Dante Tomaselli's second feature film, Horror, began principle
photography January 15, 2001 in Warwick, upstate New York. On picturesque,
snow-capped mountains, the cast and crew experienced below-freezing
shooting conditions. The 18-day production also covered locations in
Montclair New Jersey and the Bronx New York. Horror was photographed
on Super 16mm and developed at NYC's DuArt Film Lab. Picture
editing was completed at NYC's WorkEdit on an Avid Media Composer
within a three week span. The Sound Mix was done at NYC's Hotwax
Recording over an intensive six-week period. Final Cost of production
and post production: $250, 000.
This visually arresting chiller concerns a group of runaway teens that
escape from a drug rehab and encounter demonic forces in a rural farmhouse.
"Horror is about uncovering secrets buried in the subconscious
mind," says the 32-year-old director. In his latest outing, Tomaselli
abandons strict linear narrative in favor of an interlocking series
of disturbing tableaux. These are linked associatively by what he has
now established as personal obsessions. Included here are the abuses
of organized religion by the corrupt among its leaders, the inheritance
of familial madness and degeneracy, and the inescapable call to chaos
expressed through violence. One of Horror's central characters
is the ironically named Luck, played by Danny Lopes, the same actor
who essayed the main role in the director's first film. So one cannot
help but wonder if Lopes has become somewhat of an alter ego for Tomaselli.
It is interesting to observe the metamorphosis of these central characterizations
- from the psychically traumatized and morally victimized Bobby Rullo
of Desecration to the socio-path drug-deranged murderer Luck
of the current feature. By this theory then, the director's vision has
become an increasingly sinister, although no less entertaining one.
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