Gangland murders, disposing of bodies, and a slight case of Stockholm syndrome. Those are just some of the themes in an upcoming horror movie.
Turns out, the Orillia area provided the perfect backdrop for the terrifying tale.
Black Fawn Productions recently wrapped up filming for its latest movie, I’ll Take Your Dead, most of which took place at a farmhouse near Coldwater.
“It really set the character of the film,” Christopher Giroux, one of the film’s three producers, said of the Severn Township property.
However, “the house was so pretty, we had to spook it up a bit.”
When scouting out locations for the shoot, the producers “fell in love with area,” he said.
Here’s the plot, according to I’ll Take Your Dead distributor Breakthrough Entertainment’s website:
“William has a simple job, he makes dead bodies disappear. This isn’t something he lives to or even wants to do but through circumstances out of his control, his little farm house in the country has become a dumping ground for the casualties of the gang related murders in the nearby city. His daughter Gloria has become used to rough looking men dropping off corpses and is even convinced that some of them are haunting their house.
“After a woman’s body is dumped at the house, William begins his meticulous process when he realizes she’s not actually dead. As the gang activity increases, Hector patches the woman up and holds her against her will until he can figure out what to do with her. As they begin to develop a very unusual respect for each other, the woman’s murderers get word that she’s alive and make plans to go finish what they started.”
Giroux and director Chad Archibald talked a couple of years ago about doing something different — a film that combined drama, the supernatural and the suspenseful home-invasion style into one heart-pounding horror production. The result is I’ll Take Your Dead.
“There’s a lot of layers in this film,” Giroux said. “I think the audience will enjoy how we play with the genre. My favourite thing about horror is the audience craves originality.”
The crew began filming in the area Jan. 14 and shipped out Jan. 31.
“It felt like our home away from home,” Giroux said. “We totally fell in love with it. We got to stay in so many places in the city.”
The local economy benefited from the cast’s and crew’s presence, too. Nearby restaurant CiaoChowCiao provided 1,100 meals over the course of the month, and the crew also used the services of local electricians, Airbnbs, a snow-removal company and a tutor, as there was a minor on set. Big Curve Acres in Oro-Medonte also allowed some of the filming to take place on its farm.
Black Fawn Productions is working on a TV series, The Cleaners, and Giroux isn’t ruling out a return to the area.
“We would love to come back,” he said. “We 100 per cent want to do more projects there.”
I’ll Take Your Dead has some familiar stars who have worked on some familiar titles, including Aidan Devine (Suicide Squad), Ava Preston (TV’s Odd Squad), Jess Salguerio (TV’s Workin’ Moms), Brandon McKnight (The Shape of Water, which is up for 13 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director), Michael Reventar (Kidnap Capital and TV’s Impulse) and Ari Millen (Rupture and TV’s Orphan Black).
“We got to work with some actors we’ve wanted to work with for a while,” Giroux said.
His hope is to premiere the movie at film festivals this summer, with a theatrical release later this year or in early 2019.
Keep up with the latest developments at blackfawnfilms.com.
