Hidden Treats Day 1: Indigenous Cast Talk Maintaining Relationships While Avoiding Monsters
Heather Buckley
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Over the next three days, as we close out October, we thought we’d shine a little light on a trio of films we encountered earlier this year during the Tribeca Film Festival that are still awaiting distribution. Will one or more of them achieve that goal during the upcoming American Film Market? Only time will tell, but in the meantime here’s our first hidden Halloween treat: Indigenous.
It’s the horrifying tale of tourists lost in the Panamanian jungle who are hunted by a carnivorous beast of urban legend—the chupacabra.
Directed by Alastair Orr and written by Max Roberts, the 2014 film posits that the legendary creature is real, lives in the jungles of Panama, and, much to the dismay of the group of Americans that it encounters, has broadened its palate from goat blood to human flesh. As the project was filmed on location in the jungles of Panama, its young, attractive cast had to perform double-duty, at times carrying filmmaking gear through the exotic terrain of the film’s remote locations.
At Indigenous‘ Tribeca premiere in April, Dread Central talked with nearly the entire cast: Zachary Soetenga, Jamie Anderson, Sofia Pernas, Lindsey McKeon, Juanxo Villaverde, Pierson Fode, and Colombian actress and television personality Laura Penuela. The lively group discussed their roles as friends navigating relationship issues while also trying to avoid becoming a mythical monster’s next meal—and who has the most piercing scream.
Synopsis
A group of friends travel from Los Angeles to exotic Panama for a week of surfing and partying in a lush tropical paradise. Befriending a beautiful local woman in their hotel bar, they learn of a secret jungle hike to a pristine waterfall nearby. A local surfer cautions them strongly against the journey into the dense jungles of the Darien Gap, warning that other gringos in search of the legendary waterfall had mysteriously disappeared into the rain forest, never to be seen or heard from again.
Ignoring his warnings, the Americans convince the woman to guide them to the picturesque waterfall, thinking that they have nothing to fear with a local as their guide. What begins as a fun outing quickly turns terrifying when their guide mysteriously vanishes after a romantic tryst at the falls. As night closes in, the friends realize too late the truth behind the warnings— horrific, bloodthirsty, flesh-eating creatures are now stalking them. The mangled survivors rush to jungle caves for shelter, only to realize they’ve entered the monsters’ lair!
Categorized:News
