Knight Service: ZombieCon Vol1 Interview With Director Kyle Valle and Actor Erin Aine

·53 min·5 clips

Director Kyle Valle explains how a film festival award accidentally locked their unfinished zombie movie on IMDb for years.

This episode of Knight Light: A Horror Movie Podcast features an interview with director Kyle Valle and actor Erin Aine, the creators of the indie zombie film ZombieCon Volume 1. Host Freddie introduces the guests and praises the film's positive themes of friendship, community, and not being an asshole. The conversation begins with the guests explaining why they chose the horror genre, with Kyle citing accessibility for indie filmmakers and Erin noting her background as a child actor in horror projects. They discuss favorite zombie films like Train to Busan and Shaun of the Dead. The core of the interview focuses on the making of ZombieCon, starting with its origin story: Kyle saw a Captain America shield and imagined a zombie film with cosplayers, leading to the concept. The film's production history is detailed, including initial filming in 2016, festival submissions that accidentally locked it as a 2018 release on IMDb, a pandemic-era rebuild, and retitling to Volume 1 to allow distribution. The $60,000 budget constrained aspects like costumes, with many cosplayers using their own outfits, and props were reused to save costs. Practical effects and makeup were handled by Joseph DeBresko, a Face Off alum, using custom molds and a weed sprayer for blood effects. The cast consisted of friends, including the Rockets Rockets ensemble, whose real-life friendships informed their on-screen chemistry. Behind-the-scenes anecdotes include Erin nearly slipping while filming a sword fight, Kyle tripping over a wire during a park scene, and a tunnel scene that incurred a cleaning fee. The episode concludes with updates on physical DVD sales and plans for future volumes in the series.

As heard by us

An indie horror origin story built from web shorts, cosplay props, and a zombie movie's first spark.

The episode reads as an origin-story conversation about how web series and short films fed into a feature idea built around zombies and cosplay.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a horror interview that starts with a web series and ends at a Captain America shield.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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