''Dead Moon Rising'' is a 2007

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Mark E. Poole. It stars Jason Crowe, Mike Seely, and Erica Goldsmith as locals who must fight waves of zombies in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

Plot

An unexplained phenomenon causes a zombie pandemic. Jim and Nick, workers at a car rental service in Louisville, Kentucky, attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. With the help of April, Dick, Vix, and several other friends and locals that they pick up along the way, the group makes its way through the city. Eventually, they manage to rally a large number of bikers, who proceed to fight the zombies in a thousand-person brawl.

Cast

* Jason Crowe as Jim * Mike Seely as Nick * Erica Goldsmith as April * Gary Williams as Dick *

Tucky Williams Tucky Williams is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actress. She is known for creating and portraying Evan in the Amazon streaming series ''Girl/Girl Scene''. Personal life Williams began college at the age of fifteen. She stud ...

as Vix
Derek Miller
as Albert

Production

Poole, who was influenced by ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also star ...

'' and ''

28 Days Later ''28 Days Later'' (sometimes stylised with ellipsis as ''28 Days Later...'') is a 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to d ...

'', shot the film in Louisville, Kentucky. When ''

The Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

'' ran a story about the film, Poole was inundated with locals who volunteered to appear as extras in the film. The climactic zombie fight was recognized by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the largest zombie scene filmed. Poole also received an offer for free helicopter service.

Release

The film premiered in Louisville on May 1, 2007. It was released on DVD on March 4, 2008.

Reception

Brian McNail of Brutal as Hell wrote, "''Dead Moon Rising'' is by far one of the worst filmed, acted, special effects-enhanced movies I have seen in a LONG time."

Peter Dendle Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and ...

wrote that the film may be meaningful to Louisville residents but will not appeal to anyone else. ''Dead Moon Rising'' was selected as Best Zombie Film at

Fright Night Film Fest Fright Night Film Fest, also known as Louisville Fright Night Film Fest, is an annual horror film festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The festival was first founded in 2005 by Ken Daniels and is typically held in July at the Galt House, which is f ...

and Best Feature at Cine-Fest, both in 2007. ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' selected it as its top video rental for May 2008.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1067069 2007 horror films 2007 films American zombie films American independent films Films set in Louisville, Kentucky Films shot in Louisville, Kentucky 2007 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language horror films