Kindness Of Strangers © Dead Vision Productions / Interview With Lucky Cerruti

    Today we are talking about the movie that put Dead Vision Productions to the front of the line of indie horror production houses. Kindness Of Strangers. The movie stars Ava Kostia, Eddie McCole, Leslie Dame and Lonnie Ford. And we are once again blessed with effects by James Bell of Very Fine Crap Videos. It has a run time of 34 minutes. It has a DVD release that is available at the Dead Vision Productions webstore. It also had a limited run of 10 units on VHS which are now OOP. So unless you're one of the lucky 10, like I am, the VHS release will be very hard to come by for awhile. However, like I said, the DVD is available at their webstore.

    Kindness Of Strangers is the release that really got people talking about DVP. I had actually found out about this film and Dead Vision as a whole when Cover Your Corpse did a Kindness Of Strangers shirt. The design was so bad ass that i sought out the film and blindly bought the movie. And the rest is fucking history. I proudly own and display a complete Dead Vision Productions collection. Cover Your Corpse also has done a limited shirt for FREAK as well as several other underground and indie horror movie designs. Head on over to Cover Your Corpse to see what all they have to offer. I mean, come on, look at this fucking shirt.

    Well on to the first part of this little thrill ride. Let us talk about my third favorite movie of all time, KINDNESS OF STRANGERS. Right away that trademark atmosphere sets in. We see a girl crawling down a driveway only to be revealed that she is only half the lady she once was. BAM. Opening scene done. Right away Lucky lets you know that shit is going to go down. We are then introduced to our main characters John and Sarah who are about to get married and are looking for a place to stay while they house hunt in a new town. They find a place through an app and meet Gail. Nothing really raises any flags until they meet a real estate agent, or maybe she is a wedding planner I don't know for sure and it's not really important what she does for a living, who upon hearing who they are staying with lets us know quiet subtly that something isn't exactly right with ol' Gail.

    Cut to the couple back at Gail's house sitting down for dinner. A conversation takes place in which Gail is asked about her husband and child, whom Gail failed to mention to our enduring couple and they only found out about them through the real estate lady. She gives her explanations and the couple seems satisfied with the given answers. Now while the soon to be newly weds are asleep in their room in Gail's house, someone tried opening their door. John gets awoken by it but finds no one. Time for a midnight pee when the bathroom bulb goes out. John heads down to the basement for a replacement bulb and meets Mack, Gail's 'dead' husband as well as Ollie, her 'dead' son. Mack is balls to the wall bonkers. Intimidating as hell. This is one of my favorite villians in indie cinema. 

    Sarah wakes up and goes looking for John when she is met by Ollie on the stairs. She runs and runs into Gail who tries to calm her down and takes her to the basement to look for John. Where she is greeted by the 2 looney tunes ass dudes that already have her fiancé tied up. 

    The rest of the movie is a gorehound's dream. Guts. Brains. Blood. Eyes. Its all here. I don't wanna give the ending of the story away. There is somewhat of a little twist in the tale that I got a big kick out of the first time I viewed it and I'd hate to take that away from anyone. The movie does end strongly though with both gore and dread.

    I love this short outing from Lucky. I don't really have any complaints on this one. The acting is great. The story and camera work are good. The effects are the only thing that really brings this down. And its really only one effect. The eyes of Ollie. For whatever reason they bug me and kind of take me out of the mood for just a hot second. Sound and editing were good. Everything. Good. This is certainly a must have for any fan of the scene. And as you will all see Dead Vision have came a very long way in their films in a very short time. Head on over to Dead Vision Productions and grab a copy of this on DVD or if you so wish, you can get it on VOD as well.

Trust me. I'm Some Guy.

        

         AN INTERVIEW WITH LUCKY CERRUTI

   

    I am certainly lucky enough to be able to call Lucky Cerruti a friend. Shortly after I purchased my first order from the DVP webstore I began searching around for their release of Keepsake. Lucky saw I was looking for it and reached out to me. Dude gave me his personal copy of the short. Didn't know me from Adam and still did such a cool and generous thing. That should tell you a little bit about Lucky. A genuine good dude. He was kind enough to take some time for a little interview with me about his film Kindness Of Strangers and even a little peek behind the curtain of Dead Vision Productions.

Some Guy: Alright. First off because it is by far the most pressing question of the start of 2021. Fuck, Marry, Kill. Betty White. Bea Arthur. Paris Hilton. GO!

Lucky: Damn. I take these pretty seriously so this is tough...but I'd have say I'd fuck Betty, marry Bea, and kill Paris.

Some Guy: That is the only correct answer honestly. Fucking power move marrying Bea. Now to the meat of this shit. How did the idea for Kindness Of Strangers come about?

Lucky: I had the idea long before I made the movie. Me and my girlfriend at the time were on a trip somewhere and we stayed at an Air BnB, which was the first time I had done that. It really freaked me out. I mean we had a fucking key to this stranger's house!! And I remember saying how this would be a murderer's dream. It's like a victim delivery service to your own house. So when Dead Vision formed and we started discussing ideas for our first real production. I threw that idea out and wrote a treatment and went from there!

Some Guy: I like that, a victim delivery service. So this idea came from real life. Is that where you try to find your ideas? Real life instead of stories and myths?

Lucky: Well I don't get very many good ideas so I take them wherever they come from. But I absolutely think real life has plenty of inspiration for horror flicks. I take a lot from things that freak me out. I have a few scripts that haven't been made yet that are super personal and drawn from real life. So yeah I guess I do take a lot from real life. But I also just made a monster in the woods movie so who the fuck knows.

Some Guy: The fact that you have unfilmed scripts makes my soul very happy. With this being DVP's first real project, what did you find to be the most difficult aspect out of the whole thing?

Lucky: Oh man we'd be here for hours if I listed all the most difficult things. There was exactly ZERO film experience between everyone who worked on that movie so it was such a huge learning curve for all of us. How to organize a shooting schedule, how important artificial light is, how easy it is to fuck up sound, how not to rush and make sure you get what you need, it goes on and on. Everything was difficult but that's a lot of what I like about this whole thing. It's like a visual journal of me learning how to make movies. As soon as we wrapped, I couldn't wait to do it again and fix all the stuff I fucked up.

Some Guy: So you're telling me not a one of you knuckleheads knew what the fuck and still managed to put out that solid of a debut? That is really impressive. Makes the end product that much more awesome. So would you say the best part about your first outing was just the fact that it made you that much more excited to get started on the next project?

Lucky:I mean "solid" is debatable but yeah we had no clue what we were doing. Unless you count those few shorts we did before it (which I don't really) But I think that was part of the fun. It was exciting to be so new at something but going in for it anyway. And I think the best part of it was that we actually did it. We shot it in 2 and a half days which is absolutely insane. We packed way too much in to not enough time, but again we didn't know any better. But once we got it all together in a rough assembly we were so pumped that we actually made something that was somewhat cohesive. So it was the reassurance that it can be done mixed with all the bullshit we learned along the way that was (and still is) the best part for me.

Some Guy: Best way to learn is to just get your hands dirty that's for damn sure. So am I to understand you come from a theater background of sorts?

Lucky: I sure do. I was in my first professional theater production when I was 10. That was the first time I ever got paid to do something I would have done for free. I’ve been a theater actor longer than I’ve been anything else. And I’m super thankful for it because I have access to a ton of great actors I’ve worked with. When we were casting KoS I had great friends I could call that I knew could deliver.

Some Guy: Do you feel that coming from that background helped out with the total chaos that was your first film shoot?

Lucky: Well I definitely think it helped when it came to writing it. I know how a script is structured and how dialogue is written because I’ve read so many. And it helps knowing your actors so you
can play to their strengths. So yeah I think it definitely helped. And continues to help.

Some Guy: It shows that you have a great pool of talent to draw from. One thing I really feels makes you stand out is the quality of your actors. I kind of notice some similarities between the KoS story and FREAK story. Mainly the son of the family being what they are. Now Artie is clearly a more fleshed out 'freak' but was he more flushed out because of KoS? Where there whispers of the Crenshaw child when KoS was being filmed?

Lucky: Well I’m glad that comes across. The acting has always been an important factor to me and what I want to make. And it’s funny you mention that because I definitely feel that my movies exist
in the same universe. I thought that maybe the town that Arthur Crenshaw is from is the same town that the KoS takes place in. I want to continue to drop little hints to that in all the movies I make. And as far as whispers of Arthur, I’ve always wanted to make a creature feature/slasher but I didn’t get too far into specifics until it was time to make another movie.

Some Guy: Fuck yes! A Dead Vision universe. That is the coolest god damn thing I have ever heard. I love the thought that it could all stem from that town. Really interesting. So KoS was nominated for an award at some point correct?

Lucky: It was! We were nominated for Best Picture and for Best Actress for Ava Kostia at the Hardcore Horror Fest! It’s crazy that anyone even saw that movie so to be nominated for any kind of awards is insane to me.

Some Guy: It really speaks to the talent that you have and the talent you can see in others. I loved Ava's role. She for sure played her part wonderfully. And it speaks to the care you put into your product. So I know you're working on something for the Marcus Koch anthology but is there anything else you can share about what is in store for Dead Vision Productions for 2021?

Lucky: I appreciate you saying that. It really means a lot to me. And yeah Marcus asked me to be a part of Symbolicus which is absolutely insane. That’ll be coming out soon hopefully! I’m also in preproduction on another short that I shoot this month. Then right into the next feature, which I’m really excited about. It’ll be my true entry into the “extreme” subgenre. Then next winter we start work on...a sequel...it’ll be a busy year!

Some Guy: As a massive extreme cinema fan myself I cant tell you the amount of shivers I got from that statement. Sequel you say? I'm all in for the preorder on all that shit for sure! Sounds like it is going to be a good year for you man. Well thank you for taking some time for this. Its always cool hearing about how things came about and what they lead to. So one last question. Just real fast out of a cannon: Favorite comedy group of all fucking time?

Lucky: Sequel indeed. Let’s just say...Arthur Crenshaw lives. And yeah dude thanks for your time! You’ve always been so unbelievably supportive and it means everything to me. Favorite comedy group...that’s a good one. I’ll have to say The State. The State rules

Some Guy: Ooooooo…. Sorry. The Kids In The Hall was what I was looking for. There is only The Kids In The Hall. Trust me. I'm Some Guy.

Well there you have it folks. Straight from the man himself. I'd like to leave you with my Dead Vision Productions collection as of 1/2/2021. Bow down fuckers.