Los Angeles, CA. (2002) -- On Friday, April 26th, a fresh new voice in filmmaking will get a chance to be heard and a gravely neglected genre will finally receive its long-anticipated resurrection. Pray For Dawn, the 2001 winner of the top prize at the Pomona Film Festival (better known as Smogdance), will see its theatrical debut at Captain Blood's Village Theaters in Orange, California, offering the general public a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the film which Thomas Crow of Fangoria called "enjoyable, clever and fun," Mark Rivera of Genre OnLine touted as, "an inventive debut from a new filmmaker" and Johnny Butane of Creature-corner.com declared, "The movie has a lot of ambition going into it."
Shot on the impossibly small budget of $1,000, Pray For Dawn is a zombie horror film in the tradition of George A. Romero and Sam Raimi, brought to life by writer, director, star and horror buff, Brian Thomas Barnhardt. In classic Hollywood style, the former Starbucks employee took his passion for moviemaking (and no formal training whatsoever), gathered up friends, relations and a simple digital video camera and set out to realize his dream. "The thought of a slow-moving dead person, bumping into walls, unable to break windows or open doors, usually doesn't scare anyone, in fact, it's quite comical," says Barnhardt of his recipe for success. "I attempted to change that formula by making my zombies more like someone on PCP, uncontrollable and animal-like, and yes, they open doors, run, jump and bite!"
The result is an 85 minute roller coaster ride, which Barnhardt calls a "mix of Evil Dead and Fistful Of Dollars." Rather than parody what has come before, Pray For Dawn attempts to reinvent the zombie genre and, in the process, revive interest in a neglected corner of the horror trade. In fact, so promising is this ultra-low budget film that Steve Palopoli from Total Movie Magazine wrote, "Brian Thomas Barnhart shows promise in the Romero and Raimi style of guerilla filmmaking. Finally, some hope for a zombie movie renaissance."
Mr Palopoli (Total Movie magazine) and the growing fanbase of Pray For Dawn, will be very happy to learn that a sequel, Pray For Dawn II: Keep Praying, is currently in the works, with an increased budget and special effects house Boneyard FX on board to make this second installment a visual extravaganza. The entire cast and crew of both the original film and the its sequel will be on hand to greet the public at the premiere.
Synopsis
When Bruce Martin (Barnhardt), a bumbling delivery boy for a local chemical plant, accidentally introduces a potent toxin into the city's water supply, he inadvertently begins the downfall of humanity by unleashing a city of flesh-eating nightmares on the world. To help rectify the problem, Bruce and his equally brain-dead friend Scags (Matthew Kelsey), devise a "fool-proof" plan to stop the army of the undead from growing. Armed with a sawed-off shotgun, a '74 Dodge Charger and their low IQs, Bruce and Scags hook up with two stranded girls (Ashley Cantina and Lilly Small) and a zombie-bitten boyfriend (Jorge Mejia) in a deserted cabin to do the only thing which will get them through the night, Pray For Dawn.Pray For Dawn will receive its world premiere at Captain Blood¹s Village Theaters, followed by a two week encore theatrical run.
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