Chilling at home for the holidays? Sci-fi thriller made in Athens has arrived on streaming

Andrew Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald
·2 min read
Stacee Nino stars as Jessica Arnold in the sci-fi thriller "Self Quarantined," filmed in Athens and Gainesville and released on streaming on Dec. 16, 2022.
Stacee Nino stars as Jessica Arnold in the sci-fi thriller "Self Quarantined," filmed in Athens and Gainesville and released on streaming on Dec. 16, 2022.

With winter temperatures dropping into the teens and Christmas just days away, watching a movie with themes of isolation and paranoia could be seen as seasonally appropriate. Athens filmmaker Keith B. Plummer's latest production wasn't intended as a holiday flick, but its Dec. 16 release couldn't have been more cleverly timed.

Now available across major streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Vudu and Goodle Play, "Self Quarantined" is a claustrophobic thriller that blends elements of sci-fi, horror and drama to tell the story of three friends (played by Stacee Nino, Shaunii Arcé and Michelle Lamb) who experience increasingly bizarre encounters on a weekend getaway.

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Filmed in Gainesville and Athens in the early months of 2021, "Self Quarantined" was vey much a product of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plummer, an award-winning documentarian whose credits include the 2012 feature "Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement," shifted focus to crafting a horror movie after film, commercial and television industry productions began shutting down.

After ten months of production that saw Plummer handling everything from directing, shooting, editing and color grading to creating the film's unique visual effects and promotional artwork, "Self Quarantined" hit the festival circuit in 2022. Plummer's movie garnered 10 wins and 3 Official Selections in national and internationalcompetitions.

(L-R) Sound recordist Aigne Morris and director/cinematographer Keith Plummer film a scene from "Self Quaratined" in Gainesville, Ga. on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
(L-R) Sound recordist Aigne Morris and director/cinematographer Keith Plummer film a scene from "Self Quaratined" in Gainesville, Ga. on Sunday, March 21, 2021.

Once independent company Gravitas Ventures picked up "Self Quarantined" for distribution, the learning curve continued as preparing the film for delivery required Plummer to do an even deeper dive into the technical ins and outs that are typically done by crews of people on major studio productions. The experience granted a perspetive that Plummer is quick to impart on filmmakers who are looking to take their projects to the next level.

"Making a movie is like driving a train," Plummer told the Banner-Herald. "You have to get it going with pre-production, then you have a bunch of people with you that are gone as soon as the shooting days are over. Then you keep chugging away when you go to the editing. But you got to keep moving that engine along until you finish because you're the engine stop at each phase.

A lot of movies never get seen because there was a stall somewhere along the line. You just gotta keep pushing. It's the only way the only way to get your film done."

(L-R) Stacee Nino, Shaunii Arcé and Michelle Lamb star in "Self Quarantined," a sci-fi thriller by Athens-based filmmaker Keith B. Plummer released on streaming services on Dec. 16, 2022.
(L-R) Stacee Nino, Shaunii Arcé and Michelle Lamb star in "Self Quarantined," a sci-fi thriller by Athens-based filmmaker Keith B. Plummer released on streaming services on Dec. 16, 2022.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens sci-fi thriller with Black women leads hits streaming services