Retro Live 2017 - issue 2

Movie and Comics Editor, Scott
Sowter, is in the process of producing
a movie. We asked him
to tell us all about the project!
In 2012 I was shooting a short
film for my thesis. On film sets
there is always nothing but time
to kill. I started a conversation
with one of my actors who was
of Indian decent. We were talking
about real life horror stories and
he told me a story that just stuck
with me. A relative of his in India
was bitten by a rabid dog and
contracted rabies. He proceeded
to tell me in graphic detail the details
of his relatives horrifying and
painful death. This story stuck
with me and I began to read up
more on the historical accounts
of the rabies virus as well as the
damage it causes to the human
body. I then with good mate and
co-writer created “Rabid”.
We conceived the idea as a feature
film. So, we wrote the script
and began to work out who we
would go about getting the money
needed to make our dark horror
story. So, we made Rabid as
a short film, highlighting the disturbing
violence and ultra-gore
that we wanted to showcase in
the feature film. It has been a
long road but we are now facing
down the launch of the short film
and the hard journey forward of
trying to get the funding for a feature
film in a country where filmmaking
is a difficult slog. But you
can help! Later in the year we will
begin a funding campaign. In the
meantime, though we will dish out
some of the stories and violence
of The Rabid with cast interviews
and behind the scenes insights.
Moving forward, we will be covering
the film here at GT Live and I
am very grateful to Gametraders
for giving us this opportunity. So
now, the story!
Rabid tells the story of a group
of university friends heading off
to a farm house for a weekend
away to celebrate the end of their
studies. The night takes a turn for
the worse however when a sick
stranger turns up on their doorstep.
The man attacks the group
and infects them with rabies. As
the infection spreads and one by
one the friends turn on each other.
Paranoia breads fear as the
group slowly tears itself apart until
only Nate is left to defend himself
from what his friends have
become. There will be blood. Lots
and lots of blood!
The short film took place out at
Windsor where we rented a farm
house for a three-day shoot. We
had to stick garbage bags everywhere
to make sure the actors
who were absolutely covered
head to-toe in fake blood didn’t
drip on anything. From the fields
of the farm to the old work shed
we left litres of blood everywhere.
Thanks to two amazing makeup
artists Jess Zigmantas and Becky
English, they managed to really
mangle our actors!
I’ll leave you now with some pictures
of the carnage and stay
tuned for more RABID. Remember
#GetRabid
WRITTEN BY
SCOTT F. SOWTER