{"id":14297,"date":"2021-08-19T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T16:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=14297"},"modified":"2021-08-20T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T18:57:42","slug":"coeds-film-crew-aim-to-bag-hag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=14297","title":{"rendered":"Coeds, film crew aim to bag HAG"},"content":{"rendered":"

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So, dearest readers, it seems that our previous report about Swede Films\u2019 FINAL SUMMER<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (and our upcoming preview of CHASE & SHEP\u2019S SUMMER CAMP OF HORRORS!<\/strong>) will not<\/em> be the final word on throwback horror-and-humor film creation this summer in Champaign, Urbana<\/strong>, and the cities beyond! As SUMMER<\/strong> director John Isberg<\/strong> and his group wind down their location work this week in an undisclosed woodland location of east central Illinois<\/strong>, Normal<\/strong> native and C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> friend Paul A. Brooks<\/strong> is gearing up with cast and crew for the start of production next Wednesday, August 25<\/strong>, on their own feature that aims for creepy found-footage thrills. HUNTING FOR THE HAG<\/strong> will be shot in the Pontiac<\/strong> area for seven days and, lucky you<\/em>, we have the first information and images to share today!<\/p>\n

Announced as a surprise on social media<\/a><\/span> this past Monday, August 18<\/strong>, HUNTING FOR THE HAG<\/strong> follows a college student named Tara as she explores a local legend for a documentary that does not go well in the slightest. Brooks and Into the Night Motion Pictures<\/strong>, both of whom moved back to Illinois recently after half a decade spent in California<\/strong>, is teaming on HAG<\/strong> with executive producer Seth Chromick<\/strong> as well as Into the Void Films<\/span><\/strong> of Chicago<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, a genre-focused label run by Nathan Waters<\/strong> and K.R. Brooks<\/strong>. Also contributing are Jason Huls<\/strong> and Paul G. Lyzun<\/strong> of Ten Wing Media<\/strong>, a firm based in the Chicago suburbs<\/a><\/span>; Brooks\u2019 history and friendship with Ten Wing goes back more than 15 years and solidified with the infamous BloNo zombie opus<\/a><\/span>, LATE AFTERNOON OF THE LIVING DEAD<\/strong>. Scott Murphy<\/strong> is the sound recordist and Los Angeles<\/strong> makeup artist Aleah Kraft<\/strong><\/span><\/a> will visit Pontiac to deliver the gory effects goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m directing the movie and this is my first feature, so I\u2019m pretty excited,\u201d the filmmaker tells CUBlog<\/span><\/strong> as the start date rolls near. He is relying on a \u201cpretty tight crew\u201d and downstate resources to bring the HAG<\/strong> home on schedule and within an equally tight budget. \u201cIt\u2019s easier here in Illinois [to set up a shoot],\u201d offers Brooks when asked about producing in the Land of Lincoln compared to the Sunshine State. \u201cI lived in Los Angeles for six years and, obviously, that\u2019s where the industry is, so there\u2019s always permits involved and more red tape to cut through. In the Midwest, folks are usually excited to hear you\u2019re making a movie and are eager to provide a location or help out in some way.\u201d For Brooks, this includes family relations who are lending a \u201cnice piece of property\u201d gratis for a setting, an agreeable tourism board in the Pontiac region, and the Humiston Woods Nature Preserve<\/strong> where the company also plans to set up camp.<\/p>\n

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While the aforementioned team handles the bulk of logistics and technical needs, the on-screen talent needs to convince audiences that the Hag should be rightfully feared. Joining Brooks before the camera are Steve Christopher, Nathan Brandon Gaik, Thomas A. Jackson, Alexa Maris, Nora McKirdie, Sierra Renfro<\/strong>, and Jasmine Williams<\/strong>. Boasting dozens of credits between them, Christopher and Jackson are go-to casting for character parts in shorts and features made in the Midwest. Gaik is a playwright and stage actor in Bloomington<\/strong>, while McKirdie is underway with her theater studies at Illinois State University<\/strong> in Normal. Maris appeared in the 2018 telekinesis drama REBORN<\/strong> alongside Barbara Crampton<\/strong> and Michael Par\u00e9<\/strong>. Renfro and Williams, who like Maris will fly in from California to participate, are quickly building resum\u00e9s that include previous excursions with Into the Night Motion Pictures.<\/p>\n

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A short subject and a de facto<\/em> series pilot released by the studio this summer feature the actresses and give us an indication of what HAG<\/strong> might entail. Uploaded to YouTube<\/strong> in July<\/a><\/span>, CONFERENCE KILL<\/strong> is a clever exercise in misdirection presented as a Zoom<\/strong> conference where a young director played by Williams tells her cast (Laura Richardson, Brianna Martinez Gurdzhyan<\/strong>, and Renfro) their movie is postponed due to quarantine restrictions. More than one person winds up showing displeasure with the development as their conversation plays out. \u201cReally, that was just born out of boredom in the middle of the pandemic last year,\u201d says Brooks. Materializing on Tubi<\/strong> in June<\/a><\/span>, GHOST GIRLS<\/strong> is a slick endeavor starring Renfro, Karaleigh Antoinette, Sarah Nicklin<\/strong>, and real-life investigator and GHOST HUNTERS<\/strong> veteran Ashley Troub<\/strong> as they try to confirm activity at the Glen Tavern Inn<\/strong> of Santa Paula<\/strong>; this one was filmed in southern California several months before COVID-19<\/strong> lockdowns went into effect.<\/p>\n

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With the seeming exhaustion of first-person narrative in the two decades following THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT<\/strong> and the omnipresence of consumer media, HAG<\/strong> co-writers Renfro and Brooks were not discouraged from dipping into the well for their storytelling approach. \u201cMostly it just comes down to experimenting with different sub-genres to see what happens,\u201d the director explains. \u201cDesktop horror, paranormal reality, found footage, I\u2019m a big fan of it all. Camera technology has improved so much since the original BLAIR WITCH<\/strong>, it\u2019s way easier to make found footage horror that looks really nice.\u201d The duo also hopes to differentiate their rural shocker from the crowd by adding timely thematic elements for the film\u2019s viewers to digest. \u201c[We] have incorporated a small piece of social commentary into the story that is very current. We want to scare you,\u201d elaborates Brooks, \u201cbut we also got a little something to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully, HUNTING FOR THE HAG<\/strong> will make plenty of noise once the picture is completed in the near future. Maybe they\u2019ll hit a nerve in horror or popular culture as did BLAIR WITCH<\/strong> and any number of cult hits that have remained a long-lasting influence. Who can say? Believe it or not, GHOST GIRLS<\/strong> actress Nicklin is doing her part to perpetuate the Burkittsville<\/strong> mythology by appearing in the trailer for the brand new \u201cEscape Blair Witch<\/strong>\u201d immersive game in Las Vegas, Nevada<\/strong>, seen here at the attraction\u2019s website<\/a><\/span>. \u201cSarah is really talented and she\u2019s always popping up in something new,\u201d complements Brooks as he finds humor in the loose parallel between her unusual gig and the HAG<\/strong> task at hand. \u201cIf you want to see Sarah freaked out to the point where she\u2019s shaking, you can watch GHOST GIRLS<\/strong> for free on Tubi. It was great getting to work with her and I\u2019d love to make more episodes of the show at some point!\u201d<\/p>\n

While everyone on their end is navigating the twists and turns indicative of both Mother Nature and motion picture production, we have a bounty of earlier Brooks to enjoy. A pair of Into the Night flicks played the big screen in Champaign during the two most recent New Art Film Festivals<\/strong> \u2013 BELOW DECKS<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, with Caroline Newton<\/strong>, and PROJECTIONS<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, with Phillip Kelly<\/strong> and Deneen Melody<\/strong> \u2013 prior to the making of GHOST GIRLS<\/strong> and CONFERENCE KILL<\/strong>. At the \u201cB-Movie Mania<\/strong>\u201d channel on YouTube<\/a><\/span>, dozens of podcasts involve Brooks, Huls, Mike Hayes<\/strong>, and \u201cCrazy\u201d Chris Hutson<\/strong> (the gruff hero of LATE AFTERNOON OF THE LIVING DEAD<\/strong><\/a><\/span>) as they talk and joke about the lovable and lowbrow, while Brooks\u2019 own YouTube channel is filled with vlogs<\/a><\/span> of cheerful and weird-o sidelines that pair well with a pizza slice of your choice. Clearly, this tandem works hard at having fun and has little to haggle over.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

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When Into the Night Motion Pictures of Normal, Illinois, emerges from the Pontiac woods at the end of August, they will be haggard due to long hours spent HUNTING FOR THE HAG. Is the flick worth the risk?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,137,376,10],"tags":[2348,2350,2349,2343,2344,146,147,1723,887,144,2347,2346,2345],"class_list":["post-14297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alums-done-good","category-article-du-c-u","category-gone-hollywood","category-production-updates","tag-ashley-troub","tag-ghost-girls","tag-hunting-for-the-hag","tag-into-the-night-motion-pictures","tag-into-the-void-films","tag-jason-huls","tag-late-afternoon-of-the-living-dead","tag-local-film","tag-normal-illinois","tag-paul-a-brooks","tag-sarah-nicklin","tag-sierra-renfro","tag-steve-christopher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}