by Estaban Sena
Daily Lobo
Horror movie fans have something to do this weekend.
The Guild Cinema, at 3405 Central Avenue N.E., will be premiering the locally made zombie flick "Necroville," premiering Friday.
The film was shot in Albuquerque and features local actors.
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"We see it as making headway for local independent films," co-director and producer Billy Garberina said in a phone interview.
"Necroville" comes on the heels of local horror films such as the "The Stink of Flesh," "Wedding Slashers" and "Feeding the Masses," all of which have been distributed internationally.
"Necroville" is not your typical apocalyptic zombie film. It centers on the fictitious town of Necroville, New Mexico, where the supernatural likes of zombies, vampires and werewolves are a common nuisance that the townsfolk manage to deal with.
It's a tale of two buddies who quit their day job at a video store to join an extermination squad in Necroville - in order to deal with whatever creepy crawlies need to be dispatched and make ends meet.
"The scariest part of the movie isn't the zombies or gore, but rather the relationship the main character has with his girlfriend," Garberina said.
Within the slew of local actors are UNM alumni Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen, better known as the comedy duo Pajama Men. Chavez is featured as the master vampire and Allen as the master zombie.
Garberina said that he and his team wanted to pay homage to the earlier works of horror directors before them.
"We really want to emulate (Sam) Raimi and (Peter) Jackson, but with a super-low budget," said Garberina.
Raimi is famous for the "Evil Dead" trilogy featuring Bruce Campbell, and Jackson's early career brought "Dead Alive" and "Bad Taste."
Fans of such movies will be delighted to know that J.R. Bookwalter of "The Dead Next Door" fame is linked to the movie as well. Bookwalter owns the video distribution company that released "The Stink of Flesh," which is "Necroville" special effects engineer Scott Phillips' movie.
"I guarantee you that the main vampire will die in a way never shown in any horror movie ever - that is, until now," Garberina said.
He said hard-core horror fans who own thousands of DVDs agree that the ending is unique.
The film offers more than 150 zombies, girl scouts, vampires, ghosts, creepy dream sequences and werewolves for the audience to enjoy. The style and feel of the movie can be described as good-old fashioned "splat-stick."
"It also takes a very good stab at the goth scene," Garberina said.
The trailer for the movie can be found at Necroville.com, along with information on the cast
and crew.
"Necroville" Premier
Guild Cinema
3405 Central Avenue N.E.
Friday-Saturday
10 p.m. and midnight
Sunday
10 p.m.
$7
