The rural fright feature AS NIGHT FALLS recently wrapped in Florida under writer/director/co-star Joe Davison, who gave Fango an exclusive first look at a bunch of pics as well as the poster (see ’em after the jump). He and his collaborators also offered their thoughts on the Pop Gun Pictures/Crown Productions film.

Deneen Melody stars as Elizabeth, a young woman living with her younger sister Holly (Lily Cardone) in a farmhouse following their father’s death. When their friends begin getting killed off around them, they call on their older brother Charlie (Davison) for help, but their only hope to stop the evil, murderous Mother (Debbie Rochon) and Father (Michael Ellison) may be the ghost of their little daughter Amelia (Grace Chapman). The case also includes busy horror actress Raine Brown, Dwight Cenac (who produced with Robert Massetti and Davison), Jeremy King, Candice Rojas and German thesp Andre Reissig; Barry S. Anderson and Chris Polidoro created the makeup FX.

“The shoot went fantastic,” Davison, who worked for over three years to get AS NIGHT FALLS off the ground, tells us. “Working with [previous collaborators] Raine, Debbie and Andre again was a blast! As well as reteaming with Dwight Cenac [a producer on Davison’s previous EXPERIMENT 7]. Not only is he a great business partner, but he was a conscious force within the production, keeping me steady as a director. Between him and Robert Massetti, the production went far smoother then it could have. And the sets built by Britany Stevenson gave us fun toys to play with. The mineshaft is my favorite thing she has ever built. Brian Bourke, our director of photography, seemed to know what I wanted without having to ask; whether he wants to admit it or not, he has horror blood in him. Deneen Melody has a tremendous heart and will do anything for you; she would show up on her days off and help grip. Debbie brought a wonderful evil to her character, and Michael Ellison also brought a monster of character to life.”

“AS NIGHT FALLS was the experience of a lifetime,” seconds Massetti, who heads up Orlando’s Freak Show Horror Film Festival. “We had to deal with wild animals, unusually cold weather and all the unexpected problems that occur on any production, but we came together as a team and followed Joe’s lead to get the production done on time. That says a lot about the people involved. I really enjoyed watching the action scenes come together—especially with the zombies!”

Yep, there are zombies in there too—part of a big workload for the FX creators. “I had lots of fun things to make for the film,” Anderson recalls, “including severed heads and grisly appliances. Chris and the makeup team work ed very hard on the set getting all the actors looking gruesome, and Lillie Falco helped me get much of the preproduction prosthetics and body parts made.”

No matter how messy or strenuous things got during the FX and stunt scenes, Melody was in her element. “I got bloody about half the time on set, and sometimes it would take a bit of time to get the gore and scarring just right—but I didn't mind,” the actress says. “I love being covered in blood and dirt. Having the opportunity to fight and be thrown into a fence by Debbie Rochon was great. I’m sort of weird like that—I love doing falls, stunt choreography and dangling from ropes. But my favorite scene is definitely the zombie fight. Elizabeth, ends up going against this group of the undead that the evil father summons, and it was a blast. Now all I want to do is slay zombies!”

Brown also says that she “had a great time playing this really cute punk girl. I got to costume myself and had a few fun scream moments. It was crazy, because since the film is called AS NIGHT FALLS, most of the shoot was at night—obviously—and we were freezing our butts off. I packed for Florida weather, but it was quite chilly and we were all fighting the elements the whole time.”

As with Brown, who co-starred opposite Davison in the killer-clown flick 100 TEARS and the werewolfilm BEAST, Rochon marked a reunion with the moviemaker on AS NIGHT FALLS. “I was thrilled to be working with Joe again,” she says. “We met in a crazy situation in Germany while making FEARMAKERS. Living and working in extreme circumstances, we dealt with a lot of the zany stuff with humor. Joe quickly became a good friend, and a laugh riot to be around! When he asked me to be in AS NIGHT FALLS, I was thrilled, not just because the script was great but also because getting to team up with Joe again seemed liked a no-brainer for me. Plus he brought in Andre, another FEARMAKERS friend/alumnus, from Germany for the shoot, which made it even more enticing.”

Davison remains sanguine about the long road he has taken to get this project before the camera. “The time was not right for AS NIGHT FALLS until now,” he muses. “Struggling with something for almost four years will weigh you down. In the back of your mind, you constantly question yourself and your ability to do things. Doubt is a relentless bastard! But this movie, I hope, will have everything people look for in a film: horror, action, comedy and good-looking women covered in blood!” We’ll keep you posted about AS NIGHT FALLS’ release status; you can read more about the movie at its official website here and the Pop Gun site here, and watch YouTube production clips here. There’s also a Facebook page for the project here and a MySpace page here.

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