ALLERGIC OVERREACTION Horror Short Film and Interview with Director Zachary Eglinton
The FilmQuest genre film festival and GeekTyrant have teamed up to promote and share officially selected films of FilmQuest filmmakers to promote their films, their work, and their careers.
This horror short film is titled Allergic Overreaction and it comes from filmmaker Zackary Eglington. We’ve also included an interview giving you the opportunity to get to know the filmmaker and the film that he’s made.
In the film, “During an annual Freddy vs Jason fest, four friends experience the fallout of an allergic reaction.”
This is a lot of fun for us! We have always talked about promoting upcoming filmmakers and we’ve figured out a great way to do that!
Without spoilers, tell us what your film is about, its characters, and its themes. Is it a proof of concept, or a standalone story?
My film is about four friends doing a weekend long horror movie marathon starring Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger when an allergic reaction turns into a murderous revenge slasher film in real life.
It started off as a standalone story, but while making it, I came up with an idea to make a full feature length film based off this idea.
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?
Based off a true story where I thought I killed my friend via the nuts in the cookies I brought to Freddy vs Jason Fest. Our friendship was never the same.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
I’ve been a filmmaker for about 20+ years. But a storyteller all my life.
What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?
I love telling stories about friends in the most ridiculous and dire situations. And genre cinema helps elevate those situations to absurd and terrifying levels.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?
Directing the actors to say the stuff I wrote them to say and act out is probably my favorite part of the process.
What are you most proud of with this film?
I set out to make something insane that came out of a real situation I lived with. And then I was able to make it even better than the true story.
What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you'd like to share?
During a scene where the two main characters are scuffling to the ground. One of them kicked the other in the face by accident. But what could have been disastrous, ended up one of the best parts. Full contact with nobody hurt. And we ended up using that shot in the film and it’s great.
What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
It was pretty smooth sailing actually. We shot this film in two days, two months apart and everyone was on fire with their work and we nailed pretty complex blocking with the actors and dialog scenes with no issues.
The most challenging thing was waiting for the makeup to be done. But even then, it went pretty great. We worked backwards to not mess any of the stages of the allergic reaction up.
If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you'll approach future projects as a result?
It stayed pretty faithful to what I wrote. But the actors did improvise some of the dialogue and I now keep that in mind because some of my favorite moments came from the actors’ improv.
One thing I learned is that if you truly believe in a gag or moment you wrote, do whatever you can to get it. There are two moments that I wish I’d fought for, because I feel like those scenes, while work done, would be way better if I’d stuck to my guns on getting them done.
Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?
Matt Mercer, a super talented actor was in my feature film almost ten years before this short and we’ve just stayed in touch and friends over the years.
The others were friends of worked on stuff with previously. Ace Marrero, Andrew Nathaniel Morris, and CB Mullen.
This was my second but more involved short with DP Nick Novotny and we have plans to work with each other again.
Our sound Mixer was now Academy Award winner and great friend Phil Bladh. And he really helped out with his great work.
Kate Klein has worked on a number of projects and she’s fantastic special effects makeup artist. This was our first time working together but hopefully not our last!
What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?
Don’t be afraid to collaborate. Listen to people’s opinions. It might not always be right but you can get some great moments and experiences.
In 2010, I soft pitched an idea to now one of my best friends ever. He loved it. So much that he encouraged me to actually make it. We did that together in January of 2011 and we made a feature film. My advice would be to find that person who’s going to support you and ride the wave with you.
What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?
I hope that this film takes on more of a feature length version of itself. But I also want to tell more stories about friends being bad to each other.
What is your next project and when can we expect to see it?
My next short film “You’re an Angel” will be premiering at Panic Fest in April of this year and playing hopefully more festivals throughout the year!
Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?
The Karate Kid or Young Frankenstein.
Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?
Mallrats.
Enjoy the film! To see more of Eglinton’s work, click here.
