Northwest Ohio has become a habitat for horror films over the past few years. Everything from slasher flicks and creature features to zombie movies have recently been created by local filmmakers. Soon enough, Toledo will have a vampire film trilogy to call its own thanks to local director Chad Zuver, creator of the New Blood series. The second film of the series will premiere at the Maumee Indoor Theatre in August, and a campaign is underway to raise funds for the third production of the series.
Vampiric origins
The New Blood series began with the release of New Blood Rising in 2014, which is available to screen on YouTube. It tells the story of a dwindling family of vampires looking to restore their bloodline in a small town. “I’ve had the idea since 2012 for the film,” explained Zuver. “We started filming it in 2013.” Zuver’s company, Shattered Image Films, he co-founded with Holland-Ohio native Allan Meyette in 2013.
New Blood Awakening, which follows a handful of humans looking to survive after the events of Rising, will premiere at the Maumee Indoor Theatre on August 22. “We filmed Awakening last summer. Right before production I got the idea for Descending, and started writing that. We’ll start filming that this fall,” said Zuver.
Funding The Descent
Descending will start filming this fall, with support from a current IndieGoGo campaign. This isn’t Zuver’s first crowd-funding venture; Awakening also had an IndieGoGo campaign. “Descending is doing much better so far,” with more than $1,900 raised, “and over 35,000 people have visited the crowdfunding site,” according to Zuver. Along with a host of talented Toledo natives, Descending’s cast includes Child’s Play’s Alex Vincent, The Walking Dead’s Moses J. Moseley, and The Crazies’ Lynn Lowery.
Marketing has also helped get the word out about Descending. Zuver explained, “My producer, Brian Jones, and I made a press release and sent it all over [town], which we didn’t do with Awakening. Brian’s actually helped a lot with marketing, and we’ve been able to do different podcasts and interviews about the films.”
Why are indie filmmakers making horror films? Zuver posits that it’s just the nature of the genre: “With action, comedy, romance, etc., we’ve seen it all, and a lot of stuff is rehashed. Yes, horror can be rehashed, but each person has their own take on what scares them, and that’s always fun to see.”
Find out more about the New Blood series by
visiting indiegogo.com/projects/descending,
facebook.com/newbloodawakening and shatteredimagesfilmsllc.com.
