Without Your Head: Creature Fear from Buried Alive Film Festival!

·1 hr 14 min·5 clips

A Chicago musician travels to a Wisconsin lake town and is hounded by a starving felon in an eco-horror story born from COVID lockdowns.

The episode begins with host Nasty Neil introducing the guests from Creature Fear, a film he saw at the Buried Alive Film Festival. Director Manny Gumina explains the plot: a Chicago musician goes to a Wisconsin lake town to record an album and is pursued by a starving felon, with eco-horror elements. He shares that the idea came from his family's COVID lockdown experience at a lake house, where tensions between locals and outsiders were palpable. The conversation delves into character dynamics, with Manny emphasizing flawed characters over caricatures, avoiding supernatural villains in favor of economic motivations. Billy Changari discusses his role as the musician Charlie, describing him as an innocent seeking connection. Jared Langwinski talks about playing Paul, a local with complex issues, and how he prepared by watching Northern Wisconsin dash cam footage and drawing inspiration from wrestler Roddy Piper. The production details are highlighted, including the challenging shoot in remote Wisconsin with no cell service or running water, where the cast and crew stayed together in an Airbnb filled with taxidermy. The film's high production value despite its low budget is noted, with praise for sound design and cinematography. The guests share their festival experiences, particularly at Buried Alive, where they appreciated the community feel and audience reactions. Manny mentions it's his first festival experience, while Billy and Jared discuss the importance of festivals for networking and seeing films before wider release. Influences on the film are explored, with Manny citing Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Raw, A Star Is Born, Fargo, and Ari Aster's movies for social anxiety and sound design. Jared and Billy share their horror movie favorites, such as Halloween, Gremlins, and Carrie. The episode touches on the future of Creature Fear, with plans for more festival submissions and distribution, and the guests' upcoming projects. It ends with the film's trailer and information on following the film online.

As heard by us

A Buried Alive Film Festival chat that works best when the crowd reactions start to mirror the movie.

Creature Fear is presented as a Buried Alive Film Festival conversation about a Chicago musician heading to a lake town in Wisconsin to record an album before getting hounded by a starving felon and some eco-horror complications.

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Why you'd press play

You get a Chicago-to-Wisconsin horror chat with eco-horror edges and a room that laughs and screams where it should.

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