Episode 3 Halloween Night - LIVE Chat with Cast!

We've got an extra-awesome, super-fun night planned for the Halloween broadcast of Episode 3: Watch episodes 1 & 2 from 7:40PM EST, then watch the Episode 3 premiere at 8:00PM EST, followed by voting online for the winner of the walk-on role in the series! And the best part is you can join members of the cast LIVE on our website to chat, ask questions about the show, and share your reactions to the big finale! So grab a bucket of candy, a bag of popcorn, and some ghoulish friends and join us! 

To access the Live Chat, find the Skysa bar at the bottom of this page and register to sign in!

DATE CHANGE for Haunted Acres

Fans - please note that the time and date for the cast appearance at Haunted Acres has changed to Friday, OCTOBER 26TH 2012 at 7:30PM.

Six Flags and Haunted Acres!

Press Roundup

Series writer/director Jason Bachand was featured in the October Halloween edition of The Venue, New England's Premiere Arts and Entertainment journal.

Not one but three of our actresses recently had coverage in The New Hampshire Union Leader. Taylor Kudalis, Savannah Reinitzer, and Kallie Tabor talk about how they landed their roles, what other projects they're working on, and much more.

New England Hollywood News has great interviews with actresses Meredith Prunty and Ashley Tramonte, as well as series' producer Suzanne Prunty. Go check them out!

Speaking of Meredith Prunty, she's going to be in an episode of MTV's "Made" this fall! For the scoop, head over to Meredith's website.

Premiere News Roundup

Premiere Event at Six Flags New England

 

As previously announced in the series' press release, the first episode of CvsRZ will be broadcast on our Youtube channel on October 17, 2012 at 8:00PM EST. Episodes 2 and 3 will follow on October 24 and 31, respectively.

But prior to the broadcast of the show, a special all-day premiere event will be held at Six Flags New England on October 13, 2012.  Special discount tickets are available to all of our fans through the Six Flags website. Join the cast and crew of the show for a "Zombie Run" race, a fully catered lunch, access to all the rides and park attractions all day and a post-premiere VIP Party at JB's Pub where you can meet cast members, get autographs and photos, and celebrate the launch of the show!  

Here's the link to buy tickets: http://www.sixflags.com/newEngland/tickets/index.aspx#. Make sure to click the link to buy tickets for "Fright Fest" and then click "Promotional Code" on the top right. Enter "Redneck" to get the discounted ticket rate of just $32.00, then pick October 13 as your date. It's so easy even a zombie could do it!

After you buy your tickets, do make sure to head over to the Six Flags New England Facebook page and say "thank you" to them for premiering our show and giving us an exciting launch.

Cast Appearances at Field of Screams and Haunted Acres

 

If you can't make the big party at Six Flags, there's still plenty of chances for you to celebrate Halloween in style with the cast of your favorite zom-com.

On October 21, we'll be at Haunted Acres in New Hampshire. These guys have one heck of a great park with tons of thrills and amazing production values, so don't miss it! 

Field of Screams is Rhode Island's best Halloween theme event and one heck of a scary show. We'll be there tentatively on Saturday October 27.

We'll be having a fun contest for a walk-on part in the show, at both events. Stay tuned here for more information!

 

Media Appearances by Cast Members

 

A few of cast members have been in local press lately, talking about their careers and the show. Ashley Tramonte talks about acting on New England Hollywood, while Emmy March is in the Marblehead Reporter where she discusses modeling, beauty, and pranks.

Premiere Announcement

The announcement of the official premiere date for Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies was made today! The text of the press release follows.

Art Aperitif Announces Premiere of Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Putnam, CT – Art Aperitif Productions is proud to announce the premiere of the new web series Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies, a horror-comedy starring Meredith Prunty, Brian Farmer, Jimmy Folco, Savannah Reinitzer, Elizabeth Percy, and Kallie Tabor. The series is written and directed by Jason Bachand.

Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies is a new entry in rapidly growing film sub-genre – the “zom-com,” or zombie comedy. The series' plot revolves around a high school cheer squad on a weekend getaway. They find themselves facing off against the hillbilly “Po'Dunk” clan who have turned themselves undead by way of a barrel of toxic chemicals. The cheerleaders must work together to survive a deadly game of cat and mouse deep in the woods of rural Connecticut.

Meredith Prunty, who just completed filming on Jason Reitman's Labor Day with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet, stars as cheer squad captain Candie. Prunty is joined by an ensemble of rising stars on the New England film scene including Kallie Tabor, who appeared with Anne Hathaway in Bride Wars, Jimmy Folco who can be seen later this year in Marcus Nispel's Backmask, and Miss Teen New Hampshire runner-up Taylor Kudalis.

Director Jason Bachand says the series was inspired by campy but creepy films like Scream and Shaun of the Dead. “The zombies provide the scares, of course,” says Bachand. “And for the laughs, we poke fun at the dubious quality of some parts of American culture. We're lampooning two stereotypes in fact, the Jeff Foxworthy hillbilly and the persistent image of the cheerleader as vacuous and inartistic. I think ultimately we want to satirize both.” And why would redneck zombies have it in for a group of hapless cheerleaders? “It's an expression of class differences,” Bachand explains. “The cheerleaders - educated, carefree, and middle class - represent everything the rednecks dislike. These two groups are opposite poles on a continuum.” 
 

The cast unanimously praised the script and congenial atmosphere on the production. “I am thrilled to be a part of such an amazing group of people,” said Taylor Kudalis. “I cannot wait for the series premiere.” Brian Farmer, who plays Po'dunk patriarch Dwight, was lured by the chance to play a redneck zombie. “This project gave me the chance to create a unique character and explore things within myself that I never knew were there.” It was a challenge, he admits, but well worth it. “This series is without a doubt something you should see. It's new, cutting edge, and will have you hanging on by the edge of your seat.” “When I get a script, I look for any cool ways I might kill or be killed. Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies scored on all aspects for me,” said zombie performer A.F. Grant. Added Ashley Tramonte, who plays cheerleader Alexa Bell: “You will be hooked in the first few seconds!”

Other members of the cast highlighted the merits of the series as a new and exciting entry into the genre. Actress Emmy March called it “exhilarating” and hoped the audience experiences the “the energy and excitement that everyone put into it.” Jimmy Folco, meanwhile, who plays one half of the stars (and bars)-crossed couple Jed and Roseasharn (Savannah Reinitzer), said “I am happy and excited to be part of a fun and thrilling experience with a web series that I have complete confidence will succeed beyond our entire cast and crew’s wildest expectation.” Folco is hot off the set of Marcus Nispel's (Friday The 13th) Backmask. That movie was filmed at the former Ladd Institute in Exeter Rhode Island, and Folco was pleased to be called back to the same location in late August to do press and publicity for Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies. “I want everyone to watch and enjoy this crazy zombie horror story with a funny southern fried twist that I guarantee will have you’ll screaming and laughing,” he said.

Cheerleaders vs. Redneck Zombies will premiere on its own Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/cvsrz) on Thursday, October 17 at 8:00PM. For more information on the series, see http://www.cvsrz.blogspot.com.

Second Official Trailer and Fundraising

We're very happy that everyone's enjoying the official trailer. We're at the next step in post-production: we have our first edits of all three of our episodes, and we're now working on sound mixing and digital color grading.

In the meantime, let's keep up the marketing and fund-raising efforts! Our first goal is to reach the $1000 mark on Indieogogo. In an ideal world, our enthusiasm and excitement for this show would be all we needed to make it. But the reality is, of course, that making a film project costs money. The amazing cast and crew devote their time and talents to our show and they deserve to earn a living for what they do. The funds we raise also help us to make the show better and to market it to the right people - especially sponsors who will bring in even more revenue. We all believe very strongly that given the initial resources, this show will be a commercial and critical success- already the buzz is good and doors are opening to future opportunities.

And remember, if you're someone who wants a good return on their investment (and who doesn't?) we offer executive producer packages, too. Becoming a producer not only earns you a spot on the crew of show and a film credit on a SAG production, but you'll earn a percentage of our project's profits.

In the meantime, please enjoy another trailer for the show - this one focusing more on the comedic aspects of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-KpphYiWU4

The OFFICIAL TRAILER Arrives!

Check out the official trailer on Youtube. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/kNq2vQXKvqk

If you like the trailer, and want to see a FULL series next year, please visit Indigogo and make a pledge to support us! We've got everything from autographed photos of all the cast to bronze, silver, and gold producer packages. Check it out!

Exclusive First Look: Production Stills!

We members of the production staff love the CvsRZ fans - so much that we're posting exclusive screen grabs from principal photography right here today. These still images will give you all an idea of how the series will look when it premieres in October. We're pretty happy with the "look" we've captured on location - gritty, vivid, and best of all creepy!

Behind-the-scenes At Production

Full cast and crew pulled off a marathon location shoot at Camp Nahaco in Eastford CT this last weekend, gathering 8 hours of footage for the first few episodes of the show. The crew arrived on site as early as 10:00AM, and many were there until well past dark wrapping the shoot. Director Jason Bachand had this to say on the day's shoot:

"Yesterday's shoot for CvsRZ was a phenomenal success. We're currently transferring our raw footage for editing and making backups - well over 300 individual takes totaling 100GB. I'd like to offer a very profound thank you to all of our cast and crew, who delivered excellent work and performances - Meredith Prunty's beautiful bows and flips, Savannah Reinitzer's tone-perfect Southern charm, Mark Burzenski and his mohawk, Brian Farmer and his "Cheerleader Brains!", Kallie Tabor and terrifying scream, Keri Shea for stunning makeup and hair, Caity and her SFX team, Scot Dyer for rigging our props and set dressing, Emmy March and Taylor Kudalis for a perfect take in the golden sunset, Suzanne Prunty - producer extraordinaire and B-roll brilliance, Jeff Buchbinder who not only crawled into a wood pile on his back, but directed our cameras and photography despite the invader ducks, Elizabeth Percy who came all the from New York City and stunned us all with professionalism and dedication, Jimmy Folco for his easy swinging with all with makeup and script changes, Joe Tabor on boom mics, bounce boards, and pizza delivery (our hero), all of our families on site for bringing great food and drink, A.F. Grant who did double duty as Daryl and Assistant Director, Kati Salowsky - you just nailed your lines Kati, the audience is going to love you - Ashley Tramonte for some incredible gag roll faces and for keeping me laughing all the time, Kristin for keeping things artful and running our clapperboard, and everyone else who worked a 12 hour day to get our first episodes in the can. Love and gratitude from the depths of my heart to all."

Lining up a shot of the cheerleaders arriving at the camp.

 Makeup artist Keri Anne Shea preps actress Meredith Prunty.

D.o.P. Jeff Buchbinder and A.F. Grant begin the process of setting up cameras in production HQ. We commandeered an old winter hut for production central!

 

Caity from C.Smith-SFX begins doing gore makeup and prosthetics on actor Brian Farmer.

Taylor Kudalis and Emmy March wait for their action cue.

Jeff gets ready for a ground level shot. 

Taylor, Emmy, and Kallie Tabor relax between takes.

Emmy and Savannah Reinitzer are still smiling after twelve hours on set!

Props and practical FX guru cleans up after handling a messy stunt.

 Jimmy Folco and Brian Farmer read over the script and rehearse.

 Ashley Tramonte gets ready to cheer.

 Producer Suzanne Prunty handles paperwork.

Props guy Scot Dyer getting his Sinatra on.

The cheerleaders get ready for the scenes inside the SUV.

 Taylor in makeup.

Jimmy, Brian, and Scot.

Elizabeth Percy looking great!

 The girls rehearse a take.

Taylor and Elizabeth joke around with director Jason Bachand.

CvsRZ Publicity Day

Cast and crew gathered yesterday in Exeter Rhode Island, at the site of the abandoned Ladd Institute, for publicity stills, cast photos, and teaser trailer footage. We got a ton of great shots and footage! C.Smith-SFX was on hand to do zombie makeup and still photographer David Cope provided amazing shots of our cast in character. 

Actor A.F. Grant has zombie makeup applied. Notice the impressive head wound. 

Director Jason Bachand and still photographer David Cope line up lighting and frame a publicity shot. One of the creepy abandoned buildings on site can be seen in the back left.








 
Meredith Prunty and Ashley Tramonte in costume. The cheerleaders uniforms are stock costumes and won't be used in the production itself. 

Emmy March, Taylor Kudalis, and Kallie Tabor chat with Jason Bachand for a "director's diary" bonus feature.  The actresses talked about the dynamic between their characters, who are friends in the script.

Savannah Reinitzer in makeup prep. Caity from C.Smith-SFX worked hard to provide our zombie gore on a tight schedule!

The zombies - A.F. Grant, Savannah Reinitzer, and Mark Burzenski -  line up in front of a monster truck. We got lucky - the Ladd Institute grounds manager, Jimmy Folco, happened to have a friend nearby with a monster truck we were able to use.

Cast and crew hang out while teaser trailer footage is filmed.

Brian Farmer and A.F. Grant getting hammy for the camera. Brian didn't get to go "zombie" for the day, but he'll be getting plenty gory when filming starts!

The full cast and crew at wrap time! In addition to the cast, Production Manager Nathan Adams, Co-Producer Suzanne Prunty, the FX team, Art Director Kristin Bales, and Still Images Photographer David Cope can be seen. 

CvsRZ Kickstarter Project - Help Out!

Ok CvsRZ fans - time to get serious. We're putting out a call to help fund our series and make it a HUGE success. We're aiming high - we want this series to be the BIG thing this fall that everyone's talking about. If we meet our goals, and our pilot episode is a success, we'll have the leverage to shoot more episodes with bigger budgets, more SFX, and more publicity to spread the word!

So - check. this. out: We're got a Kickstarter project to find sponsors and backers who w

ant to make this series a commercial and critical success. All kinds of goodies are available to those who pledge to help us make this series a hit - from autographed DVDs to a walk-part in the show. Or, for those who really want to help out, we're offering executive producer credit with all the benefits thereof, including passes to the cast wrap party and series' premiere event!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasonbachand/cheerleaders-vs-redneck-zombies-a-web-series

Interview: Brian Farmer

Brian "Dwight" Farmer is a horror movie buff with a lot of great thoughts on zombies, gore, and acting in New England. He shares them all with us today in this epic and exclusive interview. Check it out!

Hi Brian, so great to have this chance to chat with you!

Hey guys, same here I really appreciate you asking me to do this.

So, you play a lot of hardened tough guy types. Is this a conscious decision on your part, or do you just find yourself getting a lot of roles as the muscle in movies?

(laughs) You know to be honest, I normally get type cast into those roles, I don't know what it is about me. I mean I don't mind them, who wouldn't mind being the tough guy? But me as an actor I'd say I have a lot more to contribute to this craft then playing the muscle all the time. I'm a diverse actor and I know I can adapt to any role.

You're a method actor. Tell us what that entails, and how you generally prepare for a role.

Preparing for a role as a method actor, it's complex, it really depends on the character: "who am I, what am I, where did I come from, how can I relate?" It has to do with sense memory and emotional memory, I mean I have my strategies but I can't give away all my secrets. But I'd say preparing for ''Dwight'' I'll most likely talk with a southern accent to just about anyone I come encounter with.

Breaking into this business isn't easy, especially outside of Hollywood. Lately it seems like there's a surge of interest in making films in New England - do you agree with that observation? How has it been getting parts in this area for you? What is it that New England has that perhaps Hollywood and SoCal do not?

You know, I've had this conversation with a lot of people on both the east and west coast. I think overall if you want to be a film actor, LA is we're you need to be. But New England as a whole is making a pretty impressive mark. I believe N.E. made the top 10 list for best places to make films this year. As far as getting roles in the area, I've been doing pretty well for the most part, knock on wood. In some areas it's more of who you know, but it says something when a director or a C.D. calls you up and offers you a role, that to me means I'm doing something right. For now I'll just keep my mouth shut and let the roles come before I mess this up (laughs).

You're playing redneck zombie Dwight in CvsRZ. Do you think there's a good reason to be more frightened of a redneck zombie than your average, run-of-the-mill hungry undead?

I think you should be more afraid of a redneck zombie, because rednecks are wild, they don't have any regard for anyone and they'll just rip you apart. They are a step above you're run of the mill original zombie. Overall it's more fun and intimidating to be a redneck zombie. Besides, ''When there's no more room left in hell, the dead will walk the earth'' Or a redneck zombie that is.

That could be a nice tag line for CvsRZ! Or how about, "When there's no room left in Texas, the redneck dead will walk the Earth?"   

That's actually a pretty good tag line, I like it. If you use it make sure I see a cut in my residuals or else I'll summon the rednecks.

So one gets the sense that you're a pretty big fan of zombies. Is that accurate? 

I'm a huge zombie fan, I mean the new age zombies I'd say are more intimidating due to the fact that they snarl and run at rapid speeds, as opposed to the old school zombie who walk with the slow slouchy pace. The zombie has become more advanced as time has gone on. A good flick in my view is Dawn of The Dead. [Writer George A.] Romero is a genius, so if you're a zombie fan I recommend you check it out.

Are we talking the 1979 original or the 2004 remake with Ving Rames? 

I'm talking it about taking it back to the 1979 version. George Romero set the bar for film makers and was a genius with this flick, he's the god father of zombies. Don't get me wrong, Snyder's 2004 remake was great for the modern time that we're in now. But if there was no original and no George Romero, can you honestly say zombies would of taken off as huge? I mean maybe, but without him there would be a gap.

You definitely know your zombie films. Besides Dawn, do you have any other favorites?  

There is such a long list of good zombie films, but the great ones are on a scale of there own. I remember when I saw The Return Of The Living Dead for the first time. Despite its comedic tendencies it was a great film. But I love 28 Days Later, the classic I Walked With A Zombie, and of course Night Of The Living Dead, just to name a few. 

How have your friends and family responded to the news that you're about to star in a web series as a redneck zombie? That's not a character one sees often in this business, I imagine.  

To be a redneck zombie is original and with that said I intend to raise the bar. There's a new zombie in town, the red neck zombie! All around I've been getting tons of support, I've been doing some promoting with the series with some LA actors that I know so the buzz that is the redneck zombie is spreading like wild fire. Plus, who wouldn't want a friend who's a zombie? I mean I'm not ''Fido'' but I bet I'd be pretty handy to have around.

Let's talk zombie gore. One school of thought in horror flicks says the more blood, the more body parts, the more gruesome - the better. Another school says it's not what you see but what you don't see that makes a film terrifying. Where do you stand in this debate?

I'm a part of the school that's stuck on the fence and can't decide. Overall I prefer gore - who doesn't? - but you have to respect the suspense of what you don't see, the hidden factor. In the zombie world, I think the gore, the carnage and the overall thrill of seeing someone destroyed is what makes a zombie flick worth seeing.

Ok, for the last question let's get a bit philosophical. Almost every zombie movie has that pivotal scene where the group of survivors faces the question of how to deal with someone who's been bitten and about to turn undead. Put yourself in that scenario - what do you think you'd do?

In this situation, of course I'd care if they we're my friend, but overall in this case you need to protect yourself. So as much as I wouldn't want to, I'm going with the sure fire way to kill a zombie, they're getting shot in the head. Plus if the roles we're reversed I guarantee they would do the same thing.

Thank Brian, been great talking to you!

No problem, I'll see you guys on the big screen!