Zombietown!

Edgewood Studios continues to churn out highly entertaining and profitable feature films for TV and DVD

Responding to whispering reports of sightings around the state of ghoulish-looking, sometimes blank-eyed persons staggering about in bloody rags have prompted local Vermont film studio Edgewood Studios to release information that they were in production of a horror film in Central Vermont for a few weeks early this summer.  The film, entitled INFECTED, now changed to ZOMBIETOWN., is a collaboration between Edgewood and a Brooklyn, New York based production company; Zapatos Para Todos Productions.

Actor Daniel Hall Kuhn is about to take a bite out of his victim in a scene from the Edgewood Studios/Zapatos Para Todos production ZOMBIETOWN.	A “zombified” resident of Otis,Vermont (Michael J.Valentine) is about to be dispatched by the heros of the Edgewood Studios/Zapatos Para Todos Production, ZOMBIETOWN.

The film, written and directed by Zapatos’ owner Damon LeMay tells a chilling story of the demise of most all of the residents of a small Vermont town.

In the film, Local mechanic Jake La Fond’s life is suddenly disrupted when mysterious parasites transform the law-abiding citizens of his quaint hometown of Otis, Vermont into hoards of cannibalistic zombies.

Isolated from the outside world by an accident on the only road out of town, Jake turns to Alex, a bio-scientist who is unfortunately also his ex-girlfriend, for help. Together they try to solve the mystery behind this rapidly spreading infection. As the town grows deadlier by the moment, Jake’s gun-toting rival, Randy becomes the only one they can trust and the three of them uncover a deadly secret that may be the key to saving the town – if they can survive long enough.

Jake LaFond (Adam Hose) knows that the only good zombie is a dead zombie in a scene from the Edgewood Studios/Zapatos Para Todos Production, ZOMBIETOWN.

Actors, Adam Hose, Brynn Lucas, and Dennis Lemoine look for the cause of the horrific transformations happening to the town’s residents in a scene from the Edgewood Studios/Zapatos Para Todos Production, ZOMBIETOWN.

The cast of the Edgewood Studios/Zapatos Para Todos Production, ZOMBIETOWN are ready for action, (Left to Right) Brynn Lucas, Phil Burke,Adam Hose, and Dennis Lemoine.

The film is the first feature from Mr. LeMay, who grew up in Colchester before relocating to New York City where he co-founded Zapatos with Zorinah Juan who is producing the film with Edgewood executive Mary Beth French. Edgewood owner David Giancola is Executive Producer. The film features an attractive and talented cast of up-and-coming actors along with a few Vermont locals, but the real star of the film seems to be its substantial and ghastly special effects makeup produced by makeup effects wizard Mike Turner at Monster Paint & FX based out of Burlington. Turner, having recently relocated his studio from Los Angeles proved a key partner in bringing director LeMays’ chilling vision to the screen.

The film features the many stabbings, blood, shocks and gore that follow the genre, but even with the obvious exposure of a film set, Edgewood has taken great care to keep the film’s content and key plot points under wraps until it is rated and released. Visitors were restricted to a few authorized media and scripts were numbered and inventoried, some with key pages removed that give away story points. “Fans of this genre want to be shocked and surprised” explained Producer Mary Beth French, “the script had such a unique take on the standard horror conventions with some big story twists that we knew that we had to keep the story under wraps until the film’s release.”

“We weren’t even going to release any press info on the shooting of the film until concerns about the publics’ exposure to some of Monster Paint and FX’s very realistic makeup work ran into some of the actual public,” added Producer Zorinah Juan. Some of the very realistic makeup effects involve the ghoulish and darkly comic use of an ice cream truck for luring zombies to their doom.

ZOMBIETOWN starts off a busy year at Edgewood Studios, one of the continuously operating feature film studios (since 1988) in New England, Edgewood churns out highly entertaining and profitable feature films for television and DVD. The studios release, the disaster/creature feature ICE QUEEN arrived on cable TV and DVD this past summer, while filming of another feature, the sci-fi action/comedy ILLEGAL ALIENS began production at the studio in late July. Edgewood’s films are available at video stores and on the web as well as regularly broadcasted worldwide.

The Edgewood film BEREFT, filmed at Edgewood and the surrounding Rutland County had its debut on DVD on August 16th, 2005. The Showtime Premiere Movie, co-directed by Tim Daly and Clark Mathis, stars Tim Blake Nelson, Edward Herman, Marsh Mason, Vanessa Shaw, as well as Tim Daly. It’s a truly affecting story of one woman’s attempts to cope with the loss of her husband. The film features some of the most gorgeous cinematography every filmed of the Vermont countryside and Emmy caliber performances. You can find it at your local video store. Many are surprised and touched by this great film.

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For more information about Edgewood Studios and what’s currently on their drawing boards, visit www.edgewoodstudios.com.        I