in ,

The Horror Of War: Thomas J. Churchill’s Check Point Brings Some Of Horror’s Biggest Names To A Different Front…

1378515_10202382897077628_2067246738_nDirector Thomas J. Churchill is well known in the horror industry, directing such genre fare as Emerging Past (2011) and Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead (2014) (and also has Beautiful Nightmare (TBD), Marilyn: Zombie Hunter (2015) and Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead 2 (2016) on the way) as well as acting in Mr. Hush (2010), Emerging Past (2011), Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead (2014) and Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead 2 (2016). No stranger to the darker side of film, Thomas now makes his way to the home of the Dedman to direct his latest film Check Point in Wilmington, NC started June 29th.

11420985_10207020082804373_2192022133864360656_oDuring a routine camp out, a local vagrant discovers plans for an invasion in America. When he tries to notify the local Sheriff about his discovery, the Sheriff dismisses his claims and has him locked up for loitering. When the Sheriff notices odd interactions with other towns folk he begins to look into the vagrants’ claim of a sleeper cell living among the locals within this small town. After evidence of a beheading is exposed, others begin to fear that the insurgents attack on hometown USA. Questions and tempers begin to rise. Why this little beach community with it’s Norman Rockwell way of life? A town where everyone knows one another… or so they thought. When the truth is blind and justice seems lost, It will take an army of five unlikely heroes banding together to infiltrate the insurgents and foil their invasion plans. War is Hell and Hell comes home at the Check Point.

While Thomas is stepping out of the realm of horror for this project, that has not stopped him from bringing together an amazing cast and crew that have their roots in the genre. Let us take a quick peek at some of the amazing people involved with Check Point:

celeb-apprentice-bill-goldbergBill Goldberg

Well know as a professional wrestler (a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE. He was also a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion and one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion), and a professional football player (in the NFL with The Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers as well as the CFL with Sacramento Gold Miners).

Goldberg has also done his share of acting in film (Universal Soldier: The Return (1999), Ready To Rumble (2000), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) The Longest Yard (2003) to name a few) and Television (Family Guy (2002), Arli$$ (2002), Desperate Housewives (2005), Law and Order: SVU (2007) and a host of others). His first and only genre title to date is the vastly underrated Santa’s Slay (2005), directed by David Steiman. In it, Goldberg plays the devil’s son who lost a wager with a angel and was forced to spend 1000 years playing Santa, but now the wager of that time has run out, and good old Santa isn’t so joyful anymore. He makes up for lost time and starts to kill people…

william-forsythe-mob-doctor-325William Forsythe

Known for playing villains and law enforcement officers with an amazing streak of cruelty and guile, William began acting at age 10 and made his first acting appearance in the title role of “Julius Ceasar” in a school production at the same age and made his professional stage debut at age 16 in NYC. A very commanding presence whether it be in films or television, he has become an actor with a cult following very few others have.

With an amazing list of film credits to his name (Cloak and Dagger (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Weeds (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), Stone Cold (1991), Things To Do In Denver When You Are Dead (1995) and The Rock (1996) (just to name a few) and television shows like Chips (1982), Hill Street Blues (1983), T.J. Hooker (1983), Fame (1983), The Untouchables (1993-94), Boardwalk Empire (2011-12). He also has an incredible list of genre credits including The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Southern Gothic (2007), Hack! (2007), Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007), Dear Mr. Gacy (2010), Inkubus (2011), Infected (2012) and The Witching Hour (2015)…

WfXUhW5HKenny Johnson

Kenny Johnson is a well known television actor and former model/commercial actor (including the first ads for LA Gear and a Pringles commercial with a then unknown Brad Pitt). Kenny was an outstanding athlete at Central Connecticut University (where he sustained a cracked vertebrae in his back) and was a professional arm wrestler! He is an accomplished motorcyclist, avid golfer, has raced snowmobiles, ridden horses, skis, boxes, plays in the NBA Entertainment League, and appears in many celebrity sports invitationals and baseball events.

Kenny’s amazing wealth of television roles includes Red Shoe Diaries (1992), Sliders (1996), Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1998-2000), The Huntress (2001), Smallville (2005), The Shield (2002-06), Cold Case (2006), Saving Grace (2007-10), Sons of Anarchy (2009-11), Burn Notice (2012), Covert Affairs (2014) and Chicago Fire (2014-15). His genre credits in film include Mirage (1990), Blade (1998), and The Ungodly (2007), with TV genre credits including The Burning Zone (1996-97), Dexter (2013) and Bates Motel (2014-15)…

FredWilliamsonJun10Fred Williamson

A former professional football player (Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs), “The Hammer” is a man of many talents (speaks fluent Italian, is a trained architect, judged the Miss Universe pageant in 1976 and modeled in the October 73 issue of Playgirl Magazine). Perhaps most well known as one of the first African-American men in the “Blaxploitation” genre (if not his legendary trademark cigar), Williamson is no doubt the real deal when it comes to toughness and skill as he is well versed in Kenpo, Shotokan Karate, and Tae-Kwon-Do. In addition to his acting in film and television (125 credits), Williamson is also an accomplished Producer (19 credits) and Director (22 credits) and is a spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project.

With a lengthy list of film (Hammer (1972), Black Caesar (1972), The New Spartans (1975), The Inglorious Bastards (1978), Starsky and Hutch (2004), just to name a few) and television credits (Ironside (1968), Star Trek (1969), Police Story (1973-76), Chips (1978), Fantasy Island (1979) as well as a wealth of others), Fred has an impressive resume in the horror genre as well, including such titles as From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), Vegas Vampires (2007), Revamped (2007), Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption (2011) and Dropping Evil (2012)…

11692535_10205883857628379_6371677784966558178_n Mel Novak

There are very few men that can say they have gone blow for blow with Bruce Lee AND Chuck Norris, but the legendary Mel Novak is one of them! A professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates before a career ending rotator cuff injury, Mel got his star in Blaxploitation films alongside Rudy Ray Moore and Jim Kelley before starting a run in martial arts films where he was (and still is) known for doing his own fight sequences and stunts. Extremely charismatic and suave in his many villainous roles, Mel tempers his on screen persona’s with his work as the host of L.I.F.E.Worship Hour podcast on WLOR. He was inducted in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in London in 2008.

Mel’s incredible career in TV (The F.B.I (1971), Mannix (1973), Baretta (1976), The Blue Knight (1976), Pastor Greg (2006) and Critical Fumble (2014)) and film (Black Belt Jones (1974), The Ultimate Warrior (1975), Game of Death (1978), A Force of One (1979), Sword of Heaven (1985), Capital Punishment (1991), Expert Weapon (1993) and a ton more) has been amazing, and now he is expanding his reach into the horror genre with such titles as Force of Darkness (1985), Family Reunion (1989), Vampire Assassin (2005), Family Property 2: More Blood (2015) and Marilyn: Zombie Hunter (2015)…

1013501_885173704857866_3419405028424670643_nTyler Mane

Canadian born Tyler Mane started out as a professional wrestler in several federations (New Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Universal Wrestling Federation (where he was the first and only UWF MGM Grand Champion) before retiring and working in films. In 2010. Tyler and his wife Renae Geerlings launched their own production company entitled Mane Entertainment. He also hosts his monthly show The Mane Show on OMFGEEK.com.

Tyler has been on several TV shows (Party of Five (1999), Son of the Beach (2000-02), Monk (2006), Awkward Embraces (2011), Chopper (2011-12) and The Librarians (2014)) and many non genre films (X-Men (2000), Joe Dirt (2001), The Scorpion King (2002), Troy (2004), and Gunless (2010) to name a few), but he is most know for his horror genre work, including such titles as The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Halloween (2007), Halloween II (2009), Devil May Call (2013), Compound Fracture (2013) and Take 2: The Audition (2015)…

Kane Hodder

Well know as a actor, stuntman, producer and author, Kane is most famous for portraying masked serial killer Jason Voorhees in four of the Friday the 13th movies (Part VII: The New Blood, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and Jason X). He is also the man behind Victor Crowley in the Hatchet series and has the unique distinction of being the only man to play Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger (gloved hand in The Final Friday), and Leatherface (stuntman in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III).

Kane does have an interesting non genre list of work for TV (The Renegades (1983), Hill Street Blues (1986), The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1994), Nash Bridges (1998), and Alias (2005)) and film (Streets of Hollywood (1983), Lone Wolf Mcquade (1983), Trained to Kill (1989), Father Hood (1993) and Daredevil (2003). His list of horror genre work is vastly impressive, including such titles as House II: The Second Story (1987), Alligator II: The Mutation (1991), House IV (1992), Wishmaster (1997), 2001 Maniacs (2005) along with a ton more…

11403083_10207084837503200_2097039942696987453_n

This is an amazing cast and crew, and I look forward to being on set while they are here to get more info and interviews! Make sure to visit the Facebook Page for more info and updates!

Dedman13

Owner of Slit of the Wrist FX and producer, actor, FX artist and writer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.