Many of us have dreamed of making our own film, but very few of us have the motivation or desire to just get on and do it. That is precisely what Dan Rickard did, taking a short unfinished student project and persistent. Ten years later, it eventually morphed and grew into a full feature length film: Darkest Day.
Dan (Rickard) wakes up on a beach with no memory of how he ended up there. He stumbles across a group of young people living together, and learns that a virus has afflicted half of the population, turning them into violent raging zombies. The other half have escaped to a safe zone, but the group seem fairly content surviving where they are, living off junk food and plenty of alcohol. Until the army appears, that is.
Darkest Day cost barely nothing to make, relied on the hard work of a group of friends, and much of the dialogue was improvised, and in some ways it clearly shows. However, there’s so much good on show as well, including some brilliant camerawork, great locations, inspired use of effects and an unobtrusive soundtrack. Rickard utilises all the tricks he can to get round the budgetary constraints, and as a small indie film, I’ve seen a heck of a lot worse. You can tell how much hard work and dedication has gone into making Darkest Day, making it a fresh and distinct horror movie.
Darkest Day has limited cinema screenings and is released on DVD on May 25.
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