THIS IS NOT A TEST Video Interviews: Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, and Adam MacDonald Adapt Courtney Summers’ Powerful Zombie Novel

Nearly 10 years later, I can still remember the moment I finished reading Courtney Summers' This is Not a Test in a Minneapolis coffee shop, just sitting in silence as I processed the novel's heart-wrenching journey, complex characters, and ravenous zombies.

As much as This is Not a Test is about facing death (and in the case of the main character Sloane, potentially choosing death even before the zombies attack), this is a story about life, about finding the will to keep going and keep fighting even when the world is crumbling around you and that light at the end of the tunnel seems like a microscopic mirage. In many ways it's more timely now than when it was first published in 2012, making the new film adaptation by writer/director Adam MacDonald (Pyewacket, Backcountry) all the more vital and visceral.

With This is Not a Test now playing in theaters via IFC and Shudder, Daily Dead had the great pleasure of talking with stars Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, and Adam MacDonald to discuss the making of their ambitious new film, including adapting the powerful source material, taking an emotional Breakfast Club approach to the zombie apocalypse, bringing multilayered characters to life, setting the story amidst the Y2K fears of 1998, and being influenced and inspired by the zombie films of George A. Romero (including one of my all-time favorites, Diary of the Dead).

You can watch our full video interviews below, and to learn more about This is Not a Test, visit:

• https://thisisnotatestfilm.com/

"Sloane and a small group of her classmates take cover in their high school to escape their suddenly apocalyptic hometown. As danger relentlessly pounds on the doors, Sloane begins to see the world through the eyes of people who actually want to live and takes matters into her own hands.

Director: Adam MacDonald
Screenwriter: Adam MacDonald
Cast: Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, Luke MacFarlane, Corteon Moore, Chloe Avakian, Carson MacCormac
Producers: Cybill Lui and Adam MacDonald
Executive Producer: Luke Taylor
Editor: Pamela Bayne
Composer: Lee Malia
Director of Photography: Christian Bielz
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Runtime: 102 minutes"

[Above image courtesy of Independent Film Company and Shudder.]