Suburban Decay '01-'02 Synopsis:        A pharmacutical company’s competitor sends a covert agent to steal an experimental drug that is being used to bring dead patients back to life who are beyond resesitation using traditional methods. When the thief is chased by security into a cemetary, he is gunned down, breaking the chemicals container and spilling the drug onto the graves before dying. As he and the fresh corpses return to life, they begin biting everyone they come in contact with. The outbreak first reaches a nearby suburban town before being spreading into the metropolis. Two seperate groups of friends fight to survive the zombie apocolypse when the scientist who created the drug stumbles across the fortified home of one of the groups. Reports begin to broadcast on TV of the outbreak until an evacuation location in the center of the city is set for a specific time, before the city and outlying towns are nuked in an attempt to contain the outbreak. As the time is running out, the two groups and the news crew race to the evacuation point before it’s too late. Production Notes:        After leaving Jacksonvillle to attend Brown, Wes was already making preparations to attempt the filming of his third feature film project. Being his most ambitious project yet, he tried to plan everything to the very last detail, and even cast himself in 3 of the roles, as the scientist, covert agent, and lead zombie, to ensure that the roles would be played by someone reliable. During development, Wes was fitted for the red UV reactive contacts, handmade by lense FX artist Chris Gregg, which doubled as the agents glowing eyes, as well as the lead zombies red eyes (as seen in the poster.) Wes would also use his white contacts, also made by Chris, for the scientist after becoming a zombie.

To ensure that the rest of the characters were cast with reliable people, Wes cast friends that he also went to high school with and knew he could count on. As the availability of camera equipment from school grew closer, several props were being fabricated for use in the film, including a rocket launcher and a lifesize helicopter replica that would be elevated by forklift.

Once production began, several scenes were shot over the course of the winter, but scheduling conflicts, school, and work loads proved to be too much for the massive production and the majority of the scenes were never shot before the snow finally melted, leaving the production in limbo. Resources began to dwindle, reshoots due to casting conflicts became imminent, and the project was eventually canceled.


Fun Facts:


1. Being completely buried underneath snow in subzero temperatures while wearing only a thin lab coat is, now, a huge safety concern.

2. On the first night of shooting at the lakehouse, two of the cast who were dating erupted into a catastrophic breakup which brought filming to an abrupt halt as the cast and crew witnessed the most epic lovers quarrel ever fought.

3. Additional scenes never filmed include two cops encounter with a zombie kid, a character’s realization that his arm was severed, and a scene at a 24 hour diner involving the news crew, among a number of other scenes, that included rockets and helicopters.