There’s a vampire living at 706 W. Cedar Boulevard.

Filmmaking may be as accessible as it has ever been, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap. Facing such a reality, writer/director Matt Stuertz (Tonight She Comes, RWD) has taken to Indiegogo with the pitch for his latest fast-paced, fucked-up, and uber-violent new flick, Wake Not the Dead. We’ve been big fans of what Matt has done over the years, and I couldn’t personally be more excited to see his best and most ambitious idea finally come to fruition.

A solid chunk of the film has been shot already, but Stuertz and team are seeking funds to finish the expensive stuff. More characters, locations, explosions, and other “gross, weird-ass shit” are all in the cards if the team can reach its relatively modest $50k goal. I’m a big believer in what this team can do and can’t wait to see the chaos on the big screen.

“More characters, locations, explosions, and other “gross, weird-ass shit” are all in the cards if the team can reach its relatively modest $50k goal.”

If you have the funds to help out, I strongly encourage it. If you don’t have the cash but want to help, share the campaign online. It helps sweet-ass, truly independent horror flicks like this to continue being made. Wake Not the Dead stars Jackie Kelly (Tennessee Gothic, In Memory Of) and Mia Sydney, with cinematography by David Christopher Pitt (Oscar Tango Hellwater, Loom), and Special Make-up Effects by Emma Siate (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Hellraiser (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). Check out the details, below:

There’s a vampire living at 706 W. Cedar Boulevard. It feeds every night. And it needs to be stopped. It needs to be killed. It needs to be filmed… and so does the second half of Wake Not The Dead.

What is Wake Not The Dead?

“It’s exactly the kind of movie that I want to see every time I go to a movie theater”, writer/director Matt Stuertz says. “It’s full of interesting characters, it throws you right into the action, it’s weird as hell, and it’s going to be roughly 85 minutes long. Take equal parts Rear Window, The Burbs, Nightcrawler, and Return of the Living Dead, throw ’em all into a blender, mix until unrecognizable, then reconstruct into something that (hopefully) resembles an early Peter Jackson film.

“It’s my favorite script I’ve ever written, and after seeing the actors bring it to life in what we’ve filmed so far, I love it even more. I’d say both the Indiegogo Campaign video and the teaser trailer give a pretty good vibe of how much fun we’ve had shooting this and the tone of the movie itself. However, what we don’t show you (because I personally hate trailers that give away moments that are meant to be seen for the first time on screen) is just how wild and insanely violent (yet in a mostly fun and cheering at the screen kind of way) this movie gets.

Going to film festivals is one of my favorite things in the world, and seeing a movie play where the audience loses their collective minds is the absolute best. And it’s even better when it’s your film playing on that screen. So, that’s exactly the kind of film we’re trying to make here.”