by Jen
One of the highlights of this weekend's Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest was the screening of the new zombie movie I Am Alone, which stars Gareth David-Lloyd. I was fortunate to score an interview with the filmmakers behind this unique project, Robert A. Palmer and Michael A. Weiss of Abstract Forces.
Tell me about your film! I wasn't able to make the screening yesterday but I'm looking forward to seeing it soon.
I Am Alone is a survival horror movie - we're calling it a horrormentary, it's an intimate story of one survivalist with elements of found footage. Jacob Fitts (Gareth's character) is alone in the wilderness filming a reality show when he is bitten by a zombie, and he has no connection to the world around him - all he has is his camera and his survival skills to help him through the days following the attack.
What drew the two of you to the zombie genre?
We just love horror! We've seen so many campy horror movies, we wanted to create something different and unique, a heartbreaking tale of survival in the wilderness. We took into account the complaints we've heard about found footage films, such as an excess of shaky cam footage or unrealistic battery life - you'll see a linear story in this film, with an understanding that he is on a mountain alone with no way to recharge camera batteries. There's a realistic shedding of cameras as batteries fail.
I Am Alone has gotten a lot of awards and attention at festivals - did you expect that with a zombie film?
It's more of a happy surprise! It's only been four or five months since we started screening the film - in fact, the very first screening was in August in Montrose, CO, where much of the movie was shot. We hosted a three-day event at a drive-in theater with a double feature of World War Z and I Am Alone, and people were coming from two hours away to see it!
So far, the movie has been a featured selection at the Terror Film Festival, Horror Hound Weekend Film Fest, Mac Horror Film Fest, the UK Horror Film Festival, and the Malta Horror Fest; we've also gotten awards, including Best Actor for Gareth at Scare-A-Con, Best Director for Robert at RIP Horror, and Best Zombie Movie at the Fright Night Film Fest.
We're in talks with distribution companies about a wide release in theaters, but we aren't going to take the first offer we get as we don't want to end up buried or as a catalog film. We'd love to see it as a feature film in drive-in theaters or something unique like that!
The fan feedback has been amazing so far. One Twitter user said he's never been moved to tears by a horror movie before. That's all Gareth! People may come to I Am Alone with an expectation of cheesiness, but in reality it's a very thought-provoking horror film.
How did you get connected with Gareth?
We actually met him at a con in 2012! We were screening our short film People of Earth at the Fright Night Film Fest, and Gareth is very approachable. We'd shared a copy of the film with him, and he told us to let him know of any future projects - we happened to be in the middle of our Kickstarter at the time, and once he saw the script he was on board! The draw for him was the great character, and the opportunity to shoot in the beautiful Colorado wilderness - though it took him 26 hours to travel there from Wales, as he had to fly and then drive an additional six hours to the location! We had only met him that one time, until he arrived on set we did rehearsals via Skype.
I heard that Gareth hadn't seen the finished film until yesterday's screening. What did he think?
That's true! They showed it in Wales last week but he had promised to wait and see it for the first time with us. During the Q&A after the screening, he said, "I forgot I was watching myself!" The audience will get lost in the performance - you may come into this film wanting zombies, but you'll come out loving Gareth! You're not even thinking about zombies during parts of it, you just get caught up in the story.
Will there be a sequel?
Yes, the film is a cliffhanger, and we definitely have a few ideas in mind as to where we'd like to take the characters next. Fan reaction so far has been great, we just need to keep building the brand and getting the word out! We filmed I Am Alone on a budget of just $30K, and it doesn't feel like a low-budget movie - we'd love to see what we could do with a bigger budget!
I Am Alone is a survival horror movie - we're calling it a horrormentary, it's an intimate story of one survivalist with elements of found footage. Jacob Fitts (Gareth's character) is alone in the wilderness filming a reality show when he is bitten by a zombie, and he has no connection to the world around him - all he has is his camera and his survival skills to help him through the days following the attack.
What drew the two of you to the zombie genre?
We just love horror! We've seen so many campy horror movies, we wanted to create something different and unique, a heartbreaking tale of survival in the wilderness. We took into account the complaints we've heard about found footage films, such as an excess of shaky cam footage or unrealistic battery life - you'll see a linear story in this film, with an understanding that he is on a mountain alone with no way to recharge camera batteries. There's a realistic shedding of cameras as batteries fail.
I Am Alone has gotten a lot of awards and attention at festivals - did you expect that with a zombie film?
It's more of a happy surprise! It's only been four or five months since we started screening the film - in fact, the very first screening was in August in Montrose, CO, where much of the movie was shot. We hosted a three-day event at a drive-in theater with a double feature of World War Z and I Am Alone, and people were coming from two hours away to see it!
So far, the movie has been a featured selection at the Terror Film Festival, Horror Hound Weekend Film Fest, Mac Horror Film Fest, the UK Horror Film Festival, and the Malta Horror Fest; we've also gotten awards, including Best Actor for Gareth at Scare-A-Con, Best Director for Robert at RIP Horror, and Best Zombie Movie at the Fright Night Film Fest.
We're in talks with distribution companies about a wide release in theaters, but we aren't going to take the first offer we get as we don't want to end up buried or as a catalog film. We'd love to see it as a feature film in drive-in theaters or something unique like that!
The fan feedback has been amazing so far. One Twitter user said he's never been moved to tears by a horror movie before. That's all Gareth! People may come to I Am Alone with an expectation of cheesiness, but in reality it's a very thought-provoking horror film.
How did you get connected with Gareth?
We actually met him at a con in 2012! We were screening our short film People of Earth at the Fright Night Film Fest, and Gareth is very approachable. We'd shared a copy of the film with him, and he told us to let him know of any future projects - we happened to be in the middle of our Kickstarter at the time, and once he saw the script he was on board! The draw for him was the great character, and the opportunity to shoot in the beautiful Colorado wilderness - though it took him 26 hours to travel there from Wales, as he had to fly and then drive an additional six hours to the location! We had only met him that one time, until he arrived on set we did rehearsals via Skype.
I heard that Gareth hadn't seen the finished film until yesterday's screening. What did he think?
That's true! They showed it in Wales last week but he had promised to wait and see it for the first time with us. During the Q&A after the screening, he said, "I forgot I was watching myself!" The audience will get lost in the performance - you may come into this film wanting zombies, but you'll come out loving Gareth! You're not even thinking about zombies during parts of it, you just get caught up in the story.
Will there be a sequel?
Yes, the film is a cliffhanger, and we definitely have a few ideas in mind as to where we'd like to take the characters next. Fan reaction so far has been great, we just need to keep building the brand and getting the word out! We filmed I Am Alone on a budget of just $30K, and it doesn't feel like a low-budget movie - we'd love to see what we could do with a bigger budget!
For more information on I Am Alone, check out the trailer below and the film's official website! Look for our review of the movie early next week!
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