PORTLAND, Maine — Blood-spewing corpses clutter the Old Port. Savages, pale and wan, feast on intestines. A fiery redhead and her buff male counterpart careen through Portland to escape the zombie apocalypse. Heard this before?
“Night of the Living Deb,” filmed in Portland last summer, premieres Thursday in Maine’s largest city.
“It’s silly, stupid fun,” said Scott Taylor, the line producer who worked on the movie with director Kyle Rankin. Shot in 20 locations across Greater Portland, the 87-minute, full-length film showcases the city as acutely as the dawn of the zombie apocalypse.
“It was really amazing what we were able to accomplish,” Taylor, who lives in Brunswick, said.
Establishments including Andy’s Old Port Pub and Coffee By Design closed down to let the crew film there. Many exchanges were pro bono.
“We gave people an amazing experience. We took a lot and gave back a lot,” Taylor said.
A stunning shot on the roof of the Top of the East as the sun comes up and scenes in a mansion in the Western Promenade will have people jumping out of their seats.
“It will be awesome to see the visceral local reaction,” Taylor said.
City officials largely were easy to work with, allowing Portland to shine as a lively character in the movie.
“Whenever we had resistance, we said, ‘We’ll go somewhere else.’ We almost always found an even better opportunity,” Taylor said.
The tongue-in-cheek story of a one-night stand gone awry is “very uniquely Portland. In the city scapes, there is a haunting shot where we pan across Fore Street, and no one is there — it is dead.”
How did they do it?
“Movie magic,” Taylor said.
With funds raised via Kickstarter and through private donations, “Night of the Living Deb” was made for under $500,000. It screens in Portland, Brunswick and Biddeford. Afterward, the zom-com with a female lead hits the festival circuit and will screen in Los Angeles, where Rankin lives.
“We had a significant amount of funding from individuals. Some people like supporting filmmaking in Portland, some like supporting zombie culture, some believe in Kyle and his success,” Taylor said.
Rankin is a Maine native and University of Maine graduate who grew up in York. He longed to return home to film the movie. Taylor said the pair plan to collaborate on another movie here later this year.
To give back, the crew is hosting its premiere at the Nickelodeon Cinemas, complete with a red carpet, smiling actors and, yes, limousines. An after-party for the many backers and downtown dignitaries is in the works. “We said, ‘Let’s make this a community experience,’” Taylor said.
On set, they hired and trained locals, including students from the University of Southern Maine and Husson University’s New England School of Communication. About 100 local extras were in the movie, 50 of them zombies. “Everyone wants to be a zombie,” Taylor said. “If it’s a big hit, we will do a sequel.”
“Night of the Living Deb” opens Thursday at Nickelodeon Cinema, One Temple St., Portland, (sold out); Saturday at Space Gallery in Portland at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.; and 7:30 p.m. at Smitty’s Cinema, Biddeford. On Sunday, the film screens at Frontier Cafe in Brunswick at 6 p.m. and at Space at 9:30 p.m. Tickets range from $6 to $9. They can be purchased at the venues.
