The makers of “The Trouble with Barry” are launching a one-week crowdfunding campaign to finish their (almost) no-budget slasher film.
The micro-budget affair has been a labor of love for its makers, a pair of producing partners and horror nuts living in Hollywood, California. Currently employed in the lower rungs of the entertainment industry, their dream was to create “a kick-ass throwback to bitchin’ VHS-era B-movie madness.” The movie, which has been shooting since July, boasts a starring role from horror veteran Lynn Lowry (The Crazies, Cat People), and features appearances by the legendary scream queens Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer.
“When we undertook this project, it was really a very modest, no-budget affair — we had a great script and some seriously talented actor friends, but that was about it,” says director Mike Justice, who made a name for himself with his guerrilla-style YouTube shorts and a hyperbolic blog that attracted the likes of Pedro Almodovar. “Then somehow we endeared ourselves to these amazing actresses and so far the footage has been miles and miles ahead of what we ever could have expected.”
If assembling a dream cast weren’t enough, the film also drew the attention of Australian media personality Rove McManus, who visited the set to lovingly lampoon Justice and producer/composer Stephen Kitaen for a field piece on the pratfalls of making a feature film with literally no money. “It was great. We were shooting what was supposed to be the inside of a mansion, but all we could muster was a friend’s garage,” says Kitaen. “Rove even helped us push out a broken-down old Honda that was getting into the shot.” McManus also has a cameo in the film, and the segment is set to premiere as early as late-September on his show, RoveLA.
If the promotional trailer (which was released yesterday as part of an IndieGoGo campaign) is any indication, it appears the makers and participants are having a blast making this film — which looks as though it falls somewhere between the straight-to-video, USA Up All Night classics it champions, and early John Waters (Female Trouble, Desperate Living).
The cast is headed by Peter Stickles (Cemetery Gates, Evil Bong 3D) as the title character Barry Montenegro, a potentially murderous, Vincent Gallo-type indie actor who has run his career into the ground with the usual trappings of semi-stardom (“You’re through in brooding indies, you’re through in monster mash-ups for the SyFy Channel, and you’re through in softcore porn disguised as exercise videos!” a producer tells him). Also appearing are Chris Pudlo (Best Worst Movie), cult favorite Juliette Danielle (The Room), and comedienne Shannon Amabile (“I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”) as a snarling, Asia Argento-esque red herring.
Rounding out the cast are Rena Riffel (Showgirls), Matthew Stephen Herrick and Eric Dean (both of George: A Zombie Intervention), Michael Carbonaro (“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”), Monique Bricca (Don’t Shoot the Angel), Craig Taggart (“Sordid Lives: The Series”), , Matthew Montgomery (Fear House), Steve Callahan (Pornography: A Thriller), Kelly Keaton, (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs), and April Baker (“Southland”).
Visit the IndieGoGo fundraising page at
https://igg.me/p/221534?a=579033
Or the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BarryTheMovie
