Kamikaze Motion Pictures recently wrapped shooting its zombie feature film, Rancid.
Producer Ryan Macquet says that based on the international success of Kamikaze’s
2010 release, The Unforgiving, the company decided to do a zombie film.
“The recognition that The Unforgiving gained really inspired us to do another horror film.
Alastair Orr, the writer and director of The Unforgiving, had wanted to do a zombie film
for some time and asked what kind of zombie movie we would be able to make.
“There are advantages to zombie films, one is that they can be produced cheaply and
shot in one location. Zombie films also have one of the biggest cult followings around
the world, which bodes well for distribution.’
Kamikaze was able to secure funds for Rancid from a private investor. However, Macquet
admits that the budget was a challenge. “The most important thing for us was to make
the best possible film with what we had available. I think that the problem with most
South African features is that they start off with scripts that demand a budget of
between R3m and R5m when the filmmakers can only raise R2m.
“With Rancid we knew we had only R250 000 for production and so we wrote the script
accordingly. The total budget including post-production, marketing and distribution was
R590 000, spread across three phases.’
During the shoot the filmmakers were frustrated by the desire to add more production
value and not having the finance to do so. Says Macquet: “For example, we wanted to
have 1 000 rounds of ammunition for our gun sequence when we only had 500. But we
made it work.
“Another issue was the length of the shoot. We had enough budget to shoot for 28
days and ended up filming for 31 days. This complicated things a little but it was nothing
we couldn’t handle.’
Rancid was shot at Kempton Park Hospital. “It has been abandoned since 1996. The
place is a mess and yet is a beautiful site for the film we wanted to make. In fact Alastair
(Orr) wrote the script in that hospital,’ states Macquet.
The film was shot on a Canon 7D which he says is an amazing camera in terms of style
and perfectly suited to the required gritty feel.
Like The Unforgiving, Rancid makes use of social media and is being promoted on
Facebook. Any information or news updates about the film goes onto its Facebook
page.
Although there is no distribution plan in place at the moment, Macquet is confident of
the film’s success. “Rancid was made for the local and international markets so we will
definitely be negotiating with South African distributors Ster-Kinekor, Nu Metro and
Indigenous Films.
“We wanted to create a unique zombie film, something that steers away from your
typical, post apocalyptical brain-eating horde of monsters chasing people. Rancid is very
different, a lot more intimate and intricate.’
