Collegiate Times

It?s time again for ghouls, monsters and goblins to rise from their lairs, and what better way to celebrate than by going to see ?River of Dread? at midnight on Halloween at the Lyric? It?s guaranteed to send chills up your spine and provide a few laughs along the way.

?River of Dread? is the brainchild of writer and director Seneca Hayes, a Virginia Tech alumnus who graduated with an English degree in 2001 and left Tech in 2003 without finishing his second degree. The idea for the movie was inspired by 1950s science fiction movies, including ?It Came From Outer Space,? ?Them? and ?The Creature From the Black Lagoon? to name a few, but as to the movie itself, ?It?s its own creation,? Hayes said. ?It?s supposed to be funny ? it?s sort of a spoof.?

The movie, filmed in black and white, is about four scientists who discover some radiation in the mountains and decide to check it out and see what?s going on. In the process, there are some casualties; some graduate students don?t come back and the scientists encounter the danger of their profession and explore the unknown, according to Hayes.

Amy Splitt, the movie?s co-producer and business manager, described the plot as well. ?The movie is about a group of scientists who become completely deranged and irrational in pursuit of research,? Splitt said. ?It?s a darkly comic kind of story ? it?s not in any one genre ? it combines comedy and a monster movie in one.? Splitt, who is from Washington D.C., works for Tech?s Arts Department.

The movie will premiere Halloween night, Oct. 31, at midnight in the Lyric. There will also be a sneak preview Sunday night, Oct. 30, at 8:30 p.m. in the Recital Salon in Squires. Tickets will be $5 at the door for both showings.

?Our ambition was to premiere at the Lyric (on Halloween) and it?s being fulfilled so it?s going to be outrageous and Hollywood-like,? she said. Splitt promised a red carpet and real and fake paparazzi for the premiere, and there is also a pre-premiere costume contest/party from 9p.m. ? 11p.m. at Gillie?s, where Hayes is a cook. Costumes will be judged and the results will be presented at the end of the film.

The movie was mostly filmed locally, with the first day of shooting taking place in Blacksburg, and the majority of the film was shot at Mountain Lake Nature Conservancy. Some scenes were shot near the Rotunda at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where Hayes is from.

Most of the cast and crew took an entire week off of their day jobs in August to go to Mountain Lake and film the movie.

?I really liked shooting the film. The whole cast and crew camped out in the mountains for a week and it was a great experience,? Hayes said. ?We spent anywhere up to 16 hours shooting, and everyone was tired, so at night we would hang out by the campfire until we all passed out.?

Getting everyone to take that week off to shoot the movie was also the main worry for Hayes. ?Everyone organized their schedules to take the week off and shoot the movie,? Hayes said. ?The success of that week and the fact that we accomplished it was the biggest obstacle.?

Splitt remembers when she first heard about the movie.

?A little over a year ago, I remember reading the script for this movie in Seneca?s blue notebook and I thought it was really far-fetched,? Splitt said. ?It?s been a lot of hard work. Seneca had a vision and people cooperated and made the project come true.?

The movie is co-produced by two production companies, Fried Squid Productions, which is Hayes? production company, and Look Sharp Productions, which is Jack Bennett?s company. Bennett is a Hokie alumnus and co-producer of ?River of Dread.? Bennett also is the editor for the movie and co-stars in the film as Dr. Frank Peter. ?Jack has two other jobs and has been working like crazy,? Splitt said. Bennett has already finished two short films he wrote and directed, and he had a feature length film released earlier this year called ?Fool.?

Hayes intends to take ?River of Dread? on the road and enter the film in some film festivals. ?We plan to send it wherever it will go,? Hayes said. He also extended an invitation to the community to come see the premiere of the film. ?Come help us do it. We need the support so we can keep doing it.?

?Something incredible happens when you point a camera at your friends in costume, and they?re doing something, making a movie, something that?s permanent,? Splitt said.

Advance DVD copies of the movie will be sold premiere night for $10, and all the actors will be there to autograph those copies. Hayes plans to have the actual DVD with bonus items like interviews and commentary, out at the end of November.

Hayes is already working on his next project, entitled ?The Curse of Torbin,? about an archaeologist who uncovers a cursed artifact while working in the Arizona desert. ?It?s already in preproduction,? Hayes said enthusiastically. ?The serious work won?t start until late next spring. We?ll shoot tentatively in the fall, in October, in Arizona at Joshua Tree National Forest.? Tech is also putting on one of Hayes? plays in the New Play Festival in the spring called ?War of the Doves.?