New Zombie Film ‘Colin’ is the Talk of Cannes
May 25, 2009 by Paul YoungThere’s a new zombie movie taking Cannes by storm – and no, it’s not Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2. It’s the film Colin by British indie …
There’s a new zombie movie taking Cannes by storm – and no, it’s not Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2. It’s the film Colin by British indie director Marc Price and it’s getting a lot of attention because of how good it is and what it cost to make. Marc Price and his production company, Nowhere Fast Productions, put the entire movie together on a anemic budget of just $70.
It took Price eighteen months to film Colin and he did it by advertising for zombie actors on Facebook. To help keep his budget low, he had people bring their own lights, equipment and make-up.
Price told CNN during an interview:
“One of our make-up people came off ‘X-Men 3,’ so we were having the same latex that was put on Wolverine.”
Price’s story of Colin is so interesting, original and is generating so much buzz that when combined with the tiny budget, it has managed to put itself on the radar of some big Hollywood and Japanese studios.
Price said:
“A couple of friends were round a few years ago watching Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’,…and I wondered if a zombie movie from a zombie’s perspective had been done before.”
What he came up with was Colin, a zombie film “with a heart,” and the web is already generating page after page of praise for the film. Zombie Friends called it “as original, compelling and thought provoking as [George] Romero’s ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ and horror magazine SCARS said it would “revolutionize zombie cinema.”
Check out the trailer for Colin below:
Trailer
Be sure to check out the next page for a clip from Colin:
Film Clip
While I like seeing indie directors and movies like Colin getting their big break, I also cringe at the fact of a major Hollywood studio sinking their commercial claws into it. Evil Dead is a great series but I think most would agree that when Universal got involved with Army of Darkness, the tone and style of the movie changed. Independent movies lose what makes them feel independent when major studios acquire the rights. They start changing story arcs and character development for the sake of updating special effects.
At the same time, there really isn’t any other way for the “little guy” to have their movie distributed to the masses. Although I have no doubt that Colin will have little trouble recouping its budget of $70, most indie films are shot on much more than that and have a hard time making those costs up without distribution.
I sincerely hope that Marc Price and his production company have much success with this and future endeavors. BTW: Are you perhaps wondering what Price spent his massive $70 budget on?
“We bought a crowbar and a couple of tapes, and I think we got some tea and coffee as well — not the expensive stuff either, the very basic kind. Just to keep the zombies happy.”
Horror and zombie fans out there, is Colin the type of film you would like to see on the big screen? Or do you feel it’s better left at Cannes?
Source: CNN & Nowhere Fast Productions & Zombie Friends
Around the web:
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are you kidding me? this movie looks horrible. the only attention it should be drawing is that of the waste management group. pure garbage.
hornjordan – what was your film? I don’t remember seeing it.
Colin is a great movie and made by someone who cares about his audience.
Would have to see this all in context before rendering a verdict. NOT a fan of the ol’ “shaky-cam = drama = cheaper cost of special effects” motto though, and this film is obviously loaded with it. However, The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield had a few hopeful glimmers in them, so, this may as well. Must keep in mind it only cost 70 bucks, the entire time you are watching it I’ll bet.
hornjordan: What exactly about this movie looks horrible? Your criticism is pointless without specifics. The film’s innovative POV and reliance on a “human” story rather than over-the-top special effects make the film seem very interesting to me. I can’t wait to see it.
Didn’t you think it was rather unconvincing? If I was being eaten alive I would be screaming like hell, and fighting like a wildcat! The ‘victims’ just seemed to lay there as if they were enjoying it!
And the ‘acting’ was pitiful!
Yeah, I would like to see it before I made any judgements, and I love indie films, and support them whole heartedly, but I also agree with Charles there. Shaky camera mostly just gives me a headache rather than a better opinion of the special effects.
Sad to say that the trailer doesn’t really make me want to see this film. The concept is quite intriguing, but I don’t know that it’s all that brilliant. After all, we’ve seen this done plenty of times with vampires and werewolves and other people transforming into monsters. That this a zombie just seems to leave me cold. And I will add that the quality of the trailer doesn’t inspire my faith in the quality of the film.
Well, as someone who has seen the movie I can confirm that it is excellent; very well made and incredibly well acted by Alastair Kirton in the lead role. While the ‘shaky-cam’ does let the side down a little in certain scenes, the overall package is something that is fresh and exciting in a genre that has largely run out of ideas.
Excellent acting? Look at it again! If I was being eaten alive by zombies I’d be fighting like a wildcat, and screaming like a banshee!
All the ‘victims’on this thing just lay there as if they were enjoying it!
And ‘Colin’ just looked as if he had a hangover.
British horror films are nearly always amateurish junk – and I’m British.
@DJBenz – How were you able to see the film? My understanding was the 1st public showing was in Cannes. Were you there or do you know the filmmakers? NOt questioning your your statement btw, just curious
I’ll see it, but I’ll hold my breath. I’ve been sceptic about “indie cheap independent and original” movies since The Blair Witch Vomit
Love the genre, but I think I’ll pass on this one, at least for now.
yeah the trailer is not pulling me in… i might catch it when it lands on the sci-fi channel… i’m almost sure it will but i just saw the trailer to pontypool which looked soo much better.
@Paul Young: The movie has been shown at a Zombie All-Nighter in the UK, Cannes wasn’t the first public showing. However, I got to see it because I reviewed the movie from a screener DVD.
http://www.horrortalk.com/reviews/colin/colin.htm
Also, my colleague Rosie (who is a zombie extra in the movie) did a great on set report:
http://www.horrortalk.com/reviews/Colin_Onset/Zombie_sunday.htm
(Hope links are OK, feel free to remove if you consider them spam)
I guess the links weren’t OK then! lol
@Paul Young: I’ve seen the film because I reviewed it. Horror fans should enjoy it immensely. Please don’t insult the filmmakers by mentioning it in the same breath as that awful Blair Witch rubbish!
@DJBenz – To quote Napoleon “LUCKY!!!” Since I didn’t mention BWP anywhere in my article I’m going to assume you were referring to the other comments left by people. Are you friends with or have you met Price?
Yeah, just commenting on the (natural, given the budget) link to BWP.
I keep in touch with Marc by email; he gives me updates on what the film’s doing and I tell him where I’ve seen coverage that he might not have known about (like the other night when there was a news spot on UK TV!). He keeps badgering me to come down to London for a beer, I’ll take him up on the offer one day!
Well send him over here; we don’t review many horror films on this site but his story is fascinating to me. BTW, checked out your site, nice work.
Very impressive, considering what they had to work with.
I’ve seen many independent productions made for 1,000 times the amount invested into a film like “Colin”, only to fall flat on their faces.
I can only congratulate everyone involved for pulling something worth while together. GOOD JOB!
Just from the trailer… if it is ANYTHING like cloversuck’s crappycam style, I will wait for the book or Simpson’s rippoff.
If it isn’t, I may see it.
Uhh yeah, Im a firm believer that if you have blood and brain nuggets AROUND your mouth, MAYBE JUST MAYBE, you should have a spot of blood on your teeth. Thats all Im saying.
Lets just say it looks like it was made for under $70.
And, no. No I don’t have a movie, Im just someone who watches movies, has an opinion, a computer, and enough money to pay my internet bill.
Modern Film = I could have done that. + You didn’t.
Yeah, this looks utterly ridiculous. I’ve seen some terrible zombie flicks in my day, independent and professional, and this one looks no different. I’m not seeing anything new being brought to the table. I would’ve loved to have seen at least DECENT zombie makeup, but I saw nothing but a few drops of blood around the mouth and eyeshadow. Better luck next time.
70 bucks? Looks like it’s worth it, sorry…
And, sorry again, the whole $70 thing is a bit of marketing, isn’t it? People had to eat, get to the locations, some equipment rented (or used and depreciated, for g*d’s sake), electricity bills, etc. Even if everyone involved paid for all of their personal expenses, it’s still production money. “Leftover makeup” just doesn’t cover it. But it’s a good meme, everybody is talking about the 70 bucks movie.
As I understand it it was partially filmed in London and Wales – just the transport getting between locations would cost more than 45 quid – definitaly “hidden” costs!
$70 they say and a year and a half working on it? Add in the pizzas and refreshments the director bought for his friends over that time and the gas money to get to locations and the cost of the monthly internet usage which was used to gather the free actors and crew and on and on…
It’s a clever gimmick and we wouldn’t be talking about this low end first film otherwise. Take a look at the 2nd trailer
for the film on the Colin website. It looks like a home movie made by a bunch of kids who borrowed their parents’ camcorder. I wouldn’t pay to see it.
Your personal opinions don’t make a difference to the general public. If you don’t like it, leave it and ignore it rather than kicking up a fuss like a two year old and making yourself look silly.
Well, FWIW, I’m involved in a community project with a larger (unknown) budget right now with a new take on the Dracula legend – but definitely not Twilight [shudders].
It has a twist not unlike the ones in Usual Suspects/Sixth Sense because not everything you will experience is precisely what it seems but only senior production staff know what that is. Even the actors and crew won’t be briefed until we film the “reveal” scenes. Although we’re only working on HD video, we’ve gone back to basics of telling a story with moving images.
This is what all filmmakers should remember and a lesson I learned as an eager movie-maker aged 12 when my super-8 magnum opus was returned from a competition with a note remarking the special effects were excellent (for the day) but there was no story.
As for the $70 budget – that really is laughable but brilliant marketing; rather like the guy on Youtube with ultra-low-budget 4’21″ sci-fi extravaganza: everything costs money; particularly software.
The suite I’m using to cut our movie cost me (personally) nearly $5000 not to mention the 8-core mac to run it.
The production company is on a Facebook group (Solar Workshop) so anyone interested in working with is can find us there.
Did something right. A lot of people are talking and noticing, which is how you initially attract an audience. Look forward to your tweets @infamousruse
Did something right. A lot of people are talking and noticing, which is how you initially attract an audience. Look forward to your tweets @infamousruse
Colin — hmmm. The idea was fairly good, i.e. following the story of a zombie (Colin) from first being bitten to his destruction by a vigilante mob, but it failed miserably because of the details. In other words: lack of story, poor camerawork, poor lighting, poor acting, poor sound, unconvincing special effects.
And, oh yes, a goofy-looking main character who could not act to save his life.
Indie film-makers should realise that using amateurs does not make a film more realistic – it just makes it look, well, amateurish. One of the many problems was that there was hardly any dialogue between the humans –people all shouting at the same time cannot replace a script (it’s a tried and tested method which has stood the test of time pretty well).
I think the worst fault, however, was the ridiculously unconvincing scenes of people being attacked and eaten alive by zombies. A man slumped by a wall while a zombie chews at his stomach — does he scream? No. Does he struggle? No. Does he look in pain? No!! Colin removes his ear (it comes off as if attached with selotape) and he doesn’t seem to even mind!
Another scene is so bad it’s laughable. A room full of people being attacked by zombies — one man standing on the stairs seems to be playing a game — he’s got some saucepans, and now and then he seems to be tapping zombies on the head playfully – like some sort of game. Again no-one seems to be very bothered by the process of being disembowelled. I would have thought the screaming would have been deafening – but not a sound.
All in all a boring waste of time.