Bennie Woodell and Jiang Hu Productions: Distribution Kings. By Brian Kirst
Illinoisan filmmaker (founder of Jiang Hu Productions and frequent Horror Society subject) Bennie Woodell has a lot to karate chop about lately. Filming on his femme centered action epic The Long December completed in the second week in December with a hoped for release date of July 2010.
In another bit of exciting news, Woodell’s first two films, the slasher redux The Chauffeur and the quickly paced undead epic Fast Zombies with Guns have been picked up for distribution by Digital Shadow films. The Chauffeur which features some surprising emotional background for its characters (along with one kick-ass death in garage sequence) also includes Woodell’s attempt to make you scream ‘don’t go in there!’ for the entire film. “I wanted to do a film where you spent the entire running time wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing as opposed to the occasional dark woods or creepy basement moment,” Woodell recounted at a recent festival.
Fast Zombies meanwhile is a nice amalgamation of action flick and George Romero apocalypse scenario proving once again that ‘indie is where it’s at’ – and that Woodell and Jiang Hu are more than deserving of their recent distribution props!
