Zombie Driftwood
Zombie Driftwood is the new British comedy produced by Sundance Festival 2010 award Winner Dave Mcwhinnie and directed by Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Bob Carruthers.
When a Caribbean cruise ship full of American cruise passengers are mysteriously turned into zombies, one of the last outposts of the British Empire finds itself under siege by a zombie army intent on cannibalism, boozing and souvenir shopping!
Zombie Driftwood is set in the Cayman Islands and tells the story of a group of bold defenders who defend a beach bar from the oncoming forces of zombie Armageddon.
Caught up in the mayhem are the members of a touring British metal band and a zombie Adolf Hitler who hopes to lead the zombies to world domination - if only he didn’t have to present a weekly talent show on Zomby TV.
The result is a surreal mixture of cinematic lunacy as the zombies discover they too have rights and the besieged patrons realise that music can be a potent weapon in the fight for survival.
Zombie Driftwood was made with a state of art, bone-crushing heavy metal soundtrack with music by Norwegian black metal legends Emperor, the soon to be massive UK metal of Winterfylleth and the very popular metal acts October File, Woe and Abigail Williams amongst others.
The Executive Producer of the film is Sundance Festival award winner David Mcwhinnie. Zombie Driftwood is his first film to open since his film Obseldia triumphed in the best cinematography category at the prestigious Sundance Festival in 2010.
Mr Mcwhinnie fell in love with Cayman on a vacation trip, and has staked his reputation on getting a film made
here. Says Dave, "I wanted to make a film in Cayman that didn’t just feature the islands as a backdrop; but actually featured a Cayman storyline and involved a Cayman cast."
The film was directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Bob Carruthers. The last film the two made together was Macbeth the multi-award winning epic starring Jason Connery and Helen Baxendale.
Bob explains, "I’d worked with David and we always had great fun and made some great films together. The idea of a zombie comedy set on a Caribbean island certainly appealed to me."
The story is the brainchild of Driftwood Bar owner Phil Eckstein, who first tasted success in last year’s London Film Festival where his screenplay When the Forrest Bleeds, was chosen to proceed to the second round of this prestigious competition.
Says Phil, "I had a great story, and I had a bar; so the solution was obvious!" With the proper disciplines there is no reason why low budget films like this can’t be made on a regular basis.
Says David Mcwhinnie, "We had seen this as a real opportunity to show what can be done and we intend to make it the first of many."
Zombie Driftwood launches at Prince Charles Cinema on 19th and 20th November 2010