Critic Sean Decker says in his 2014 Best Horror Movies Screamfest review that “Lost After Dark” is “The best 80’s slasher film that wasn’t filmed in the 80’s.”
That’s high praise.
But what may be most interesting about this movie to Nickel City residents is that Lost After Dark was filmed mostly in Sudbury in August 2013.
The movie was shot for 14 days in Sudbury, while the final two days of shooting was done in Parry Sound.
“We were originally going shoot in Parry Sound and we were going shoot in November, but we shot in August,” said Ian Kessner, writer and director of the film.
“(At that time of the year) Parry Sound turns into a tourist trap, everything goes up in price, so we regrouped and found Sudbury, but we went to Parry Sound just for the exterior shots.”
Kessner enjoyed his time in Sudbury.
“It was great,” Kessner said. “Sudbury is quiet and while I was up there I didn’t get much partying, but the location is beautiful. You’re not shooting in middle of city, you’re not distracted and I love going on location, and Sudbury was just so cool, has that landscape, and the people were great.”
Producer Eric Gozlan of Goldrush Entertainment applied and received a partial grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.
“I enjoyed the people and crew in Sudbury,” Gozlan said. “It was a wonderful experience. They have some up-and-coming talent down there.
“It’s never easy putting these things together, it’s always a challenge. Making a movie is like a moving bullet, it just goes, once it takes off there’s no stopping it, you gotta keep pace and finish the finish line.”
Lost After Dark is set in 1984 and is about Adrienne, a straight-A student, who joins her quarterback crush Sean and some friends in sneaking out of their high school dance for some unsupervised mayhem.
Vice-principal Mr. C sets off to track down the students. Meanwhile, the teens’ party plans hit a snag when they run out of gas on a deserted road.
They head out on foot and discover a rundown farmhouse where they hope to find help. Instead, they find themselves at the mercy of Junior Joad, a cannibal killer from an urban legend.
Joad relentlessly hunts them down.
Lost After Dark is now out on DVD, and is a homage told in retro style that takes audiences back to the 80s, when slasher films ruled the box office.
“I thought it was a very entertaining project and it was about Ian’s vision,” Gozlan said. “My beliefs in Ian as a director – he worked hard to write the script. He did a good job and I always loved movies from the 80s and thought it would be fun to do a throwback.”
This movie stars Eve Harlow (The 100), Stephan James (Selma), Jesse Camacho (Less Than Kind), Elise Gatien (Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days), Alexander Calvert (Lost Boys: The Tribe), Lanie McAuley (Scarecrow), and David Lipper (Dying Of The Light).
It also features cameos from Sarah Fisher (Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Rick Rosenthal (director of Halloween II and Halloween: Resurrection).
Lost After Dark is Kessner’s directing debut.
The film industry in Northern Ontario, especially in Sudbury, is growing, Kessner added.
“I realized there was a young, growing, fast film community there,” Kessner said. “I know the film industry in Sudbury is booming. I feel like the film industry is getting bigger by the month.”