Following in the footsteps of Texan Emily Hagins, who at age 12 made the undead feature PATHOGEN, 13-year-old New Yorker Liam Makrogiannis has written and is set to direct the similarly themed SURVIVE.
Liam’s father Evan Makrogiannis, who made THE SUPER and the recently released THE TURNPIKE KILLER with Brian Weaver, is producing through New York Horror Film Productions. “I will be serving as Liam’s mentor through the process,” Evan tells Fango, “but this is his deal and I respect that.” The younger Makrogiannis previously acted in his dad’s pair of features and wrote the short DEVIL MOON, which appears on the TURNPIKE KILLER big box VHS/DVD release (see details here), and is teaming on SURVIVE with 15-year-old makeup FX creator Johnny Dickie. The two will also star in the movie alongside SUPER folks Demetri Kallas, Ruby LaRocca, Manoush, Steve Kilcullen and Edgar Moye, plus New York Goth performer Baron Misuraca, and Evan adds, “There will also be cameos by people like Lloyd Kaufman, Horrorboobs’ Matt Desiderio and Lunchmeat magazine’s Josh Schafer. Award-winning DP Reiki Tsuno will man the camera.”
SURVIVE’s synopsis is as follows: “Environmental terrorists poison the New York City water supply, and the result is ‘the contaminated’: people who died from the poisoning only to become reanimated dead flesh, seething for fresh human blood. Two boys separated from their school trip in NYC on the day of the contamination outbreak are forced to run, hide and survive for two weeks until they are saved by a military man [Moye]. The trio seek refuge in a house filled with a host of survivors; as they lack food, water and supplies, tempers rise and the tension grows thick, and the survivors are left to wonder if their supposed safe haven is more dangerous than the zombie-ridden streets. The story progresses with betrayals, heroism, acts of brutality, cannibalism, desperation and hope.”
“The film was conceived and written by Liam in early spring 2012,” Evan says, “but things really got rolling when Liam and John Dickie met at the Severed Film Fest in Pennsylvania this past May. The goal was to not make ‘another zombie movie’—the scene seems to be littered with them. Rather, Liam’s goal is to hark back to the brutal and gory days of George A. Romero and Lucio Fulci zombies, the days of Tom Savini effects. This will be a retro homage, seen through the eyes of kids who never lived during the glory days of horror. There will be lots of blood, guts, torn flesh, etc.!”
Set to shoot in Astoria, Queens, SURVIVE will be released in a retro big box similar to TURNPIKE KILLER’s. The project is currently seeking funds via Indiegogo; go here for those details.
