Review of The Man in the Trunk (2019) by Demzpencils — 02 Dec 2019

Straight up - I wrote and directed this movie, but opening weekend the audiences really enjoyed the film and it was a wonderful experience. Here are some short production notes I wrote that went out with the film that I'll use as my review.

This movie began as a short film written to take place in the Southern California desert under the heat of the sun. It ended up being a feature length film shot in Northwest Arkansas in the dead of Winter reaching temperatures nearing zero degrees on the production's coldest nights causing havoc on both crew and equipment. Scenes designed for open spaces, rocks, and hills were are now dead trees, rugged mountain scapes, and falling snow. When the discussion first began to move production into the dark cold woods, it felt like a betrayal to the story's core concept but in the rear view mirror I can't even imagine the film being done any other way.

In the final days of December 2014, a very small crew piled into a truck pulling a trailer with our equipment and hauled it halfway across the country to meet up with the few talent who graciously flew in interrupting their holiday plans and local crew whom we had come to know over the years and we set out to make a thriller over the next nine days with less than $10k and the gracious support of the local community both in Fayetteville/Winslow, Arkansas and the folks back home.

What never changed from idea to production to years of "labor of love" post-production was the heart of the story which asks the question - How far would you go for an old friend? What would you do when a hard question is put in front of you that is going change your life? Do you look the other way, or do you get in front of it?

The thing I'm most excited about is seeing how audiences interpret that question being asked in the film.