A ragtag crew of indie filmmakers spent many weekends in the forests of Butte county, California, shooting a microbudget horror comedy. Here’s how it happened.
After making several short films in Los Angeles, I moved to Northern California. I spent many days hiking in the beautiful forests and mountains. I had the rough idea for a survival horror film, and over time I found several locations that were perfect for the story.
I found most of the cast and crew through Butte College and the local theaters in Chico and Oroville. None of us had much experience, but we made up for it with enthusiasm.
Hunting the Unknown
“Bloodwood” was about the disappearance of a documentary film crew, so we made a few online episodes of “Hunting the Unknown” to introduce the inept cryptid hunting characters.
We also made several “behind the scenes” videos for the Hunting the Unknown website and YouTube. I had a great time playing Dave, the dim-witted sound guy.
With a borrowed camera and a minimal cast / crew (most people had multiple roles), we started production on “Bloodwood”.
Just Add Cannibals
It wasn’t the most original idea… just a fun, goofy horror that I expected almost nobody to see. Bloodwood was meant to be practice and a chance to grow as a filmmaker. But after screening at a few horror film festivals, it was picked up for distribution by Eagle One Media.
Their only change was the addition of “Cannibals” to the title, so audiences would know more about the movie’s monsters. Bloodwood Cannibals was sold on DVD across the world and later online.
In 2014, Bloodwood Cannibals was picked up by Kings of Horror. It now has over six million views on YouTube!
Watch Bloodwood Cannibals full horror movie FREE on YouTube.
You can also buy Bloodwood Cannibals on DVD or Amazon Prime.
After Bloodwood
Many of the people I met on Bloodwood (I still think of it by that title) became frequent collaborators in the next phase of my film-making life. We spent many days covered in dirt, sweat, and fake blood… and we had a blast doing it.
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