A Quincy filmmaker and his local movie are taking the spotlight later on this month.
Christopher Kelley's movie called "Hampshire: A Ghost Story' was selected for the Sunscreen Film Festival coming up at the end of the month.
Kelley has made dozens of short films in the past. But a couple of years ago he decided to shoot for the stars, trying his hand at crafting a feature length film. After a year of writing, he began shooting the film at this time last year.
What came about is a local horror movie that plays with the idea of ghosts and how people react to them. But Kelley says its not like any horror film you've seen.
Kelley said, "The simplest way to describe it is it is a haunted restaurant. It's a fun quirky, funny movie with creepy things going on."
And it's a local masterpiece, the movie takes place at the former Busy Bistro restaurant with Quincy talent.
Kelley said, "Local actors who really surprise you with their talent and their ability once you get them comfortable with the material."
Because he and his cast all have day jobs they spent their weekend nights and Sundays shooting the horror flick. As you can imagine that sometimes made for some interesting nights downtown.
Perhaps the best thing about the movie is it was shot with all local actors and Quincy locations. But because he and his cast all have day jobs they spent their weekend nights and Sundays shooting the horror flick. As you can imagine that sometimes made for some interesting nights downtown.
Kelley said, "Busy Bistro was in operation at the time and so we had to work around the hours of the restaurant. So there was a restaurant going on downstairs and two floors above we were screaming our heads off. So we would be constantly calling down and ask are we being too loud? Can you hear the girl screaming? They said no...so scream louder."
Another humorous story is a tribute to the response time of Quincy emergency response teams.
Kelley said, "We had to switch shooting scenes one night we had two actors covered in blood walking down the street.. In a couple of minutes sirens were coming and pulled up alongside. The police officer that got out said are you shooting a movie?"
Now that's a quick response. Like many horror flicks, blood and other props were necessary for hampshire. Kelley says it was all made in house thanks to the internet.
Kelley said, "We came up with a couple of recipes for blood. I will say we used dish soap in blood. It was very key because we were borrowing the location and we can't have stains on the walls."
Now his 84 minute film 'Hampshire: A Ghost Story' is getting national attention.
Its world premiere will be later this month at the Sunscreen Film Festival at St. Petersburg , Florida. That's where many film buyers and representatives from distribution companies like the Weinstein Company could see it and buy it. It's also been accepted into the Indie Spirit Film Festival Colorado Springs.
Kelley said, "It was wonderful to see there was recognition out there saying we like your work enough to show it here."
But no matter the praise Kelley staying grounded. He says if someone does buy the film, he hopes to be able to pay off an even bigger and better feature.
Kelley said, "It's just one step to achieving a goal."
Click here to check out the full trailer. www.tablesixteen.com