Brian Metcalf Speaks About Fading of the Cries

The excitement of our two year anniversary begins with an exclusive interview with Brian Metcalf!  As you may recall, Brian is the writer and director of a new zombie-filled movie on the horizon.  Fading of the Cries is more than just a tale of good and evil.  It's a dark and twisted journey staring Brad Douriff (The Lord of the Rings, Exorcist III, Child's Play) as a necromancer who summons the undead. 

Synopsis:

Jacob, a young man armed with a deadly sword, saves Sarah, a teenage girl, from Mathias, a malevolent evil that has begun plaguing a small farmland town while in search of an ancient necklace that had belonged to Sarahs Uncle.

Jacob sets out to get Sarah home safely, running through streets, fields, churches and underground tunnels, while being pursued by hordes of demonic creatures. Along the way, both come to terms with the demons within themselves - Sarah begins to understand her hatred towards her mother and sister may be unjustified and Jacob discovers the secrets of his past, realizing the only way to truly defeat the demons is to return to the very place his family was murdered.
 

Brian was kind enough to take a few moments to offer Zombies & Toys readers a bit of insight as to what we can expect...

Zombies & Toys:  The trailer from Fading of the Cries certainly looks interesting.  Is it more horror, fantasy, or action? 

Brian Metcalf:  It is a combination of all three and it certainly has elements of all three.

Can you give us a bit more insight to the characters and their roles?

The film is about Jacob who is a young man played by Jordan Matthews armed with a sword and basically saves a teenage girl named Sara played by Hallee Hirsh from a necromancer, Brad Douriff, who has begun plaguing a small farmland town while in search of an ancient necklace.  So, basically, Jacob’s goal is to get Sara home safely and they have to go through fields and streets and all these different obsticles while being pursued by hordes of demonic creatures set off by Brad’s character.

Where does Jacob come from and what’s the story with his sword?  Is it magical in its own way?

It is magical in its own way.  There’s a past to it in relationship to  Brad’s character, basically.  The sword itself has an origin:  It was used to kill Brad’s character in earlier times back in the 17^th century.  It was actually forged of his blood.  It has a magical sense of its own and can actually destroy anything that he conjours up.

Aside from writing and directing the movie, you also directed one of the upcoming music videos by Helmet.  This is the second time you have directed one of their videos.  Is it a coincidence or how did you make this happen?

Paige (Hamilton) and I had actually been good friends for a while.  We had been introduced and I said I would like to direct a music video for you sometime.  They said “yeah, we’d love to have you do one” so I did the song Money Shot for them.  They really loved it.  When I told them I’m doing my first feature film they said we would love to work with you again.  So we shot the music video and got the actors involved in it.  I’ve always been a huge Helmet fan as well so it’s a dream come true to be working with them. 

What other artists will we see on the soundtrack?  Conjure One did the song for the trailer and I got  Sarah McLaughlin to do the opening sequence for the film.

Is Mathias the devil or type of ultimate evil?

He is a necromancer, or spell caster, and he basically raises the dead through spells and ancient symbols.  His whole background is he wants the necklace back so that he can turn day into night.  And with that he has control over the dead at night but not during the daytime.  The zombie characters and undead cannot come out during the day.

If you were bitten by a zombie, would you want to be left alone to chance into one or would you rather be shot?

I think I’d rather be shot.

Do you have any favorite zombie films or books? 

Oh my goodness, I have way too many.  I’m a huge Lucio Fulci fan so I love obviously his Zombi film and City of the Dead.  I’m a huge George Romero fan especially his older stuff.  So Day of the Dead is my favorite Romero, not Dawn of the Dead.  Obviously, the Evil Dead movies are an influence to me.  I’m very excited to see the new series The Walking Dead on AMC.  I’m a huge Frank Darabount fan.  I’m very excited to see what comes of this.

If we were going to make you into a toy;  Would you be a zombie or a survivor?  What accessories would you come with?

I’d definitely would prefer to be a zombie.  I’m not interesting enough as a survivor but as a zombie I would love to have my face all torn in half, my body ripped to shreds, just nice grotesque things.  Mybe have removable arms that fall off. Maybe there could be a pumt that you could take off my head and you could squeeze and blood could shoot out.  I would love to be really mangled and grotesque.

You wrote and directed this movie.  How long ago did you come up with the idea and what was involved with the transition to becoming a full length film?

The actual idea I had when I was a  very young boy.  I of course improvised and modified over a number of years.  Back in 1999 is when I wrote the first draft of the script.  In 2002 I shot a trailer to try and rais funding with Thomas c Nichols who is also in the film.  …….. In 2007 is when we finally found the investors who said lets do it.  So, its been a very very very lengthy process.