A new movie shot in Central New York has pulled off a unique feat.
Syracuse-based filmmaker Chris Cooney, the creator of the popular series “The Vegan Zombie,” has completed his long-awaited horror film, “A44.” The story follows a college student driven to find the source of a mystery illness that appears to originate from the meat and dairy supply, turning victims into mindless zombies.
The premise is similar to “The Vegan Zombie,” a vegan cooking show set in the zombie apocalypse, which has more than 174,000 subscribers on YouTube. It’s an unusual twist on the genre, but Cooney describes “A44″ more simply as “a film about compassion… with zombies!”
“I made this movie for the horror community,” he explained in an interview with syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “I didn’t make it for the vegans because I feel like that would just be an echo chamber… yes, it does have a vegan theme to it, but I did it in a way where I think it’s not so… judgy, you know, in your face.”
But what really makes “A44″ unique is it was a fully vegan production.
“Everything about this movie was (vegan),” Cooney said. “The message of the movie, everything. It’s a true vegan movie.”
The food on set was meat- and dairy-free; all makeup was vegan; a non-leather baseball was used for one scene; and special effects used karo syrup and black coloring instead of animal parts for blood and guts. That’s a big contrast from Oscar-winning special effects artist Greg Nicotero, who used barbecued sausage meat for “The Walking Dead” scenes where the undead take a bite out of human flesh.
“A44,” written, directed by and starring “The Vegan Zombie” creator Chris Cooney, is a new zombie movie shot in Central New York. (Provided)Provided
In fact, Cooney said “A44″ may be the first narrative feature film to be a 100% vegan production. Most vegan films are documentaries about the benefits of plant-based diets or a criticism of the meat industry, such as “What the Health” and “The Game Changers.”
He said it was unrealistic to expect everyone who worked on the film to be vegan, but noted that anyone who was non-vegan was respectful and ate their food off set. Filmmaker James Cameron reportedly only served vegan food on the set of 2022′s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” but similarly didn’t force everyone to eat plant-based meals.
“I actually did hire a few different people that were vegan and a couple of them, I didn’t even know them at the time, and one girl said to me, ‘I’m wondering if there’s anything I’ll be able to eat on set because I’m a vegan.’ I’m like, ‘Well, guess what? Everything’s vegan.’ So that was pretty cool,” Cooney recalled.
Cooney wrote, directed and starred in the film, which was largely produced from a Kickstarter fund first announced in 2018. Supporters who donated money will get early access to watch the movie, roles as extras, names in the credits, a digital copy of his Vegan Zombie cookbook/graphic novel “Cook & Survive!” or other rewards.
Cooney said he originally wrote the script back in 2009, before “The Walking Dead,” “Zombieland,” “World War Z” and “The Last of Us” saturated the genre. He revised his script “well over 50 times” before shooting it, and thinks there’s plenty of room in the world for all different types of zombie films.
While audiences will inevitably make comparisons, Cooney said his inspiration for the story was much broader. His favorite director is “Night of the Living Dead” mastermind George Romero, sure, but he also draws from a little bit of “Stand By Me,” “The Goonies,” “E.T.” and other classics. He especially loves the types of movies that pull at his emotions, that he thinks about for days or weeks afterwards.
“It’s weird because I’ve always loved horror and everything, but some of the movies that I got inspiration from weren’t really horror movies at all,” he explained.
Cooney, a Chittenango High School graduate who lives in Liverpool, said he intentionally shot the movie in and around the Syracuse area.
“I didn’t want to go out to California and because a lot of the inspiration I got making this came from my own hometown,” Cooney explained.
He originally sought to cast some actors from notable titles like “Platoon,” “E.T.” and “The Goonies,” but talks and scheduling fell through. Instead, there will be appearances by notable figures from the vegan community like Dr. Michael Gregor, a dietitian, author and plant-based foods advocate who founded the website nutritionfacts.org, and Jane Velez-Mitchell, a former CNN Headline News host who’s now dedicated to animal rights advocacy and has her own streaming network for vegan news called Unchained TV.
The majority of the cast and crew are local people, including Matt Sampere, who wrote, directed and starred in the 2023 Halloween film “Creeping Death.” Michael Watson, who won a SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Award) last year with local band A Kid Called Danger, even provided a song from his group Anorexic Beauty Queen for a “pivotal” moment in the movie.
A release date for “A44″ has not been announced. Cooney said he’s submitted the film to several festivals and plans to have a local screening soon.
“A44” is a new movie shot in Central New York by “The Vegan Zombie” creator Chris Cooney.Provided
For more information, visit a44movie.com.
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