The name Heather Langenkamp brought me to discover this short film. Her name alone exudes confidence and success as one of the greatest scream queens of all time. Obviously, she wouldn’t attach herself to any project that was sub-par, so right off the bat one can conclude that The Sub is going to be an expertly produced mini-movie. The teaser on the film’s former Kickstarter page will tell you that, too. The Sub is ending its long post-production process and horror fans should be looking forward to this title and its film festival run in the near future. With that said, let’s open our text books and get into the juicy details.
In the same style of Ghostbusters, Shaun of the Dead and The Twilight Zone, The Sub is going to take horror and comedy and give it an unhealthy dose of the supernatural and cut-throat high school whit. Kickstarter describes the plot as: Mae Zalinski – a 20-something year old girl – reluctantly takes a job as a substitute teacher at her old rival high school. Mae’s first day goes from bad to worse as she starts to uncover the strange, possibly evil underbelly of this seemingly perfect high school. From the odd, overly-friendly vice-principal to the Children-of-the-Corn-like students, Mae is soon in way over her head.”
Now, I’m actually blown away by the level of talent attached to this title that has a run time that lands somewhere between 15 and 18 minutes. Besides Langenkamp, the cast and crew is made up of a ton of crazy talented professionals – which leads me to believe that The Sub could end up being one of the most popular short films of the year. Which is great, considering it could be adapted into a feature should it do well at film festivals. The lead and supporting cast members are comprised of Carrie Wampler (“Parks & Recreation”), Zoe Jarman (“The Mindy Project”), Robbi Morgan Walberg (Friday the 13th), Barrett Carnahan (“The Thundermans”) and Brian Stepanek (Transformers). A high class Hollywood horror flick? I’ll take it!
The Sub is co-written and directed by Dan Samiljan (“Cougar Town,” “Ground Floor) with co-writer Dave Cain, a PBS and Sprout TV writer. Devin Doyle served as cinematographer with producers Noelle Hubbell and Justin Wagman. The short will feature special effects from Alterian founder Tony Gardner, who worked on iconic films like Army of Darkness and Return of the Living Dead.
