Wrestlers Bludgeon Zombies, Zombies Eat Promoter

A promotional test shoot for “Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies” at West Newton Gym had at least 100 fans booing and cheering Saturday as a tag-team wrestling match turned into a zombie-laden royal rumble.

The zombie actors showed infected bite marks and plenty of blood from the previous “victims.” Their lurching pace made easy and apt targets for wrestlers’ rope leaps and drop kicks. After the two fan favorites beat back the swarm of zombies, the “evil” promoter, Derek “Dr. Feelbad” Widziszewski, was thrown to the ravenous mob. Most of the show was improvised, with no noticeable hitches or lags in action.

Fans who turned out for the two-hour test shoot will be used in a short trailer to promote casting and financial support for the final feature. They may also be used in the final film in either the opening or closing credits, promoter Derek Widziszeski said. Fans stayed afterward for a traditional RWA (Renegade Wrestling Alliance) match that was not filmed.

“It was our idea to see zombies with good, old American violence,” said Cody Knotts, film director and organizer of Principalities of Darkness, LLC. “Every zombie movie has zombies getting shot in the head, or people doing martial arts … but what about good American fisticuffs? That’s what led to the wrestler idea,”

Knotts was a former candidate for state legislator, and former editor and owner of The Weekly Recorder, but has now moved on to follow his creative muses in filmmaking.

“Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies” is the second of two ongoing projects Knotts has filmed—the first, writing, directing, and starring in The trailer is here, with the feature release aimed for March 16, according to Knotts.

The budget for the feature film is aimed at $4 million, with major fundraising efforts under way now, according to Camera Bartolotta, Principalities of Darkness financial officer.

 “Cody will bring this in under budget. He’s really good at controlling expenses,” Bartolotta said. 

Cost is a factor for shooting locations, too, with most filming planned to take place in West Virginia. Knotts wants to take advantage of leftover film grants in the state.

“West Virginia has a 31 percent tax credit—Pennsylvania’s is 25 percent. I love my state, but this is business.

 “We’ve looked at Moundsville State Penitentiary. We’ve looked at Bethany College—(that) has one of America’s only walled-in cemeteries, which we think would just be awesome to shoot. We’d love to film at Bethany. It’d be nice to give our alma mater some love.

“Shane Douglas and I both went to Bethany… he was a senior when I was a freshman,” Knotts said.

Shane Douglas, known to fans as “The Franchise,” is helping with choreography and casting direction, and will star in the final film. Local actors and wrestlers from West Virginia and Pennsylvania will be used in the feature.

This isn’t supposed to be a campy throwback.  The premise of the film is like any other zombie film with relatively ordinary folks fending off the zombie horde—they just happen to be pro wrestlers who are believably all in one place when the epidemic breaks, Knotts said.

“Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies” will begin major filming as soon as they hit near or on their budget, which is about halfway there, Knotts said.

Knotts has multiple projects going on, one in which he’s serving as producer. “The film is a comedy, a $2.5 million side production.  It’s called ‘Commuters.’ Hopefully we’ll be filming in about seven weeks.”

The premise? It involves tampons, alcohol, and a non-traditional way for men to become inebriated.

There’s more in the works for Knotts and horror films.

“It’s called ‘Breeding Farm’. It’s terrifying. We haven’t said much about it publicly yet, but people at the Pittsburgh Horror Film Festival compared it to ‘Human Centipede.’ This is far worse, as far as terror… it’s not a grotesque film. This is about the idea of what’s happening to people. Our villain doesn’t hurt people as much as they are forced to comply.”

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