Exclusive Zombieworld Q&A with Several of the Segment Directors
Staci Layne Wilson
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Zombieworld, presented by Dread Central in association with Ruthless Pictures and Image Entertainment, is a wildly original horror anthology focusing on survivors across a plagued planet as they struggle to overcome horrifying circumstances when a pandemic brings about a zombie apocalypse.
Survivors in a pandemic is nothing new, but our collection of blood, guts, and mayhem is brought to life by a group of new and up-and-coming directors from around the world, each bringing their own flavor to a world populated with flesh-eating corpses.
Related Story: Zombieworld – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
We chatted with several of the filmmakers whose crazy collection of shorts make up one freaky Frankenstein of a zombie flick, and here’s what they had to say:
Tommy Woodard, the director of Dead Stop hails from Portland, Oregon. When asked about how he was approached to take part, he said he pretty much just stumbled upon it. “I was sifting through my morning horror sites, catching up on the latest horror news, when I saw a call for entries for Zombieworld on DreadCentral.com. I had already filmed a zombie short, Dead Stop, a few years back for fun; and I figured I’d enter it in this contest.”
Paul Shrimpton from the UK, whose short Teleportal was selected the same way, says his film “was a bit of a whirlwind shoot. I think we shot over three or four days, and there was a fair bit of blood squirted. It turned out okay considering the peanuts we spent on it. The main actor and actress have since gotten married though so even though she blew his brains out, he didn’t bear too much of a grudge evidently.”
Cameron McCulloch, who wrote and directed Grand Prize winner Home, said the film’s producer, Jesse Baget, approached him. “Jessie saw my film online and emailed me about the film. We had a Skype session where Jessie told me all about Zombieworld. Home had a very successful festival run, and I thought it would be a great opportunity for our little Aussie film to be seen by more people.”
Vedran Marjanović from Croatia said he came onto the project after “someone made a comment on my YouTube channel how we should try to win the contest. Usually I’m too lazy to do those kinds of things, but I checked the link in the comment and decided to send my film [How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse]. A few months later I received the email, and that was it. I’ve checked who send me that link; it was Luna Desoto. Don’t know who that is, but Luna, thank you very much! I haven’t seen the final product yet, but I can’t wait to see how everything looks. It has a bunch of zombies in it so it’s probably awesome.”
Dread Central: What is it about zombies that never fails to entertain horror fans? After all, it’s a trend that just doesn’t die!
Zach Ramelan (Dead Rush): Ha ha, I see what you did there. I think the genre is so interesting because you can really do so much with it. Even though it contains every cliché in the book, I find it fun to harness those and alter them to make the audience not expect what’s coming. At the time of shooting my short… POV zombie stories were very rare to come by. This made it extremely fun for me to direct because I was experiencing it from a completely new perspective.
Woodward: Zombies! See, even the word gets me excited! I believe that the human being is the scariest species on the planet. We have the tendency to do horrific things to other humans, and that’s just when we’re alive. That’s obviously not the case for all of us, but it IS with zombies. They don’t discriminate. Even your nice, sweet, and alive elderly neighbor will chew off your fucking face when she turns and you’re unable to escape. That’s what the appeal is for me: Nobody is safe; every zombie wants to kill you, and the only ally to zombies are zombies. I sure hope the zombie trend doesn’t die, but if it does, I’m sure it will reanimate.
Shrimpton: I don’t know if it is a trend or just a cheap way to include a monster in a horror film. They have pretty much replaced vampires, though, as far as the clichéd horror antagonist. (Vampires were the way to go for a cheap horror creature up until the late Seventies). I think with the advent of ultra-low budget zombie flicks like Zombie 90: Extreme Pestilence, Redneck Zombies, and The Dead Next Door, the floodgates were opened for a plethora of like-minded no-budget movies. Before you knew it, everyone was filming putty-faced people wandering around in a daze chewing on latex innards. I personally prefer monsters in the more traditional (and creatively imagined) sense (Godzilla, The Thing, The Deadly Spawn); but I’m sure that we haven’t seen the last of zombies. Let’s face it; you can’t kill what’s already dead. That said, I do love Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, and the first ten minutes of the Dawn of the Dead remake was probably the most fun ten minutes I ever had in a cinema.
Jonathan Brown (I Am Lonely): I think there’s two reasons. Firstly, they’re a blank canvas to put your own fears onto. The rules for zombies are pretty flexible so you can make them be what you want and represent anything from rampant consumerism to fear of disease. Secondly, they’re a threat you can live with. There’s not like werewolves or crazed killers who don’t give you a second to rest – with zombies you can build a life around them. I think that’s what makes things like 28 Days Later, “The Walking Dead,” and Zombieland work. We live adjusted lives. That was where I took the inspiration for my film from – how would a useless, 20-something handle the zombie apocalypse?
DC: What’s your favorite moment from your film?
Woodward: There are two memories from filming that stand out for me. We filmed Dead Stop at a gas station in the Utah mountains on a Sunday afternoon, but we didn’t have complete control of the location. So, from time to time, we had to stop filming so somebody could fill up or come inside and get snacks. Needless to say, the zombies, blood, and police car got a lot of strange looks! Another funny memory was being approached by a jerky Highway Patrolman. He said that if our picture police car went one inch off the lot, it’s his. He repeated this several times as if I had a problem with my hearing. I assured him that we’d obey his wishes, and he went on his way. Once he was back on the highway where he belonged, I had our picture police car on the street, ready to roll into the gas station. Cue “Breaking the Law”!
Ramelan: Shooting a zombie film on our minuscule budget is completely insane. You’re breaking into abandoned buildings, closing roads without permission, surrounded by 30 people acting like the undead. It is a complete adrenaline rush from start to finish. My favorite moment was when one of the characters (Raven Cousens) gets her head blown off in the front seat of the car. I remember on the day it was over 35 degrees and the four of us were locked in this car. Not to mention we were filming on a public bridge that we clearly had no permission to shoot on. On set we had this very handy device titled the Bloodzooka (which basically fires out a clump of blood at 20 miles an hour), and it was going to fire at the car windshield just as Raven pretends to get shot in the head. Everything was ready, we counted down from 5, and when we got to 1, the Bloodzooka was simultaneously going to fire. Fortunately it worked out. Unfortunately the front windshield of the car we shot in completely shattered, and blood went everywhere. Long story short, even though we destroyed a car, in the end we got a pretty cool shot.
Luke Asa Guidici (Certified): Well, my favorite moments of Certified are all “spoilers” so I’ll give you one of my favorite moments from the making of. It took a long time to find the location where we shot. I visited countless homes and film ranches all around the greater Los Angeles area and couldn’t find anything that would work. Finally I ended up at a house deep in the Topanga Hills. As I drew closer, I was surprised how great it looked from the outside, but I tried not to get my hopes up… Then when I walked in – I could barely contain my excitement. Not only would this location work – it was exactly what I’d envisioned in my mind. I never expected to find anything so perfect. It was all I could do not to scream and jump for joy.
David Muñoz (Fist of Jesus): One day, when we were just returning from shooting Fist of Jesus as the sun was setting down, we found near the road that an old lady farmer had fallen into a ditch trying to rescue her goats who had fallen previously. Another lady, when she saw the car, asked us for help so we stopped and me and Marc (Jesus) got in the ditch. I got the two goats and helped them to come out; meanwhile Marc helped the old lady. It was funny to see finally our Jesus doing a real good action and with a beautiful sunset in the background. And for sure the ladies will always remember Jesus stopping his car and coming to help them!
Jared Marshall and Peter Horn, who did Dark Times, said their favorite moments were, respectively, “Organizing a whole crew of off-season WWII re-enactors to drive around in period Jeeps firing off propane canons from turret-mounted machine guns and playing catch with period baseball gloves between takes,” and “My favorite part of filming was the challenge of making everything look like one continues point of view. Lots of long takes and coordination between cast and crew made it feel more like a live performance than a movie. Everybody did such a fantastic job; I’ll never forget it.”
And you’ll never forget Zombieworld after you see it on DVD or VOD on February 24th!
Zombieworld Release Details:
Image Entertainment, in association with Dread Central and Ruthless Pictures, announces the DVD and digital download release of Zombieworld. The no-holds-barred, post-apocalyptic film will be available on DVD for an SRP of $27.97 on February 24, 2015.
Zombieworld is a collection of short films focusing on survivors across the world as they struggle to overcome horrifying circumstances when a pandemic brings forth a zombie apocalypse. The collection of blood and guts is brought to life by a group of new and up-and-coming directors from around the world, including Adam Myette O’Brien, Adriàn Cardona, Cameron McCulloch, David Muñoz, Jared Marshall, Jesse Baget, Jonathan Brown, Luke Giudici, Paul Shrimpton, Peter Horn, Tomy Woodard, Vedran Marjanovic, and Zach Ramelan. The directors bring their take to a world of mayhem now populated with flesh-eating corpses. Among the brilliant shorts to be included in Zombieworld is Peter Horn and Jared Marshall’s “Dark Times,” a blood-splattered scamper through the woods shot entirely in POV, where zombies, aliens, and even Santa Claus make an appearance.
In Zombieworld there is nowhere to hide…nowhere to run. The zombie apocalypse has come, and our world now belongs to the dead! From Ireland, Canada, Australia, Europe, and all over the U.S., the bone-chilling news reports tell the same gruesome tale: Walking corpses terrorize and devour the living. Only a few desperate humans find the courage to stand and fight for their last chance at survival. But the hordes of undead keep coming, and there’s only one thing on the menu – us.
The DVD will also include the bonus short film “Marathon Apocalypse.”
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