Racine talent featured in locally made film

Friday, April 20, 2007 2:26 AM CDT

Racine talent star in new feature film which makes local premiere

with stills from film

BY MICHAEL BURKE

Journal Times

KENOSHA - A Kenosha filmmaker with 32 documentary films under his belt is trying to jump into feature films with a horror picture that will debut here soon.

Local independent filmmaker Mark Gumbinger will hold the premier showing of "Mortuary Girls," shot entirely in Southeastern Wisconsin, at the Brat Stop here on May 2. Gumbinger chose that date because there will be a full moon that night to accompany the on-screen mayhem and murders.

"It's tough to break into Hollywood films," Gumbinger, 46, said Wednesday. But horror films and their devoted cult following lend themselves to making that leap.

"I've always wanted to do it, and the timing was right," he said. The plot came to him in 1990, but the technology then would probably have required him to shoot on 16 mm film. "It would have probably cost 10 times more," he said.

"Mortuary Girls" falls into the film cost category of "ultra-low budget" at less than $175,000, Gumbinger said, although it's hard to calculate an exact cost. For example, he worked for nothing for more than a year, passing on the chance to make the Great Lakes, lighthouse and shipwreck documentaries he usually produces.

He supplied this plot description for "Mortuary Girls": When Annie suspects that her boyfriend Kenny has been cheating on her, she sets up a prank to teach a lesson to him and his new love interest Tina, played by Crystal Lees of Racine.

"But when Annie chooses Victor, a mentally unstable killer played by Len Maki of Racine, as her accomplice the lesson becomes one of horror and death which envelopes more than just those in the lovers' triangle."

Veteran actor Norm McPhee, former director of the Racine Theatre Guild, also stars in the film which was shot last summer. Another Racine area participant was Brian Barnes, who Gumbinger had worked with on documentaries. Barnes co-wrote the screenplay.

Gumbinger conceived the film, produced and directed it, shot and edited it. The editing alone - working in the relatively new medium of high-definition (HD) digital - took eight months, he said.

The Kenosha filmmaker said his two goals, both achieved, were to make a feature film, and to become proficient with HD digital film.

He said the film doesn't carry a Motion Picture Association of America rating, because it doesn't require one unless shown in a theater. But if rated, he said, it would probably carry a PG-13.

As for getting it into distribution channels, that's a big challenge. He said just 5 percent of independent films get distributed, "So I'm going way against the odds."

If a distributor does pick up "Mortuary Girls," it could show up at Blockbuster, Family Video or cable TV, Gumbinger said.

But if there is a market, it's likely in Europe or Asia. "They devour this little kind of horror film," he said.

If the film succeeds in bringing Gumbinger an income stream, he described what he would do next. "It probably would be 'Mortuary Girls 2,' and we did set it up for a sequel."

The 90-minute "Mortuary Girls" will air at 8 p.m. May 2 at the Brat Stop's Parkway Château Grand Hall (entrance C). Admission costs $7 or $5 with a can of food for the local food pantry. For more information visit www.mortuarygirls.com.

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