Blood Moon Pictures see surge in local support for 'New Fears Eve'

May 9—In January, Blood Moon Pictures — the local independent film company run by filmmakers P.J. Starks and Eric Huskisson — began shooting its new full-length horror feature "New Fears Eve."

And after multiple weekends, the team is expected to wrap up the filming by June and head into post-production shortly after.

Starks and Huskisson are proud that the film, which Starks began writing a script for in 2022, is on-track to be viewed by an audience soon.

"Overall, it has been going very well," Starks said.

"It's been great," Huskisson said.

The film, which revolves around three friends and co-workers who end up being stalked by a serial killer called "The Doctor" during their company's New Year's Eve party, has faced some of the obstacles such as inclement weather on scheduled shoot days.

But the team has been able to navigate accordingly.

"We've had some setbacks especially this time of year where we're trying to film outside ... and we can't, so we have to try and scramble to figure out if we're gonna try to film something in its place and if everybody's available, or do we just push it to another day," Starks said.

"You have your things that happen that are like negatives or pitfalls that you have to overcome, but that happens with every project," Huskisson said, "... but what footage (and) stills I've seen, it's looking really good."

The film includes a number of local talent and crew along with known names in the horror film industry becoming involved.

Jeffrey Reddick, creator of the horror franchise "Final Destination," signed on as producer and actor for the film.

Felissa Rose, known for playing Angela Baker in the 1983 cult-horror film "Sleepaway Camp," Hannah Fierman, who played Lily in the 2012 horror anthology "V/H/S" and the 2016 horror film "SiREN" and Dave Sheridan, who came to prominence as Officer Doofy in the 2000 horror spoof "Scary Movie," have been cast in featured roles.

Sheridan is also one of the film's producers while musician Rocky Gray, former drummer of the rock band Evanescence, will score the project.

Other entities working on the film, such as the special effects team, are coming from Louisville and Ohio, while the project features actors traveling from Lexington and Indiana.

With this project, Starks and Huskisson have seen an increase in community support compared to their previous efforts, working with Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro Community & Technical College, Ohio County EMS, Owensboro Police Department, The Pub on Second, the RiverPark Center, Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Famous Bistro and more.

"... Ever since we started making this project, the amount of local support has quadrupled," Starks said. "... and most of these were for set pieces that, ... if we were not allowed to have access into these locations, I don't know how we would've gotten this film completed.

"It feels validating."

"... The amount of people letting us use their establishments for location shooting has been overwhelming," Huskisson said. "It's surprising how they've just opened their doors to us."

Support has also come through in terms of sponsorship from businesses like Musick Studios, The Asylum Tattoo and Art Gallery and Fetta Specialty Pizza & Spirits.

"... We wanted to give local companies and entities an opportunity to do a unique kind of branding ... with product placement throughout the film," Starks said. "... With this (film), the scope is much larger so it's kind of taken us all over Owensboro; and that's one of the cool things.

"If you're from the area and you watch this film, you'll see a lot more landmarks and things than what you've seen in the past."

"It's great that we have the financial support from the community and businesses as well," Huskisson said. "It's remarkable when people come on and (are) willing to help out arts in the community."

The film's crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo has also been a success, with the film exceeding its goal of its $60,000 budget.

"It's the only, truly successful crowdfunding campaign that we've launched," Starks said. "The amount of attention and the money that continues to come in — it shocks both Eric and myself. ... We never expected to reach our goal, let alone exceed it."

Starks said the film will have a "healthy budget" left over, which may be used to help with marketing and promotional tools to help with the film's release and to see about getting the film featured in publications the Blood Moon Pictures hasn't been able to secure for previous projects.

Starks also suggested using some of the funds to send the film to a post-production house to assist with color grading, sound design and mixing in order to have a "much stronger final product."

Throughout the process, Starks and Huskisson feel the hard work has been well worth it.

"As I'm going through and editing the trailer, I messaged everybody last night and I was like: 'I know a lot of you have told me how much fun you've been having and how great it's been being part of this project,' " Starks said Sunday. "But I was like: 'I don't think you'll fully understand until you see this trailer of what we're really doing.'

"It's one thing being on set and seeing things happen behind-the-scenes, but then once you see all that hard work coming together and actually becoming something on the screen — it becomes something else entirely."

"I can't wait to see this, and I can't wait for everybody else to see this," Huskisson said.

The film is slated to be released in December.

For more information, visit indiegogo.com/projects/new-fears-eve-horror-feature-film#/.