After first hearing about Death Island a few years ago, we started to receive new details on Tom Savini’s zombie project last month. I recently had a chance to catch up with Tom Savini, who told me about working on the script over the last few years, his military training that served as an inspiration, and how these zombies will be different from what we’re seeing on The Walking Dead.
We started by discussing the origins of the project and he told me it all started when he was talking movies with Rick Danford:
“Rick and I were at a convention and, when we’re together, we’re talking about movies all the time. It’s like with Quentin Tarantino. If you’re not talking with Quentin about movies, you can see his eyes glaze over. Rick came up with the basic idea: What if a movie company goes to an island and encounters zombies?
Rick got together with a bunch of friends that were partners of his. I said what I wanted to see and they wrote up four or five drafts. I did the final draft, and Rick and I went over it word by word.”
What has me most excited about this project was seeing what Tom Savini would do with zombies now that the sub-genre has been over-saturated with new productions. They’re going to pass on the traditional “living dead” zombies we’re used to and are going back to the Voodoo origins:
“They’re unique zombies. It’s not people that died and came back. It goes back to the Haitian voodoo zombie-thing, where there’s a henchmen who is distilling a chemical that’s controlling people. He’s a maniac and is keeping invaders off the island.”
Tom Savini served during the Vietnam War and a specific training exercise serves as inspiration for how these zombies will act:
“The zombies are all black, scarred, and covered in mud. It’s almost like camouflage and that’s one of the things I wrote in there. Before I went to Vietnam, I had a two week combat course. They put us in the woods and gave us combat situations. It was pretty scary and gives you the idea of how chaotic a battle can be.
One day, they took us out to the middle of the woods. Typically, it was a six mile jog and we waited for the Sergeant to give us a lesson. We’re waiting there forever and looking at the tree line and nothing is happening. All of the sudden, the Sergeant gets on the walkie-talkie to another Sergeant and tells him to move his men.
Thirty five guys in camo moved toward us and it scared the f*** out of us because they had been there the entire time. The lesson was about camouflage. Those guys could have killed us any time because they were right there and we didn’t see them.
I thought the same thing is possible with these zombies, since they look camouflaged. There’s a scene where the director is talking to a scream queen. We linger at the trees and eighteen zombies move. It gives me a tool to build suspense, because you know that you’ll never see where they are, in the daytime at least.”
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new feature from Tom Savini and there are many horror fans that enjoy his remake of Night of the Living Dead. However, he said it was only a portion of what he had in mind and he’s planning on bringing over some of those ideas to Death Island:
“When I did Night of the Living Dead, time was a big concern, so the movie was about 30 percent of what I intended. I vowed that everything I didn’t get to do in Night of the Living Dead, I’d do in my next movie. I didn’t care if it was a comedy! [Laughs]
One of them was a zombie point-of-view. I asked George Romero about creating a zombie POV that was black, white, and decrepit, so you knew it was a zombie. But, George thought it would add life to them and they’re supposed to be dead. I said that they certainly could see where they are going, because they’re not crashing into walls or walking into each other. My reason for wanting a zombie POV is that as soon as you cut back from a zombie POV from 40 feet away, the scare has started because you know zombies are approaching.”
Tom Savini is obviously a big part of this project, but so is Rick Danford, who told us about his love of the undead and what we can expect from the story:
“I am really excited about this because I am a HUGE fan of the zombie genre. I have seen every incarnation, read every book, comic, synopsis, poster or toilet paper roll that had anything to do with the undead. And not only are we creating a film based in a hugely popular sub genre, but Tom Savini is at the helm. And even more than that, we have a unique concept and story to bring to the table. It's based in reality as we researched the beginnings of Voodoo and the process of bringing the dead back to life.
The film involves actual events based around the almost invasion of Haiti by US Forces several years back. My former partner Kerry Hogan who help put the original draft together was in the Military and was actually on a plane heading to Haiti when a last second treaty was reached and they turned the plane around. We tie all of this in and ground the zombies in this film to their actual roots. It's an exciting script with a ton of action, gore and some of the coolest zombie encounters we hope to film.”
With The Walking Dead leading the charge in zombie effects, Tom Savini is well aware that he needs to do something unique and it sounds like he’s definitely up for the challenge:
“Obviously, if we’re doing a zombie movie, we’ll have to do different. The best zombies out there today are what Greg Nicotero is doing on The Walking Dead, so I have to get to a new level of zombie and this is it.”
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Tom Savini and Rick Danford have gone the crowdfunding route with Death Island and launched the campaign over the weekend. We’ve included some more information below and you can learn more about their fundraising efforts and Death Island by visiting:
“Several years ago Tom received a script for a unique take on the zombie film. The screenplay caught Tom’s attention, but it needed a lot of work. After many long hours with co-writer Rick Danford, Tom was able to re-write the script, enhance it and make it his own. He used his years of experience in the genre and what he feels the fans want, while also providing a fresh take on the beloved sub genre that has become so overwhelmingly popular. And with the most recent record breaking success of televisions own ‘The Walking Dead’ and the Brad Pitt Blockbuster theatrical release ‘World War Z’, there looks to be no stopping the undead.
Well now comes an incredible opportunity. Tom feels the time is now for this film and he looks to bring his very personal project to the screen that will become a staple in zombie film lore for generations to come. A film that will shock and thrill while bringing a fresh take to the table for fans the world over.
The casting for the film has already begun and the first to come aboard is horror icon Tony Todd. Tony is set to play a significant role in the film. Genre favorite Tiffany Shepis is also on board and we are very excited to have her. And look for more names to be added as we roll towards the production start date.”
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