'Zombie Wedding' presents a 'slice' of South Jersey for horror-comedy fans for Halloween
VINELAND — Out ahead of this year's Halloween celebration is “The Zombie Wedding,” a bit of tongue-in-cheek, zombie genre film-making that will look more than a little familiar to the residents of this city.
If you can’t ID the backdrops as Vineland, the “Mayor Fanucci” character is a helpful clue. But humor is very much the point in the debut movie for Weekly World News Studio.
Greg D’Alessandro is chief executive of Weekly World News, parent company of WWN Studios, and listed as screenwriter and music director for “The Zombie Wedding.”
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“It’s a comedy, a family comedy," D’Alessandro said. "Actually, we’re calling it a `Zom-com’ – zombie-comedy romance.
“So, that film is done and we’re just out to distributors,” D’Alessandro. “So, we’re trying to pick which one (distributor) and when we can release. But we do hope to have a screening In Vineland before December, for the town and everyone to see it.”
Who stars in 'The Zombie Wedding?'
The movie story line poses the first wedding of a human bride with a zombie groom. The advertising promotion is: “The human guests need to learn how to behave. WWN reporters cover the wedding — while trying to get out alive.”
Vincent Pastore, a cast member of "The Sopranos," plays the real-life Mayor Anthony Fanucci. Reporters from Weekly World News also have roles, a casting feature that future movies will repeat.
Other top cast members are Heather Matarrazo, who has had roles in "The Princess Diaries" and "Scream 3"; Siobhan Fallon Hogan, who has appeared on "Seinfeld" and in "Men in Black"; Cheri Oteri, an Upper Darby, Pa. native and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member; and Seth Gilliam, a cast member on "The Walking Dead" and "Teen Wolf."
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D’Alessandro said WWN Studios expects to start work here on its second movie by March 2024.
WWN is more than a year into a production arrangement with the city of Vineland. Besides making its debut movie here, the venture calls for bringing in other companies to use the marketplace.
D’Alessandro said two companies are coming in to use the building for about a week, one in November and one in December, for small productions.
“And we haven’t even aggressively gone out to get other people,” D’Alessandro said. “We have a lot of people interested. We’re just getting things prepped. There’s been a lot of clean out right now and a little demolition and stuff like that.”
At its Sept. 26 meeting, the City Council approved filing a grant application with New Jersey’s Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program. Any grant would fund or help fund an estimated $1.6 million overhaul of the marketplace’s electrical system, air conditioning, and heating infrastructure, and the city is hoping for big bucks.
“We are going to submit the entire budget and they are going to determine how much we are eligible for since it can only be used for infrastructure,” city Economic Development Director Sandy Forosisky said.
D’Alessandro said the proposed infrastructure work is critical to supporting a modern production studio. WWN at the moment is preparing to install equipment that will create a “virtual” studio, he said.
“This new screen is, sort of, semi-circular in shape and it has ‘volume,”’ D’Alessandro said. “They call it ‘volume’ because it gives you depth when you look at it. It’s an amazing thing. You can project any image on the screen.
“You probably have noticed it on some commercials or other films,” he said. “It looks like the camera spins around the people, but it’s not really. Because it’s just filming both angles. This type of screen saves about 20 percent on any film production.”
Weekly World News announced creation of a film-making affiliate in July 2021. Vineland has matched its $1 million investment with $1 million from its Urban Enterprise Zone tax revenues.
For an exclusive look at a trailer for The Zombie Wedding on YouTube, access https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nImHH8lO8pE.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com. Support local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: WWN done with 1 Vineland zombie movie, studio improvements planned
