ZOMBEX: Zombex on Fearnet.com

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Zombex on Fearnet.com

'Zombex' Infects New Orleans

by Alyse Wax, Fri., May. 6, 2011 11:19 AM PDT

As if New Orleans didn't have enough problems, now they have zombies to contend with. In the new zombie flick, Zombex, currently in production, Singer/songwriter-turned-writer/director Jesse Dayton brings us this tale about a new anti-depressant created to help NOLA residents deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Problem: this new drug seems to have the side effect of turning people into zombies. Personally, I wouldn't take a drug called Zombex, but hey, that's just me.

Dayton has assembled a cast of horror greats, including Sid Haig (House of 1,000 Corpses), Malcolm McDowell (Halloween), Corey Feldman (Lost Boys), Lew Temple (The Devils Rejects... notice a theme here?) along with newcomers Emily Kaye, David Christopher, and Pierre Kennel.

After the jump, we've got some behind-the-scenes photos for you to feast your eyeballs on.

For more info, visit ZombexMovie.com

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Zombies are everywhere!! In a recent New York Times article, hipster writer Chuck Klosterman stated that while 2 million people a week watch the AMC’s Mad Men, 5 million a week watch the new zombie-based phenomenon The Walking Dead. Staggering numbers, but this had nothing to do with why I wrote the screenplay for Zombex.

While on a 40-city arena tour opening for horror director/rock star Rob Zombie (a close friend who cast me as Capt. Clegg in his Harvey Weinstein-produced film Halloween 2 for which I also wrote and recorded an original soundtrack which Rob was the executive producer), I was listening to a radio show by libertarian conspiracy theorist host Alex Jones. This was purely for entertainment on the tour bus. On the third of the tour, Alex shouted “Don’t people understand that big pharmaceutical companies are in bed with the health insurance companies and the government and this Xanax is turning our country into zombies”!

Boom! Light bulb! I immediately wrote the outline for Zombex. A film that would be mostly set in New Orleans, LA but ending in Austin, TX about a greedy pharmaceutical company CEO who sells a Xanax-type pill to post Hurricane Katrina stress victims which turns them into zombies. An hour and twenty minutes fun ride with a big idea behind it. A down and out local Zydeco music star, lead character Charlie Thibideaux, brings down this Gordon Gekko-type greed head and his whole empire while zombies are simultaneously destroying everything around them.

Zombex will be shot as a low budget feature horror movie with the most talented young crew (part of directors Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater’s crew) from the Austin Film scene. The film opens during Mardi Gras, a very visual place to start, showing big ornate floats, happy girls catching beads from rooftop parties, young black kid’s tap dancing, street preachers carrying signs and screaming into bullhorns, and NOLA cops on horses.

The cast is amazing. David Christopher, a talented stage actor with unbelievable leading man looks who is co-starring in a Dennis Quaid film set to release next year, will play Charlie Thibideaux. Lew Temple, whose latest movie is Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable” where he plays second to Denzel Washington and is huge with horror fans after the Devils Rejects and many others, will play Aldous Huxley, the crazy libertarian DJ who leaves his I-told you-so type political radio show to get involved helping Charlie stop all of this. A road trip ensues with two beautiful and strong feminist women, one black one white, who are empowering Thelma and Louise types. Thea, who will be played by actress Desiree McKinney, who you might know from Friday Night Lights, and Katie Anne played by Emily Kaye, who has been in “Sin City” and TV show “In Plain Sight”. Malcolm McDowell plays antagonist Dr. Soulis, his counterpart in the military is The Commander, played by Sid Haig, and Corey Feldman plays Dr. Soulis’ assistant Dr. Jamison.

The music of course will be highly regional with world-renown performances by legends like Fats Domino, The Meters, Zydeco star Boozoo Chaves with onscreen cameo appearances by music legends Tom Araya of Slayer, and punk-rock legend John Doe as Seamus O’Connor, the ex-con French Quarter bar owner. With my connections in the music business, I know all of these people and their managers (they are all good to go), we can turn this soundtrack into something huge that will bring different fans like hip-hop and punk audiences together, not to mention possibly getting voted in for a Grammy in the best Americana category for our Louisiana Zydeco and Cajun Zombex soundtrack.

We plan on shooting this film in 20 days. Our post-production will be supervised by two remarkable editors, Don Swaynos and Charlie Wiedman. We’d like to get an “R” rating for the film in order to market it with an edge to horror fans and zombie enthusiasts around the world. We also have plans to do a small theatre release with appearances by the musicians and actors for well-publicized after parties in order to get great buzz going. Several entertainment writers who I know personally from the Houston Chronicle, The New Orleans Time Picayune, The LA Weekly and Village Voice. All of whom have expressed interest in coming to the set and covering the shoot for stories. I plan on getting praising quotes about Zombex from 6 different big newspapers for the DVD release. If something bigger happens, great, but I know this will be achievable through my relationships with these publications. Check the latest from Houston Chronicle writer Andrew Dansby, who is an ex-NY based Rolling Stone magazine writer, and is already on the Zombex bandwagon.

We will promote the film with a rock ‘n roll record publicity tour doing radio morning shows and specific markets. I’ve done most of them already and I will have an Ipad in hand to get the host up-to-speed. Simultaneously during the shoot we will send out webisodes and other digital content on Facebook and Twitter like digi-rock posters to build a demand with my audience and all the other musicians and actors fan bases. This is what will separate this film from other unknown directors as far as marketing it. Zombex has the potential to be huge and even turn into a franchise. I’ve already started writing the second screenplay in which global bankers, CEO’s, and members of the Bilderbeg Group reveal themselves as puppet masters.

Ok, let’s go get making a great movie! Onward!

-Jesse Dayton
Writer/director, ZOMBEX

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Zombex on Fearnet.com

'Zombex' Infects New Orleans

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