The Infant Dead

THE INFANT DEAD (previously known as Day Of The Living Babies) is an upcoming horror-comedy from Mordacious Films Ltd. that satires B-movies and horror films of the 1970s and 1980s, such as George A. Romero's Day Of The Dead and Dawn Of The Dead, and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. Basket Case, Night Of The Creeps, and Creepshow also serve as inspiration in style and theme.

It is a spiritual sequel to the 2005 short, Night Of The Living Babies, which directly lampooned Night Of The Living Dead. This film has also been aged to give it an authentic grindhouse film look as found in older, low-budget cinema.

The initial idea for the film was a simple "fake trailer", much like those featured in Grindhouse, but it was decided in late 2007 that the film should be a full feature due to the amount of detail in the story.

It has been in development hell since it's creation, with scenes being filmed nearly months apart supposedly taking place the same day in the film.

Plot

It's a relatively normal October morning in 1983. Locals suspect a chemical spill at an abandoned warehouse in the woods the previous night could mean the toxification of the entire town of Kentcroft Falls, Michigan. The woods are off-limits and school has been canceled, but two local teenagers, Leland and Mia, decide to investigate the scene themselves, ignoring the warnings. They inevitably uncover that mutant, flesh-eating zombie baby dolls have been housed in the factory, and are now making their way into town to spread the virus and transform the townspeople into the living dead. Leland hides out in an underground shelter with his best friend Grody, and awaits what he believes is the end of humanity.

Cast

• Leland Masek - Leland Foree
• Mia Lauren - Mia DelRio / Shelter Zombie #1
• T. Michael Butcher - Terrence Walker / Shelter Zombie #2
• Harrison Demas - Gordon "Grody" Wilhelm
• Maggie MacIntosh - Jennifer Hotchkins
• Pierson Dapier - Brad Majors
• Brett Haltom - Chief Reynolds
• Mark Morettini - Sgt. Jack Mooney
• Colin Barry - Guy On Stairs
• Carolyn Hansen - Jackie
• Kelli Alden - Diane
• Sami Haltom - Shelter Zombie #3
• Patrick Joseph - Lawnmower Man
• Randy Pinkelton - Captain Rock (Voice)

Character Bios

Leland

Age 16. The main character. Leland and his good friend Mia decide to investigate the incident in the woods after hearing the news. Leland claims he saw a baby tear apart his neighbor's dog the night before, but thought nothing of it because he found the dog annoying. He is somewhat of a coward, and when faced with danger will panic and run away. He left Mia in the woods when she was being attacked to go get help, albeit slowly, and seeked refuge in a secret underground shelter. Leland is also shown to be slightly lazy, and somewhat of a slacker. His mornings are usually very low-key and dull. He toughens up late in the film when he witnesses his friend being attacked and killed by zombies.

Mia

Age 14. Leland's friend, slightly oblivious to danger and relatively spacey. Mia is attacked in the woods by a baby, and when Leland doesn't help her, she stumbles to her friend Jennifer's house where she falls increasingly ill. It is initially Mia's idea to investigate the warehouse in the first place. It turns out she and Jennifer have had a few rough patches in their friendship, and as Mia makes her deathbed confessions, many negative instances are brought up between the two.

Jennifer

Age 14. Mia's close friend since Kindergarten. A shallow, yuppie valley girl, Jennifer is completely focused on her date for the prom and hardly pays attention to Mia's intense injuries. She and Mia both attended ballet camp in the late 70s when they were children. In grade school, Jennifer had a teacher named Mr. Mars, whom Mia convinced Jennifer was indeed from Mars. Jennifer claims that the lie had a big impact on her life, and is sad to hear the truth when Mia makes her deathbed confessions. She does show some compassion, though still carries a self-centered attitude.

Grody

Age 16. A lazy teenage stoner, Gordon "Grody" Wilhelm is spending his day off inside listening to his music with a friend. He is first seen when Leland calls him on the phone to convince him to leave his house and seek shelter in the military bunker. Leland is surprised when he actually makes it alive. It is unclear if he has any connections to the other characters other than Leland. Originally played by Patrick Joseph, but is now played by Harrison Demas.

Terrence

Age 16. Terrence is first seen at the beginning of the film reading a book on Physical Chemistry. While reading, he hears a radio announcement about the accident in the woods, and decides to go investigate and join in on what he thinks is an elaborate prank set up by local teenagers. He is the first to discover the babies, and the first person to be killed by one, before the opening credits. His name is never mentioned on-screen.

Sgt. Mooney

A stereotypical "bad cop" of sorts. He is first seen undercover investigating the house of a missing child when Leland approaches him for help. He assumes Leland is joking or on narcotics, and is shocked to hear his parents left him alone. Though he doesn't believe Leland, he eventually alerted the chief.

Chief Reynolds

The chief of the Kentcroft Falls Police Department. Equally as stubborn as Mooney, he's the man who makes all the decisions and alerts the radio station of the zombie outbreak.

Brad

Age 16. An older boy who is going out with Jennifer and has asked her to the dance. Though the dance is initially canceled due to the outbreak, a disbelieving Brad and his friends break into the school and throw a party of their own. He is upset when Jennifer can't make it (due to Mia falling ill at her house), but is quick to replace her with another girl whom he feels is a bigger slut.

Captain Rock

Radio DJ heard numerous times on the radio giving insight on the happenings of the town and playing pop and rock music.

Diane & Jackie

Two teenage runaways from Detroit who, before heading back home, decide to check out the forest. They encounter Leland and try to mug him and slice his neck, but Diane declines due to a toppled tree being in the way. They decide to head back to Detroit as planned.

Filming

Though the film is set in a suburb in Michigan, it was actually shot in Illinois around the director's hometown. Scenes taking place in the underground shelter were filmed in the basement of a library, starting December of 2009, while the exterior shots of the forest surrounding the shelter door were filmed in a small forest in Switchblade's backyard, miles apart and months earlier.

Filming started the summer of 2007, during the "outbreak" of cicadas, which can be heard in the background of most of the early shots. Scenes involving the original Grody, Patrick Joseph, were filmed around October the same year and a portion of the shots have been re-used in the beginning of the film where we see a boy (who originally was Grody) exit his house and use a lawnmower to mow down a baby doll. In 2008, scenes involving the character Terrence were filmed in the fall, and a scene including Leland getting up in the morning and hearing the news on the radio. That same year, the majority of Jennifer's scenes with Mia were filmed. Jennifer and Leland's house interiors are one in the same, as both were filmed in Switchblade's home. Grody's room is in the same house. The factory in which Terrence investigates is actually a middle school in Libertyville, Illinois, while the long shots of the factory are a post office in Lake Bluff, with a second story digitally added in post-production.

Music

The film's music is a combination of royalty free production music, original tracks by Johnnyswitchblade, Bjorn Lynne and Peter John Ross, and a plethora of obscure or underground darkwave and synthpop tracks from the late 70s and early 80s.

Tracks In Order Of Appearance:

• The Monitors - "Singing In The 80s"
• Thomas Leer - "Hear What I Say"
• Schleimer K - "Demon Lust"
• Honey Bane - "Wish I Could Be Me"
• Magazine - "Philadelphia"
• Cleaners From Venus - "This Rainy Decade"
• The Dugites - "In Your Car"
• Stardrive - "Jupiter Jump"
• Altered Images - "Dead Pop Stars"
• Raped - "Raped"
• Blackouts - "Make No Mistake"

Special Effects

The majority of the film's effects were done with a shoestring budget and consist mostly of stop-motion, puppeteering, and lots of fake blood. More effects are planned which will be more elaborate. A chest gag (fake chest with intestines) has been built for a death scene.