Prior previously worked on the effects side of the film business having contributed to the Phantasm franchise and Bubba Ho-Tep.
His directorial feature effort stars David Anders (The Vampire Diaries) and Chris Wylde (Descent).
The Revenant is the story of Bart (Anders) a fallen soldier who comes back from the dead as a revenant. Bart calls on his friend Joey (Wylde) to help him commandeer human blood to stave off decomposition.
After the jump, Prior dishes on the inspiration for the original concept, on-set antics and the rave reviews the film has received on the festival circuit.
Shock Till You Drop: Tell us a little bit about The Revenant.
Kerry Prior: The Revenant is a story about Bart, who is a veteran of service in the Middle East. He is inexplicably killed in action. His body is shipped home. All his friends are broken up about it, but then he comes back to life. He then goes to his best friend Joeys house and looks for Joeys help. After an initial moment of incredulity, Joey gets on board and they try to figure things out. Then, hilarity ensues.
Shock: The Revenant has similarities to a couple of things weve seen before, but ultimately, its not quite like anything else. Where did the original idea from the film come from?
Prior: I wanted to make a vampire movie and do it in as realistic a way as possible. So, I figured if this were real and your best friend really came to your door asking for your help, you probably wouldnt look too Anne Rice or Bram Stoker for the answers. We all know that to be fiction. The further back you go in to vampire folklore, you see that people really took it seriously. I looked at that old folklore of reanimated corpses coming to life and tormenting their friends and loved ones. I tried to stick to those rules and apply it to this universe. A lot of people look at it and see it as a cross between a vampire film and a zombie film. I look at it more like the original rules of vampirism. I think of zombies, in their current state, as being invented by George Romero. We know vampires to have largely been invented by the cinema, going as far back as Nosferatu. I tried to go back earlier than all that stuff and use that as the source material.
Shock: The film has cleaned up on the festival circuit. Did you have any idea that it was going to be so successful in the early stages?
Shock: Theres a great comedic chemistry amongst the cast. Was any of that improvised, or did you stick to the script?
Prior: Well, when you put David Anders and Chris Wylde together on a set, they are almost uncontrollable. It was more like trying to take control of a kindergarten class than directing a movie. As much as I tried to discourage it, there was a lot of improv. For some reason, those two guys fell in love as soon as they laid eyes on each other. They remain great friends. The fact that they adored each other really comes through. They were always cracking each other up. All that stuff is real. Thank God that they loved each other.
Shock: The film is listed as being released in 2009. Have you been working on distribution since then?
Shock: Whats the approximate breakdown of digital versus practical effects?
Prior: Theres very little CGI. There are a couple of CGI shots, but there is an incredible amount of compositing. Compositing is sort of like the poor mans version of CGI. All of the scenes with zombie eyes were digital and there were scenes where we changed the sky from day to night. In terms of the number of shots that we did with composting, I think we are running around two thirds of the running time.
Shock: Did your background in effects come in handy throughout the production process?
Prior: Absolutely. It would be a totally different movie if I didnt have a background in effects. It allowed us to make the film relatively cheaply. If I had to have an effects supervisor or an effects company come in, it would have been exponentially more expensive. Post was done in the living room of my house. If we had outsourced that, it would have been outrageously expensive.
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