Local South Carolina coastal town to be featured in upcoming psychological thriller film
Think, “Midsommar.” Or “Shaun of the Dead.” Or, “The Wicker Man.”
These are some of the movies that have inspired 21-year-old film director Mathew Epp in a latest film project that takes place in Pawleys Island.
Epp, a Charlotte, North Carolina, resident, graduated from University of North Carolina at Charlotte recently and is working on a new project, “Eden Avenue.”
Pawleys Island has the perfect small town nature to it, Epp said. He had been visiting a friend — the lead actor — for the past five or six months and decided it was a perfect setting for the film.
“I just realized like the more and more I go down there, you know, it’s a small town,” Epp said. “It’s a local community. And it’s beautiful.”
‘Kids versus everyone else’
“Eden Avenue” follows a group of recent college graduates — Michael, Allie, Nick and Brandon, as they decide to take one last vacation together.
The beach town they end up at is inviting at first, Epp said. The town name “Eden Avenue” is supposed to give the area a motherly, inviting feeling.
But there’s a darker side.
The people of Eden Avenue are infected by the algae in the waters. It turns them into a cult-like group of people bent on infecting the protagonists, Epp explained.
It takes on a theme of “group of kids versus everyone else,” he said.
All of this occurs as the protagonists face internal struggles about change. The movie is character driven, and is much more about personal conflicts, such as accepting change than the cult, he said.
2024 release
With about 20 working on the project, including a crew of 10 and around five to 10 actors, it’s still a while before local residents can see Pawleys Island on the screen.
Epp said that “Eden Avenue” was still in a pre-production stage, but filming is set to begin this month and will take a few days. The crew is still working on getting permits to film in specific areas.
Local viewers can expect to see a recognizable area in Pawleys Island, including the Pawleys Inlet toward the south end of the beach. Epp said he was working with Clam Bake Cove or Oakley as possible settings as well.
He anticipates a spring 2024 release, with “Eden Avenue” distributed on public platforms and then premiering locally in theaters.
The project members are asking for donations to help with production.
And “Eden Avenue” still has some spots left for extras in some scenes, he said.
Those interested can email Fortis Fortuna Films, the production company, at Fortisfortunafilm@gmail.com.
