Movie Creators Breaking The Zombie Mold

Nothing could prepare people auditioning for "Remains," a zombie movie scheduled to be filmed this summer in Mystic and Norwich, for the part, mostly because the movie's crew is casting for a zombie that they haven't created yet. 

"Today they're mostly doing classic zombie looks," said Ben Chester, the movie's make-up and special effects artist. "I'm hoping its going to be a totally different look."

The post-apocolyptic zombies in the movie will be victims of a nuclear power plant explosion and some will be listless from the effects of the radiation while others will be energized. The living dead will have a deformed appearance and melted skin, which Chester said, he hasn't seen in other movies. 

"I'll just start sculpting and let the clay tell me what to do," he said. "I'm a slave to the medium." 

Though the movie is set in Reno, Nevada, the filming will be take place in Connecticut. Beginning in June, the indoor scenes will be filmed at the Ramada Inn on Route 27 in Mystic and the outdoor scenes will be filmed in Norwich.

Producer Andrew Gernhard promises the film will have many twists, for both the living and the living dead.

The movie is being produced by Synthetic Cinema International, a Rocky Hill based production company with other credits like, "Banshee!!!" and "Assault of the Sasquatch". "Remains" is a movie adaptation of a graphic novel by author Steven Niles and illustrator Kieron Dwyer and will be shown on NBCUniversal's Chillers channel after the DVD is released later this year.