Writer/director Zack Parker, whose chiller INEXCHANGE was recently released on DVD by Brain Damage (see review in Fango #251, on sale now), gave the scoop on his new project. “The next film I’m working on is titled QUENCH,” he tells Fango. “It doesn’t really fit into a certain niche in terms of genre, though it is very dark in content. I am describing it as a Gothic drama, sort of a cross between George A. Romero’s MARTIN, EYES WIDE SHUT, GARDEN STATE and Larry Clark’s KIDS, if that makes any sense.”
QUENCH is about a young man named Derik who decides to visit a friend named Jason whom he hasn’t seen in three years, following the tragic death of his girlfriend. Upon reuniting with Jason, Derik discovers that his old pal has become part of a new “Family” who devote themselves to rituals involving sex, drugs and bloodletting. “What really interested me in making QUENCH,” Parker says, “is that it deals with a subject matter that I believe has never been portrayed honestly on film before: the growing subculture of so-called ‘vampires.’ By that I don’t mean immortals who can be killed by sunlight or holy water, but these groups of outcast individuals who have found ‘families’ in like-minded people.
“I want to show that these people generally aren’t evil or satanic, just different,” he continues. “Also, in an attempt to make the film more accessible to the general viewer, the story is told from the point of view of a more mainstream-looking person who is inadvertently thrust into their world.”
The filmmaker will finalize casting in the next couple of weeks, with plans to begin shooting in September. “We’re mounting this production very similarly to INEXCHANGE, in that we’ll be shooting entirely in Indiana,” Parker says, “though our lead actors, and some key crewpeople, will be coming from LA. Being a privately invested independent production, we’re still getting closer to acquiring our full budget, which is quite a bit higher than that of INEXCHANGE. I feel we’re working with a much stronger script this time around, and this being my second feature, I’m feeling much more confident as a director. I love that this project doesn’t fall into a particular genre, but is more an amalgam of horror and drama. Above all, I’m just excited about telling an intelligent, complex and challenging story.”
You can read a synopsis and find out more about QUENCH and Parker’s other movies at the official site of his Along the Tracks Productions.
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