95%, completely female cast driven. So, not only is the story a coming of age one, but also speaks upon self-reliance and empowerment for women.

The swotted comic of Olivia Viewig gains a visual odyssey amongst the undead catalogue with a Blu-ray release of the Das Kleine Fernsehspiel and Grown Up Films production, “Ever After,” distributed by MVDVisual and Juno Films. Stored on a BD-25 and presented in an anamorphic widescreen of it’s original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, “Ever After’s” 1080p full high definition image is sleek to every sensory receptor in the eye and captures the topographic thickets of Germany landscapes in grand wide angles. There is not a lot of tint work here, if any, and relies much on the luminescent and glowing beauty of natural light. The German language DTS-HD 5.1 master audio sufficiently taps into all five channels without overbearing results from zombie hordes. Instead, the focal points here discern more on the tiny tunes and tones of nature. Also included in the setup is an option for a 2.0 LCPM Stereo Audio track and English subtitles, which appear accurate but are hastily paced. Other than a static menu, the region free, 90 minute runtime release bares no special features other than the trailer. “Ever After” is an ascension from within the very weary genre oeuvre, encouraging the strength to stomach guilt and fear as important, but presently irrelevant if one wishes to change with a world that has redesigned around them.

Purchase Ever After on Blu-ray! Click the Cover to buy!

Its Bloggin’ Evil Interviews I Survived a Zombie Holocaust’s Harley Neville!

Posted by Steven Lewis on November 2, 2016

“Harley Neville is an Actor, Poet and Producer, his feature film credits include supporting roles in Second Hand Wedding and Older as well as lead roles in the films Ghost TV and most recently I Survived a Zombie Holocaust in which his performance received rave reviews from critics. Harley is one half of the filmmaking duo ‘Pigville Productions’ alongside Writer/Director Guy Pigden, together they have been creating content for 17 years, including two feature films. They are also YouTubers with 20,000 subscribers and more than 11 million views.

As a poet Harley has performed at TEDxRuakura and is a 2016 Auckland Slam finalist and his poems continue to find an audience online.”

I wanted to say first that I’m a big fan of “I Survived a Zombie Holocaust” (as you can my positive review here) and all of its actors and crew.

Lets get this interview started:

How were you approached (or coerced) to star in “ISAZH?”

Guy and I had been creating content together for about 10 years by the time we applied for the funding so the character was actually written with me in mind to play it, however that didn’t guarantee me the role, Guy had a say in the casting but ultimately it was the Producer that needed to be convinced and from her perspective I wasn’t necessarily the best person to carry a feature film, I was relatively inexperienced and I think that being ‘Guy’s friend’ actually worked against me because that was all the Producer could see when she looked at me. However I did 2-3 auditions and managed to convince everyone that I was the man for the job. The stakes were quite high for me because if I didn’t get the role of Wesley Pennington then there wasn’t really any other roles that I would have been suitable for, I would have been relegated to a small one or two line part.

Was funding very difficult to obtain for this zombie-comedy?

Yes it was, in fact it is the only funding we have ever received for any of our productions in nearly 17 years of filmmaking, it was a long, drawn out process that required a very in-depth proposal, we had to do a full budget as if we had the money already, we had to create video content saying who we were and what we had done, mood reels, a full script, character breakdowns etc, it was months and months of full time work.

What did you do to prepare for the role of Wesley Pennington, a dreamer and optimistic horror nerd who has just secured his first job on set as a runner? Comedy seems to come natural for you, did that help Wesley obtain his quirkiness?

I approach acting the same way I approach women, I walk up, I say my lines, and I leave before security ask me to. Just kidding. Mostly. Physically for Wesley I had to lose some weight so I was doing a lot of boxing, I was very poor at the time so my diet mostly consisted of toast, but somehow that worked for me. As far as preparation for the character goes, I like to know my lines inside out so I did a lot of rehearsal with Guy and the other actors, beyond that I simply let Wesley shine through, when the cameras were rolling it was almost as if he was possessing me a little bit..

Did the cast and crew tease you when shooting some of the more embarrassing and awkward scenes, such as your sex scene with Jocelyn Christian?

The cast and crew were far too busy to be giving me grief! We were on quite a tight schedule which meant that everyone always had something important to do, that being said we did all develop a great camaraderie. We actually had to shoot the sex scene twice, so if you look at how hairy my body is in that scene you will notice ‘back hair continuity’ issues, that is because the first time we shot it I wasn’t at full-power hairy because I had manscaped some weeks before the shoot, but when we shot pickups for it months later my body hair was fully grown. If you go back and have a look you will see what I am talking about!

Harley Neville and Jocelyn Christian

Wesley is a very demanding and physical role with a lot of sticky gore effects, was it difficult to stay in character sometimes?

No, it wasn’t really a problem for me to stay in character for a couple of reasons, one was that it was at the time the biggest role I had ever had in my life so I was very happy to be there and took it very seriously, it was important to me that other people on set saw me as a reliable and passionate actor that would get the job done, I also had to prove to the Producers that they had made the right decision!
The second reason I was so focused was because I was personally invested in the production through my relationship with Writer/Director Guy Pigden, I would talk to him outside of the shoot and get the inside information on how things were going and what areas needed more time, so because I understood how time-sensitive the shoot was I did my best to nail every take. There was one take when I got shot in the eye with a brain cannon that was far too powerful and far too close to my head, the lens of Wesley’s glasses popped out and hit me in the eyeball, it felt like I had been punched in the face! I stayed in character as best as I could, however there was no chance of me delivering my next lines, I was in agony, so instead I just whimpered and cringed like Wesley would until they called cut.

How’s working with director Guy Pigden? This was Pigden’s first feature film; how was the director on set as far as confidence, direction, and stylistic creativity? Did you also throw in your two cents into the creativity?

Guy is great to work with, he always has a very strong vision but is also open to suggestions, which can be a difficult combination to find! On set he was confident and was definitely in charge, it was great to see this young, first time Director taking control of hundreds of people, I am very proud of how he held himself. Unfortunately due to the budgetary and time constraints he didn’t get much time for stylistic creativity, often times we were so far behind schedule that he just had to get what he could and move on, fortunately he always found time to rehearse with the actors before a scene which is why the performances are all so great. I put my two cents into the creativity but mostly in the writing process, months before we were on set.

You and Guy seem to have built up a strong relationship in the last 17 years, putting out a self titled mini-series television show together and a weekly podcast amongst other content. How did that relationship come about?

Guy and I met when we were 13, at first he didn’t like me but eventually we became best friends, when were were 16 we shot our first short film, it was a zombie comedy called ‘Superstition Bites’, we filmed it on a Hi8 camcorder and Guy edited it on two VCR’s, after that we continued creating content together and with each project we learned something new and honed our art a little bit more. We continue to be best friends and create content together to this very day.

Neville and Guy Pigden

Why do you think New Zealand horror is so far and few in between or so under the radar?

I think the problem is that New Zealand is a small country at the bottom of the world, we have four million people here so the film industry is actually quite small, which means that securing funding to shoot a local horror is difficult. I think due to our small population the people that hold the purse strings are more inclined to invest in content that is more likely to see a financial return, so we have an abundance of really shit reality shows and very little good, original, scripted local content.

American audiences don’t seem to be enamoured with New Zealand horror. What did the “ISAZH” team try to accomplish to appeal to audiences Stateside, if any?

Often times New Zealand cinema tries too hard to be ‘Kiwi’, the result is a lot of cringeworthy content that doesn’t appeal to either international audiences or local ones. We didn’t go into this film with a particular country in mind, we wanted to tell a universal story that happened to be set in New Zealand, ironically I think this is what helped increase our appeal to American audiences, the USA is the place where ISAZH has been the most widely distributed of any country so far, in fact it is playing on Showtime at the time of this interview which is a premium cable channel.

What can you tell us about “No Caller ID?” Do you think the story will go from short to full feature if received well?

No Caller ID just screened at Screamfest in Los Angeles, I attended and it was an amazing screening, people seemed to really love it. It was so nice to see a cinema full of people jumping and screaming on cue. The reviews have been universally excellent, the worst rating we have had so far is 4/5 Stars.
The interesting thing about ‘No Caller ID’ is that it is actually part of our second feature film ‘Older‘ which will be out in 2017. Older is a Drama/Romance about an aspiring filmmaker that released his first film and it was a smash hit, however despite it making a lot of money it was critically panned, and he hates it. We needed to show a couple of scenes of this ‘film within a film’ but instead of shooting just a few scenes we decided to shoot a standalone short film with the hope that it would turn out well and we could submit it to festivals. We succeeded! I don’t think the story will ever be developed into a feature film, but never say never!

YYou, Jocelyn, and Guy have teamed up once again with “No Caller ID.” Was this because of the chemistry with “ISAZH?”

We teamed up with Joce again because she is a great actor, easy to work with and a good friend of ours, she actually went to high school with us and starred in our second ever short film when we were 17, Guy and I really wanted to find a way to get her into ‘Older’ and we realised a great way to do that would be to cast her as the lead in ‘No Caller ID’

Are there horror projects coming up in the near future for Harley and team?

We are still deciding what our next project will be but there is talk of shooting a horror set in the world of New Zealand gang culture, watch this space! If people would like to keep an eye on our future projects please go to the Pigville Productions Facebook page.

What are your top three horror movies of all time?

I really enjoyed Rec, 28 Days Later and The Grudge (Japanese version)

I appreciate your time in between being a producer, actor, writer, poet, and a great beard enthusiast. Would you like to add anything in conclusion?

Guy Pigden and I do a weekly podcast called The Guy and Harley Podcast, it is about love, life and loss in the pursuit of filmmaking glory..

If people would like to keep up with my career please add me on Facebook and subscribe to us on YouTube.

Thanks!

Harley

“I Survived a Zombie Holocaust” trailer

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“Older” trailer

The Counselors Face an Evil Murderous Rage. “Summer Camp” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on August 27, 2016

Four camp counselors prepare a woodsy, dilapidated living quarters a couple of days before their anxious campers arrival. As the preparations seem to be going as scheduled, a sudden violent rage takes over the head counselor with the eyes turning severely bloodshot and a bloody-black ooze seeping from the tightly grit mouth. The isolated camp structure that should bring joy and excitement to young children becomes an unescapable labyrinth for the counselors when the local transient residents fall also to the murderous madness. Trust between the terrorized counselors thins as none of them have an idea how the infection transmits. Without an operational phone or vehicle, the surviving counselors can only count on themselves to flee and fend from a fury seeking to massacre them all.

When first hearing of Alberto Marini’s inaugural co-written and directed film entitled “Summer Camp,” a vivid portrait of radiant sunshine, lake canoes, bow and arrow games, and lots and lots of children campers naturally come to the forefront of mind – basically, “Salute Your Shorts” pops right into the old “cabeza,” even in front of slasher genre fave “Friday the 13th” that culturally Hollywood-ized camp counselors, transforming them into unlimitedly horny teens, subjecting campers into hapless victims, and demonizing campgrounds as death camps. And while “Summer Camp” resonates good times in the season’s solstice heat, Marini’s version of camp weaves a craft basket of intense fear.

“Summer Camp” opens to a newscasters voice over reporting that three American counselors have vanished in the wilderness of Spain and are unlikely to be alive at this point of search. The setup already denotes no resolution to the counselors’ fate who make their on screen appearance in the following scene engaged in a trust game the Italian filmmaker had constructed to appear as every horror trope imaginable – a woman running through the woods with a blindfold and hands tied behind her back, a lurking ruffian peeping the counselors from the dense tree lot, and etc. The possibility of horror themed scenarios trickle at the top of a hill, snowballing until Marini decides to sudden plop down a massive, unbreakable brick wall in front of soccer ball size snowball before reaching critical speed, size, and strength for massive destruction. Marini’s a magician by convincing viewers to believe the trick in one hand, yet subtly revealing the real trick in the other and by doing this, a flare of confusion immerses the counselors and the audience in order to keep them guessing at every step of the way.

Continuing with Marini’s script co-written with Danielle Schleif, a contrived portion of many possible triggers that causes the violent behavior almost as if Marini and Schleif used satire to highlight the absurdity of previous zombie or infected films and their numerous infected origins. “Summer Camp” leads you to believe that one of the following three, or perhaps a combination of all three, possible culprits are responsible for spawning deranged and violent behavior. Characters are purposefully shown to be unprotected to the transmission of external blood or saliva, seen drinking the mysteriously broken and recently fixed well water pipes, and being exposed to an unusual after spring pollen buildup that seems to be everywhere. Which element prompts an outbreak? Or is it all three?

When the characters are aggressively possessed, a crossbreed between an “Evil Dead” Kandarian demon possession and a hybrid-rabies strain infected from “28 Days Later” sum up a “Summer Camp’s” possessed state of being. The actors themselves wholeheartedly accepted the role, doubling and switching themselves between normalcy and lunacy with ease. While the story prides itself on being quick to action and fast paced like Danny Boyle’s 2002 film, the characters’ depth burdens no viewer and their ultimate fate will raise no brows. The bare bones character backgrounds only affix their red shirt destiny; yet, Marini has already doomed his own characters for on script stupidity and whether intentionally or not, written to be cursed never qualifies a character to be a likable hero or heroine. When Will knocks out a possessed Michelle, he quickly unlatches his belt that holds up his pants to tie her legs with it and while that seems like a smart idea in the beginning, Will stills needs a way to keep his pants up from falling to his ankles in order to run through a dark dense forest from the numerous possessed individuals lurking about, screaming their lungs out. Will also attempts to unlace one of his shoes to bound Michelle’s hands. Why?! You’re going to need a tight fitting shoe to run through the forest and…oh forget it.

Diego Boneta portrays the unluckiest of the luckiest counselors. As Will, he’s accused of murder and along with being bitten, battered, incised, and even drilled; yet, he manages to still lead the surviving charge even if the odds are against him. The physicality of the role contrasts with Boneta’s character whose short and has a vision disadvantage, but Boneta underneath the skin of his character sports an athletic build as shown from one gratuitous shirtless scene. The dynamic between Boneta, Jocelin Donahue as Christy, and Maiara Walsh as Michelle couldn’t have been any better with decoding the group’s trust issues even until the very end, especially between the tomboy with a mysterious past Michelle and the prissy and uptight Christy. Dynamics stands out as the bright point of Marini’s skeleton script that doesn’t involve many complexities as it does debunking horror tropes.

The Lionsgate distributed the rated-R DVD release of the Spanish horror film has a 16:9 widescreen presentation with a Spanish and English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio complete with Spanish and English subtitles. With an average film runtime of 84, “Summer Camp” maintains just enough endless terror to suffice an entertaining haphazard horror-comedy and that’s about all the entertainment delivered from a DVD with thin extras including only trailers and a digital ultraviolet. The lightweight nature of this release should definitely not deter a viewership, but rather “Summer Camp” should be embraced as an intense and scary gauntlet of escape and survival. A well-fought first time feature from director Alberto Marini and a good showing of faith for a talented young group of actors seeking to imprint their names into horror.