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An Interview with Michael Haberfelner, Writer and Producer of There's No Such Thing as Zombies

by Mike Haberfelner

October 2024

Michael Haberfelner on (re)Search my Trash

 

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I know we've talked about this before, but do bring us up to speed: Your new movie There's No Such Thing as Zombies - in a few words, what's it about?

 

Humankind is struck a deadly virus, but many choose not to believe in it. And amidst all this, a love triangle, with one of the three being a zombie.

 

With There's No Such Thing as Zombies being a zombie movie, is that a genre especially dear to you, and what do you think makes your movie stick out of the crowd?

 

As a horror fan as big as I am, one's pretty much bound to love zombie movies. And who doesn't love George A. Romero's original Living Dead trilogy or the Blind Dead movies, Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters [Lucio Fulci bio - click here] or even the classics like I Walked with a Zombie or White Zombie. I also love bad zombie movies, all the way from 1941's King of the Zombies to Italian zombie schlock like Doctor Butcher M.D. (which actually also had live cannibals in it, just for good measure). That said, not too much into more modern stuff, The Walkind Dead never did it for me, nor World Wer Z or Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead. The ptoblem with these is, they take pulp and trash cinema tropes and try to make them mainstream, without really adding anything meaningful to the formula.

 

And that's where we come to the point what makes our film different, I didn't go for a bloodbath with a faceless zombie mob but made the main zombie very much a character, maybe the most likeable character. And also of course I pushed the comedy scale to 11 and played the satire card (which actually harks back to Romero's early zombie movies, especially Dawn of the Dead). You see, to tell you the truth, even if I love zombie cinema, I wasn't especially keen on making a traditional zombie movie that only plays variations on a theme. But as soon as I found a fresh approach ... well, and the rest is history.

 

(Other) sources of inspiration when writing There's No Such Thing as Zombies?

 

One of my key inspirations was my own debut as a scriptwriter, A Killer Conversation, that proved to me that yes, you can make a feature about three people in one room - but also on the flipside showed me why it's a good idea to go a little bigger (within budget limitations of course). Actually, originally There's No Such Thing as Zombies was to be a sequel to A Killer Conversation, it just gradually grew into a different direction.

 

Other inspirations were classic love triantle movies, from the epitomy of them all, Casablanca, to Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim. And then there was also B-movie cinema in general - basically if you have only a limited budget, it's best to write with that in mind. And watching other movies that overcame financial restraints can be very helpful with this.

 

Do talk about There's No Such Thing as Zombies's brand of humour?

 

That's an unexpectedly hard question to answer, since while I do think I've got a very distinct style of comedy, on analysis the incluences come from all over: There's of course a good deal of satire in this one, especially in the newsroom sequences, there are parodistic elements throughout, but there are also sitcom situations, silly oneliners, sexual innuendo and even the occasional "what the fuck"-moment. So it pushes into many directions, which I think sits well with a general audience. The one thing this is not however is gross-out comedy, despite the film's horror theme.

 

What were the challenges of bringing There's No Such Thing as Zombies to the screen from a producer's point of view?

 

Everything, really! I mean, this was the first feature film I've produced, and the short we've worked into this (the newsroom sequence starring Lynn Lowry [Lynn Lowry interview - click here]), Talk of the Dead, was the first short I had ever produced. So naturally I was scared shitless. I remember, when I hired my leading lady (who also ended up producing with me) Luana Ribeira [Luana Ribeira interview - click here], I made her all sorts of promises - and when I re-read that message later my first thought was "how could I have been so full of myself?" The message was really cringe-worthy. That said, I managed to keep all my promises, but that was above everything pure luck.

 

More seriously though, things went smoothly until the film's original producer, leading lady and director (in that order) jumped ship. I believed in the project though, also because I had already hired Lynn Lowry from the original The Crazies and figured with her involvement alone we already have a winner on our hands. So I was looking for replacements for the now vacant positions, in parts until one month before the shoot, but that's not always super-easy in a land (England) you don't live in and have hardly ever been to. So ultimately I ended up working with some people I had even never met before (including the director), and that made things a little bit ... well, let's say interesting. Hats off to my leading lady Luana Ribeira, who jumped in as producer when I asked her to, and who assembled a crack team on short notice.

 

What can you tell us about your collaboration with There's No Such Thing as Zombies' director Eddie Bammeke [Eddie Bammeke interview - click here]?

 

Yep, he's the one who jumped onto the project only one month prior to the shoot, upon Luana's recommendation. And what can I say about him? I think apart from us both being a bit crazy and being very passionate about filmmaking, we have very little in common, he's an extrovert which I'm definitely not, he's excited where I'm reserved, is always talking where I'm short on words, and is opinionated where I'm diplomatic. And really, that works just great when it comes to collaborations, we're just complementing one another really well, also because of our vastly opposing charactes neither of us sees the need to play alpha dog because each can respect the strengths of the respective other. We have since There's No Such Thing as Zombies worked on quite a number of projects together and have launched our own production company, aptly named Bammeke and Haberfelner Worldwide Ltd., and have become close personal friends over the years as well.

 

You also appear in front of the camera in There's No Such Thing as Zombies - so what can you tell us about your character, and did you write him with yourself in mind from the get-go?

 

Oh that was really more of a vanity thing. You see, I'm writer, producer and editor of There's No Such Thing as Zombies, so the one who opens and the one who shuts the door on this production, and I have put a lot of my personal funds into the budget, and yet usually on films the actors and directors get all the attention. Not that they don't deserve it at all, and really I know it's just part of the game, I'm not jealous per se - I just figured if you want some visibility, you better get in front of that camera. And I know for a fact I'm not the worst of actors ever - not the best, either, I'm not saying that, and I have no aspirations to become a leading man, but I just knew I could do my one line before being killed by a zombie justice ;)

 

Do talk about the rest of There's No Such Thing as Zombies' cast, and as writer/producer, how much of a say did you have in the casting process?

 

Well, it's a cast I really felt blessed with, and I have worked again with a good many of them since. So where to start? Probably my leading lady [Luana Ribeira interview - click here]: As mentioned, she came in as a replacement for the original leading lady, but she was a gift from heaven - not only did she help out producing when I needed someone to and got director Eddie Bammeke on board, she also delivered a really funny performance. She once told me she was initially hesitant to accept the role as she had never done comedy before, but you wouldn't guess when you watch the movie, she seems to be totally in her element ... and has done quite a bit of comedy since.

 

On to the two leading men, Rudy Barrow [Rudy Barrow interview - click here] and Rami Hilmi [Rami Hilmi interview - click here] - I've already known them from A Killer Conversation, so they were a known quantity, and I've written their roles for them - and they disappoint when it comes to delivery and also show great chemistry, which is well-needed for a project like that.

 

Our guest stars from the US, horror icons Debra Lamb [Debra Lamb interview - click here] and Lynn Lowry [Lynn Lowry interview - click here]: Well, you can't go wrong with actresses of their status and experience - and boy, both of them delivered in spades, Lynn as the big business zombie denyer and Debra as the hilariously serious but quite incompetent zombie investigator. You know, when you hire talent like this, it's also for name recognition, but both of them are really pillars of the film, I really couldn't imagine it with their marvelous performances. And both of them have become good friends of mine, and I pride myself to have worked with both of them again more than once.

 

Then there's Scott Hillier as Debra's not very bright partner - he has probably the silliest lines in the film, stuff like "You can't eat monkey brains like that," and his delivery's always spot on. He sure gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie.

 

Also a shout-out to all the cast from Talk of the Dead, Paul Sutton [Paul Sutton interview - click here] as over-confident zombie hunter, Rachel Brownstein [Rachel Brownstein interview - click here] and Alexander Fernando [Alexander Fernando interview - click here] as news anchors, Martina McClements as resident zombie, trance singer Marcella Woods, internet comedian Reis Daniels and everybody else on that shoot - they were all fantastic!

 

What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

As scared shitless as I was (see above) the shoot (or rather shoots, as the newsroom scenes that actually comprised Talk of the Dead were shot almost two years prior to the film's main body as a proof of concept) went smoothly, so much so that we wrapped one day ahead of time. And that I've worked again with most of the cast and crew of There's No Such Thing as Zombies on other movies is really a testament that we gelled rather well.

 

The $64-question of course, where can There's No Such Thing as Zombies be seen?

 

That's an easy one:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CMBRQVV2

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CM9ZHPD3/

Vimeo (worldwide): https://vimeo.com/ondemand/tnstaz

 

It took quite a bit from the film's wrap to its release - so what can you tell us about that journey, and about lessons learned?

 

The main lesson here, you can't do everything on your own. Now we shot the film, or rather its main bulk in 2017, and I had a cut ready that we showed at a handful of festivals in 2018 - and then we got into the more serious world of distribution, and I just had to admit to myself, what we did wasm't really up tp scratch. Now I place this solely on my own shoulders, the actors were great, the direction, camerawork, effects, everything were on spot. And to blow my own horn, the editing was very alright, too. But sound and colour grading were at best adequate but by no means good - and that's not easy to admit to oneself even, but eventually I just had to concede, given the time I had already put into this, but eventually it became clear I had to hand the thing over to professionals to make the thing not only alright but actually good - and I'm really happy with the results I got mind you. Again, the lesson here's you can't do everytnhing on your own, and not only is filmmaking a team sport but also post production. As for the time aspect - yes of course, things take time ... and then Covid hit, and suddenly things took much more time, so maybe not ideal timing (though in some ways it might have been, see question below).

 

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of There's No Such Thing as Zombies?

 

Not to blow my own horn, but we had a short festival run with the original cut in 2018 that netted us a couple of awards. Still we knew we needed a rework, and after a lengthy improvement session, we premiered the film as it's available now in 2023 in Cannes - now sure, we didn't win any Palme d'Or or anything, but to show one's film to a rather packed house at one of the most prestigious film festivals there is is quite an experience in itself, and hearing peiple laugh throughout as well is ... well, just brilliant.

 

As for critical reception, I'm happy to say it's mostly positive (and there's no movie that's 100% positive, heck, I've heard people thrashing Citizen Kane upon its release). What I really love though is that many people saw a connetiion between There's No Such Thing as Zombies and Covid, calling our movie a reaction to the pandemic - which is total hogwash as the film was scripted back in 2012, filmed from 2015 to 2017 and saw the dark of a projection room for the first time in 2018 - back when Corona was nothing but a beer you get with a lemon attached to it. But I seem to have struck a chord there, which needless to say made me rather happy, especially seeing that some zombie movies seemed to be rather antiquated post-pandemic.

 

How do you deal with negative reviews, actually?

 

The main thing is, don't let them deter you. I mean, there's a whole lot of different "genres" of negative reviews: There's the constructive negative review, which you can actually take something away from, learn from really. Thing is, no film is perfect, and if someone tells you where you've gone wrong, you might take the right turn the next time around, Then there's also people who just didn't like it becaue it didn't resonae with their personal tastes - which is really something one can't control, Not everybody likes zombie movies, I get it, others like their zombie movies gorier, fair enough. One just can't please everyone. Then there's what I'd call "unqualified" reviews. Didn't get this on There's No Such Thing as Zombies but on A Killer Conversation, where someone complained that it wasn't a gore movie - well, no shit, I sent you a press kit beforehands that didn't even suggest it was, so why were you expecting gore? So you can't really take this kind of criticism seriously. Last kind of critics are the haters ... well, they'll just hate whatever you're doing, so why even listen to them?

 

The gist of it, of course nobody likes bad reviews, but nobody's immune to them, and it's best to take them all with a grain of salt, and if possible take away something positive from them if you can, in a learn-and-grow way.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

There's always plenty: There's Espresso To Die For, starring Lynn Lowry and Debra Lamb, together on screen for the first time, which has been in post for waaay too long now but which I hope to have out before too long. This one's just frigging hilarious, if you don't mind me blowing my own horn. Talking hilarikous, there's also It's Luana, a sketch show featuring Luana Ribeira that's going to be part of her Dauntless TV channel, out very soon. I do appear in front of the camera in both of these. Speaking of in front of the camera, I'm also in Geezers by Ciaron Davies [Ciaron Davies interview - click here], my first acting gig I didn's script myself, so really can't tell you how good I'm in it, but Ciaron told me he's rather happy with my performance. And then there's also Confusion and the Survivor, a techno gangster musical that's still in production  I've co-written with Eddie Bammeke [Eddie Bammeke interview - click here], who directed, and which is just mad whack! And that said of course, the nesxt project is always just around the corner, just waiting to happen.

 

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

 

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USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

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Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Movie: https://theresnosuchthingaszombies.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/theresnosuchthingaszombies 

Trailer: https://youtu.be/tOV5Jfa1aFE

Talk of the Dead (full short): https://youtu.be/TeQIV5eRmuk

 

Company: https://bammekeandhaberfelner.com/ 

Personal Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063756495533

 

And of course, get There's No Such Thing as Zombies at:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CMBRQVV2

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CM9ZHPD3/

Vimeo (worldwide): https://vimeo.com/ondemand/tnstaz

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

And thank you for taking the time (he said rather schizophrenically).

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!