THE REAPER - BEHIND THE SCENES
ENIGMA FILMS PRESENTS ‘THE REAPER’ STARRING DAMIAN BEURER KRISTA GROTTE DRE OGERALLY STORY BY RICK DANFORD PRODUCED BY RICK DANFORD ANDY LALINO NOELAND COLLINS ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS ANTHONY JIMENEZ RICHARD STEVENS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ANDY LALINO DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY NOELAND COLLINS CINEMATOGRAPHER STEVE SNEAD SPECIAL MAKEUP F/X CHRIS POLIDORO & MARCUS KOCH SET DESIGNER EXTREME JEANIA MUSIC BY MARK D'ERRICO EDITING BY RYAN WORKMAN WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY RICK DANFORD
THE REAPER is a short horror film that is also the opening
12 minutes of the upcoming Feature Film ALL HALLOWS EVE. It was Written and
Directed by Rick Danford of ENIGMA FILMS. It tells
the tale of AMBER. She's a woman who lives a dark life as she lures men into her
clutches and robs them of everything she can get her hands on. Some times it
even involves murder if it fits the plan. But her latest victim is something
totally different. AMBER soon learns that there is a price to pay for the life you lead. And
someone is always watching.
Shooting on the film was completed the weekend of July 10th and 11th in and around Tampa Florida. This was ENIGMA FILMS first venture outside of the NIGHTMARE COLLECTION. We had a strong crew consisting of many local filmmakers and industry professionals.
The Special Makeup F/X were created by Chris Polidoro and Marcus Koch who worked together on a short zombie film called AFTERLIFE. Chris also worked along Tom Savini to create the F/X for the as yet unreleased Renegade Films project, THE WEB OF DARKNESS. Their work is top notch and brings the added dimension to the film that has to be in place for it to work.
THE REAPER is the first of
three short films that will fit in with the main wrap around film to create the
ALL HALLOWS EVE Feature Film. This segment is more atmospheric and creepy rather
than in your face gore.
We have
plenty of that with the upcoming 2nd. segment FEEDING TIME and the third short
THE COMING OUT PARTY. But Chris and Marcus get to make their presence felt as
they help make the title character of THE REAPER a little more than your average
'Rising from the dead Serial Killer'.
The film is now complete and made its Tampa Premiere at the COFFEE HOUSE FILM REVIEW in Ybor City on September 9th. ENIGMA FILMS intends to use the short as a promotional tool to help bring the rest of the segments fruition by securing funding. There are already a couple of funding sources in the works and ENIGMA FILMS feels that having the solid script in place as well as Tom Savini, Brinke Stevens, Debbie Rochon, Linne'a Quigley and Tiffany Shepis slated to appear together in the wrap around segment, this puts a formidable package that should help bring this film to life. And now being able to add the first 12 minutes of completed footage we can show the potential investors that we intend to put together a quality project that we expect to be very well received on the 'Straight-to-DVD' front.
T
he
marketing plan for THE REAPER also consists of a Festival run that begins with DRAGONCON and then moves to
the NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL. ENIGMA FILMS hopes that by getting
this film out there it will help drum up excitement for the potential feature
film and raise awareness to what we want to bring to the table.
THE REAPER stars the beautiful and talented Krista Grotte. She also starred in the aforementioned NIGHTMARE COLLECTION as she helped ENIGMA FILMS bring the sexy and sinister NECRO NANCY to life. Krista is a wonderful actress and brought everything and more than the filmmakers were looking for to the table in the role of 'Amber'. She brings beauty and a hard edge to the character that was essential.
'When we auditioned everyone for the role of 'Amber', Krista just blew us away. She can be sexy and down right ruthless all in one beautiful package.' Writer/Director Rick Danford said. 'There was no one else we could see playing the role after we saw Krista's audition'. In the film the role of 'Amber' starts off as a sexy prostitute and then turns into a heartless killer. Krista fit the role to a tee and nailed it from the moment she stepped on the set.
The role of 'Gerald/The Reaper' was
also a perfect fit as local actor Damian Breurer landed it after a stellar
audition.
Damian
first came to the attention of Rick Danford after his short super hero fan film
played at and won the 'Saints & Sinners' Film Festival. Damian is a very
talented actor who constantly kept the set light as he is a wonderful
impressionist and all around funny guy. The fact that he is a strong actor as
well helped him bring the right mixture we wanted in the character.
The 2 day shoot had its share of setbacks but overall it went very well and we accomplished everything we wanted. I think that when it's all said and done THE REAPER will prove to be a fun and frightening excursion that hopefully will generate some excitement for the rest of the film.
ENIGMA FILMS also hopes to work with various web sites to help promote the film as well as the Feature it will be featured in. You will also be able to see THE REAPER at the upcoming HALLOWEEN HORROR PICTURE SHOW in Tampa.
More information will come your way as it becomes available and look for the film at a Festival or web site near you in the coming months.