In the Summer of 2006, Fever Dreams, a subsidiary of NYC distribution company Media Blasters, came to California to secure new talent in hopes of raising the level of their own feature productions. At the time, Ludovico Technique was busy producing the three-hour documentary REQUIEM FOR KRYPTON, which appeared on the two-disc SUPERMAN RETURNS DVD. After a presentation by Ludovico CEO Burnett and longtime collaborator Dave Parker, Fever Dreams decided to allow Ludovico to produce their latest feature, THE HILLS RUN RED, based on a screenplay by John Dombrow. Burnett would produce with Dave Parker directing.
Unsure of their new creative team, Fever Dreams commissioned Ludovico to create a teaser trailer which would not only sell Parker's directing chops and vision for the film itself, but would also act as a sales tool for the eventual feature. Additionally, not satisified with Dombrow's original screenplay, Ludovico, with Fever Dreams blessing, commissioned long-time friend and horror luminary David J. Schow to complete a page one re-write of the original Dombrow draft.
In order to more effectively mount the teaser, Burnett insisted director Parker create an animatic, using storyboards from noted conceptual artist Michael Broom, to completely flesh out his vision and to better plan for the production. Parker brought all his skill to bear, and the resulting animatic was so effective, it attracted top talent to participate in the production of the teaser, including noted cinematographer Yaron Levy, actors Sara Downing and Nick Principe and makeup effects studo Monster Efx.
In March, 2007, with an entire professional crew working for free, the filmmakers shot the finished teaser in one day at the legendary Vine theater on Hollywood Blvd. The teaser stars Sara Downing as the girl in the chair, Nick Principe as the Babyface prototype and a number of other genre luminaries as dead corpses. The corpses include directors Mike Mendez, Darin Scott and Rolfe Kanefsky, composer Joseph Bishara and Shocktillyoudrop.com's Ryan Rotten. Celebrated director Bryan Singer even visited the set to check up on the filmmaker's progress.
The final result impressed Singer enough to suggest Burnett take the project to Warner Premiere President Diane Nelson as a potential feature for their horror line, which included the sequels RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and LOST BOYS 2: THE TRIBE. On his own accord, Singer called Warner Premiere and set up a meeting with the filmmakers.
Burnett and Parker, armed with the finished teaser trailer and Schow's re-write of the screenplay, met with Nelson and Warner Premiere exec Matt Bierman, a long-time genre afficianado. After a few weeks, the filmmakers heard back from the studio. THE HILLS RUN RED had been chosen to be the second film produced under Warner Premiere's output deal with legendary producer Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment and their first original horror film.
Shot in Sophia, Bulgaria during June of 2008, with Burnett producing and Dave Parker directing, THE HILLS RUN RED was finally released on DVD on Sept. 29th, 2009
Presented for the first time anywhere are the original THE HILLS RUN RED animatic and finished teaser, produced by Ludovico Technique and Robert Meyer Burnett and conceived and directed by Dave Parker.
PLEASE NOTE: The URL at the end of the teaser trailer is incorrect. The film's actual website can be found at www.hillsrunred.com
