Camp Info
Don't have anything to do this weekend? Why not take a trip to camp (kill). It's far enough out in the sticks and away from everything that you won't be bugged with traffic jams, smog or those annoying hot showers. Come on out, rent a cabin and lose yourself (or your life) in the beautiful and (somewhat) peaceful great outdoors. All we ask is that you keep an eye (or two) out for deer ticks and snapping turtles (or the crazy deadly killer who could show up at any moment and chop you to bits). Try to avoid contact with them. They can be dangerous! Enjoy your stay!
Welcome to the world of “Camp Kill”. An exciting and very (very) independent digital horror feature. Despite having a very (very very) low budget, “Camp Kill” is sure to entertain fans of 80's horror movies.
August 1st 2009
All I can say is, wow. I can’t believe we made it to the end. The idea first struck me to do “Camp Kill” in October 2006. I can tell you there were many times between then and now where getting this movie made seemed hopeless. Not just hopeless, but very hopeless. Trying to do a feature practically single handed is a big challenge. You need to have a huge amount of drive to get something like that done. It would have been very easy to give up at any point along the way and just say, “hell with it”. luckily, I’m obsessed with movies and really obsessed with horror movies, so giving up was just never an option for me.
I made a point when I was writing “Camp Kill” to not worry about the, “how am I going to do that”? elements and just write what I wanted to see as a horror fan myself. There are very few movies being made these days that are made the way I would like to see them made, so I just went ahead and made one myself, the way I wanted to see it done. A movie with no CG gore. No CG anything. It is amazing how little (and I'm talking very little) I ended up having to compromise on when it came time to put the script onto tape. I got so much of what I wanted to see on camera and that was a great feeling.
I want to take a moment now to thank my dad (who was my one and only production assistant among other things) and each and every cast member of “Camp Kill” for helping to make my twisted vision a reality. I hope all of you had as much fun crafting the scenes as I did. It was amazing to see the actors in this movie step into the parts and bring the characters to life in ways I could not even imagine. The joy of looking through the viewfinder and seeing great actors work is a feeling that is hard to explain. All I can say is, it happened a lot on this movie. Day after day, night after night, and I am very grateful for that.
It is amazing to think back to the shoot and realize how well most of it went. Trust me, I know there are lots of things that can go wrong while shooting a movie and for some reason, we were fortunate to have most of the potential problems pass us by. It was not an easy shoot by any means, but it was very smooth.
It is very exciting to be able to contribute (even if only in a small way) to a genre that I loved so much as a kid and love even more as an adult. Most of the fans of horror movies are very dedicated, passionate and bright people. I hope that as many of them can have a chance to see “Camp Kill” as possible because I think it is a movie they will really get a kick out of. “Camp Kill” is a movie made by a fan for the fan in me and for the fans out there. In a world that is currently dominated be sequels, prequels and dreaded remakes, it is nice to have the opportunity to give the fans something new.
Hope to see all of you at camp.
Nate Hanley
November 17th 2008
“What people don’t realize is that you don’t need a big budget or any budget to make an interesting and entertaining movie,” Nate Hanley, the writer/producer/director of “Camp Kill” says. “All you need is an idea, a camera, a great cast and lots and lots of drive.” “Camp Kill” is not the first time Nate has peered through the viewfinder and made a movie. He has been doing it since he was 11 years old. It was that age also when he discovered the horror genre. “It might sound goofy but getting into horror at a young age was a big thrill for me,” Nate says. “It’s like, you know you’re watching something you are not supposed to be watching at such a tender age. It was great discovering all those great movies at 11 and 12. Some kids were into G.I. Joe, I was into Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason and Freddy.”
Believe it or not, it was not just the gore or the naked chicks that interested Nate in horror movies. It was everything. “I have always loved all the many aspects of horror movies. I really love just the atmosphere of movies like the original “Halloween” and “Friday The 13th". Stormy nights and bright summer days just added greatly to those movies. You don’t get that kind of atmosphere in many of your mainstream “normal” movies. I really eat it all up.”
Over the years making short after short Nate has dabbled in many genres, but he always ends up returning to horror. “You can do so many great and interesting things with horror movies that I always end up doing them. I would say that horror flicks have pretty much accounted for the bulk of the shorts I have done.”
It was not until Nate met Midwest movie making legend Bill Rebane that he decided to make a feature. “I ordered one of his movies from him and sent him one of my shorts with my order. I included my phone number just in case. 4 days later he called me and said he loved the short and I went up to meet him. That was really the event that got me serious about doing a feature.” It was that meeting that made Nate decide to go for it and tackle a feature. “I have been meaning to do a feature for the longest time,” Nate says. “I just never had an idea that I felt I could expand into such a long running time. It was a challenge to write.”
Nate planned to write it over the 06/07 winter and shoot in 07, but it just did not happen. “What happened was I started writing too late in 06 to have enough script to start shooting on 07. I really wanted to make it in 07 but it was not to be.” Nate spent the next year writing off and on. Getting ideas down as they came to him. “I don’t like to force writing,” Nate says. “I like to just linger and take my time with ideas and that way the movie ends up just writing itself. It was really great to just take my time with it. I ended up coming up with lots of things for the movie I really like because of it.” When asked if the recent writers strike had anything to do with the time it took to get the script done Nate replied, “Heh heh. No the writers strike had nothing to do with it. It might have something to do with the lack of new fresh movie ideas lately though. All this remake crap is for the birds.”
2008 was the year that the bulk of “Camp Kill’ was shot. “I wanted to shoot all of the movie this year (2008) but there were lots of factors that made that impossible. June was real rainy and I was not able to get much done that month. We just shot when we could. I did manage to get lots of people (actors) finished this year which is great. For the most part everything went very very well. I’m real happy with how the movie is turning out. Now it is a matter of trying to keep warm over the winter and starting off again next spring. I’m looking forward to it.”
The cast in alphabetical order is as follows:
Sarah Ann
Landyn Banx
Eric Binfet
Tony D. Czech
Derek Dirlam
Will Duff
Bud Farley
Tom Frank
Matt Franta
Breanna Fuss
Rachel Grubb
Matt Hoemke
Jim Jorgensen
Megan Kelly
Ryan Kiser
Lawrence Levesque
Heather Meyer
Jennifer Prettyman
Scarlet Salem (aka: Sarah French)
Crew:
written, produced & directed by Nate Hanley
casting by Nate Hanley & Rachel Grubb
photographed & edited by Nate Hanley
executive producer Frank Smith
kill F/X by Nate Hanley & Frank Smith
kill music by Nate Hanley
acoustic guitar tune arranged and preformed by Bud Farley
sound recorder/editer/mixer Nate Hanley