Entertainment
'Pandemic' Is One Terrifying Thriller
We are surrounded by zombies. Whether you're a diehard fan of The Walking Dead, a late-night reader of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, or just wanna talk to the internet about George A. Romero all day long, there are plenty of ways to feed your brain's obsessions with the undead. So many, in fact, that it might be difficult to imagine how filmmakers could breathe new life into this horror genre. If you're among these skeptics, the folks behind Pandemic might have some words for you. The filmmaking team's inventive use of cameras could even inspire a Pandemic sequel down the road, if things go as smoothly as they could.
Pandemic, out Apr. 1, tackles the zombie angle from a first-person perspective, merging the familiar virus-outbreak plot with a first-person perspective usually reserved for video games. Like the documentary-feel of found-footage horror, this kind of cinematography puts viewers in the shoes of one of the movie's characters a la GoPro. While there are certainly other films that use this technique, Pandemic marks new territory for zombie flicks. Not to be confused with a 2007 made-for-TV movie of the same name, this movie's freshness might leave fans hungry for more. So, in the zombie renaissance, will Pandemic manage to get a sequel? While there aren't any plans for another movie yet, I'd speculate that there will be a second epidemic on the way.
In a recent interview with SAGindie, director John Suits and producer Gabriel Cowan talked about their collaborative history. Pandemic marks the duo's 20th movie together, and the site commented that Suits and Cowan "don't wait for permission" to make a film and have tried their hands at a variety of narratives. Suits opened up about the pace of the duo's filming schedule, confirming that they spend the most time in pre-production— each movie's shoot itself usually takes less than three weeks to complete. To me, this short timeline screams "Sequel!" especially where Pandemic is concerned.
The filmmakers also noted that they worked closely with screenwriter Dustin T. Benson on Pandemic, saying that the script "was a really fun read and it definitely caught both of our attention." According to the SAGindie interview, Cowan and Suits found Benson's work on The Blood List , a website devoted "to bring[ing] attention to unproduced dark genre screenplays & pilots in circulation." The fact that the two filmmakers pulled Benson's work out of this large pool and developed a strong working relationship also makes the idea of a sequel, with all of the men on board, seem even more likely. Cowan and Suits are already frequent collaborators — what's stopping them from bringing in Benson if Pandemic is successful on its first lap?
So, while the jury might favor a second movie, will the first Pandemic drive viewers to cinemas like a pack of hungry zombies? We'll find out soon enough.
