Apocalyptic fun: Mortlake zombie fans Max Naylor, 11, (left) Melissa Worrall, Jason Naylor, Megan Naylor, 4, and Zarlam Swan, 9, were among those in the backwoods of Panmure yesterday for a role in Greg Duffield’s movie.
ZOMBIE hordes swarmed around Hopkins Falls yesterday — all in the name of cinema.
Former Panmure man Greg “Duff” Duffield has been regularly returning to his family’s south-west farm over the past three years to shoot his low-budget zombie epic Poets Of The Apocalypse.
Yesterday, his dedicated cast and crew — plus a team of zombified local extras — began work on the film’s big finale at the Panmure family farm, Framlingham Forest and Hopkins Falls.
“We jumped in the deep end and did all the zombie stuff and rain effects at the start,” Duffield said of some of the earliest shoots in the south-west three years ago.
“Then we did all the character stuff.
“All that’s missing is the climactic smackdown with the zombie horde.”
The film follows a group of campers who return from a wilderness trip to find cyborg-zombies have taken over society.
He said the project, which has a budget of about $10,000, has evolved as his film-making skills have developed.
Juggling his actors’ schedules has proven difficult, especially as he has been regularly bringing the cast and crew from Melbourne to where his preferred locations are in the south-west. “Around (the south-west) all the locations are within five minutes of each other which is great,” Duffield said. “And there’s no car noise. It’s supposed to be an apocalyptic film and it’s so hard to find spots around Melbourne where there’s no traffic.”
Duffield and his crew had hoped to finish Poets Of The Apocalypse by Easter last year, but realised it was not feasible and the project was becoming too rushed.
The new deadline is June 28, which will mean the movie will be ready in time for the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
mneal@fairfaxmedia.com.au
