Uncork’d Entertainment’s “The Redwood Massacre is coming to DVD and VOD this July, and fans of slasher movies from the ’80s will get their nostalgia on with David Ryan Keith’s homage to these classic gorefests. Keith revealed some of the behind-the-scenes moments from the film in a recent press interview.
Keith said the “The Redwood Massacre” was something he wanted to take on with gusto. “We had just finished shooting are first feature film ‘Attack of the Herbals’ and wanted to charge into another production as soon as possible. I spent years making various short film hoping for that magic knock on the door from some producer offering a big bag of cash and soon realised it was never going to happen. Rather than spend years trying to convince people to try and invest in this kind of film, we decided to finance it ourselves and do the best with what we had,” he said. “Most of my previous short films were horror based so it was familiar territory for me. I spent years as a kid watching all kinds of crazy slasher films so I thought it would be a genre we’d have the best shot producing with a limited budget. I also saw it as our best chance for distribution. I guess deep down we knew if we didn’t take the financial risk of making the film ourselves, our first film would have probably been the last film we ever made! Hopefully The Redwood Massacre will open some doors for us in future productions we want to get off the ground.”
Since the film is a slasher, of course that means there’s a new horror icon to add to the pantheon of killer characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. “We actually commissioned a local company to produce what I thought was an original looking costume. One day before the shoot we received something so bad I couldn’t even bring myself to shoot it. I literally pieced together the costume three hours before the shoot after frantically searching shops for anything that would work,” said Keith. “Luckily we had a pair of dungarees kicking about and Ben Selway, who plays the bad guy, had made some cool sleeves out of old belts. The only thing I had to find was a generic top which ended up being an old hunter’s shirt you can buy in any outdoor clothing store in Scotland. The masked was made by a U.S company called The Grim Stitch Factory. The guy who makes these masks definitely has a skill for producing disturbing props that were just perfect for what we were trying to achieve.”
The film also boasts a strong female lead, someone who isn’t the damsels-in-distress of horror films past. Keith said he wanted the character to be the most relatable. “We really wanted someone that would question what was going on. Generally in these types of movies, the cast have to be quite silly, even stupid to get into the situation they do,” he said. “Lisa Cameron who played the lead female character has a very natural personally on and off the screen, we wanted her to be the most grounded of the cast. We wanted at least one character the audience could relate to when all the crazy stuff starts to happen. It was also a bonus she was up for being beaten up and thrown about a location covered in bird mess.”
“The Redwood Massacre” comes to DVD and VOD July 7. What do you think about the film? Give your opinions in the comments section below, and take a look at some photos from the film in the gallery below!
