Ad
Sandoval Co. backdrop for ‘Vampire Lake’ movie, set to premier Friday
Image from the film “Vampire Lake,” courtesy of Daniel Zubiate
A vampire has been prowling around Sandoval County, but don’t worry — it’s just for a movie.
Local filmmakers Daniel Zubiate and Katheryn McCune have worked together for a number of years, and one of their latest adventures, “Vampire Lake,” is premiering at 10:30 p.m. Friday at The Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. NE, Albuquerque.
“They like to do horror premiers kind of late,” Zubiate said of the venue’s owners, saying that they believe that’s a good way to reach the horror crowd.
Zubiate wrote, directed and did post-production of the film that was filmed in Placitas, Rio Rancho and Valles Caldera. “It’s about a group of girls who go off to a weekend retreat at a cabin, and one of them, hearing about a legend that there’s a vampire there, wants to go out and see if it’s true,” the Rio Rancho resident said. “She is able to summon him but winds up unleashing him onto her friends.”
2023, Braker Lane Films.
All Rights Reserved
Zubiate and McCune, the assistant director and producer who also lives in Rio Rancho, were very impressed with “Vampire Lake’s” small cast of eight, all New Mexico talent. “Everybody was completely off book,” Zubiate said. “They had the whole script memorized. I’ve never seen that before.”
“There was not one time that anyone was ever pausing and waiting for someone to feed (a line) to them. Not one time,” McCune added.
That was even the case during a 10-minute campfire scene that was shot multiple times from various angles. “That’s unheard of. I’ve never been on a set like that,” McCune said.
Zubiate said the process for “Vampire Lake” began in June after he was approached by a producer to write the script. That producer then began backpedaling on the project. “I liked the script, and I said, ‘Hey, you know, we should run with this,” he said. He began to gather financing and started filming B roll in July in order to capture the foliage and full creeks. Shooting was done in September, with four days in Valle Calderas, three days in Placitas and about a quarter of a day in Rio Rancho.
Then post-production began. Zubiate said that process was “extremely difficult,” with sound issues that needed to be dealt with and some reshoots.
“It’s definitely a departure from anything I’ve kind of done before, and it’s a fun watch.”
Ad
Zubiate said he’s writing about 30 scripts and has produced six or seven of them. “I’ve tried other things besides horror; it’s just where I’ve been the most successful because that’s the (genre) you can do for the least amount of money with an unknown cast,” he said. “If you want to do a comedy or Western, you need some kind of name actor to sell it. I prefer working with unknown people, or I should say, people on the rise.”
However, someone that’s very well known to him is McCune, who has been working with him since 2019. “We just have a really good working relationship, and we just work really well together, so anytime he needs somebody, I’m always there.
“I think he’s a really good filmmaker and super trustworthy. He’s just really easy to work with,” she added. And, she said, he defies the stereotype of the “creepy” horror film director.
“That’s really a thing,” she said of the industry. “He does take it really seriously, and so there’s never really a time that he would ever be one-on-one with the cast, and I think that’s a really good thing because that puts the actor or actress at ease.”
McCune said Zubiate is very good about being up front with those involved in the film on what to expect as well, telling them the film is an independent project, what the pay will be and what to expect. McCune says that’s what he’s known for. “Everything that he says is what happens, and that’s, I think, why I stayed working with him. He’s like, ‘This is what’s going to happen.’ That’s what happened, and there were no misunderstandings of how things were going to be.”
Despite working on a lot of “studio” productions, Zubiate prefers the indie world. “I’ve worked on a lot of studio things,” he said. “I’m just at a point in my life I’d rather work on my own stuff. I have some say in controlling it instead of being a cog in some big machine where, basically this production is going to be made whether I work there or not, whereas if I make something on my own, it’s only going to exist because I made it.
As for “Vampire Lake,” the filmmakers said they’re proud of the performances of all the actors in the movie. “Everybody’s likable and relatable. The locations are beautiful … You can tell everybody just had a good time,” Zubiate said. “That’s always my hope: I want to give everybody a good experience, and I want people to be a little bit better off because they worked with us.”
“It was fun and everybody got along really well,” McCune said. “The cast had a great time.”
Friday’s premier will also include a question-and-answer session with the cast at the conclusion of the movie, and posters will also be on sale for the cast to sign.
The cast features Kaylynda McCune, MyKayla McCune, Celeste Lee, Chelcie Sword, Addison Foskey, Alan Humphrey, Delayne McCune and Katheryn McCune.
