STACK Magazine April 2015 Issue 126

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DVD&BD FEATURE
making films in the first place.”
Indeed, the lengthy production
process to bring Wyrmwood to the
screen echoes Jackson’s own four-
year journey to complete his low
budget cult classic. “It took about
four years in total,” says Tristan.
“The first year we only shot one or
two scenes; second year, maybe
three scenes. I think we’d shot
about 60 per cent of the film by
the final year. Our production
value went up a lot, and our actual
filmmaking skill got a lot quicker
and a lot better.”
The film’s budget was
supplemented by funds
raised online via an Indiegogo
crowdfunding campaign, attracting
a great response. And let’s face it:
an Australian zombie movie does
sound like a good investment. “We
raised about fifty grand through
crowdfunding,” Tristan reveals.
“We did a push for production itself, and
one a couple of years later to raise funds
for post-production. We were really lucky;
we got a lot of people really interested.”
The recent resurrection
of the zombie’s popularity
means there are now more
zombie movies and TV shows
out there than the walking
dead who populate them, so
the brothers knew they had
to come up with a unique
hook that would differentiate
Wyrmwood from the rest of
the pack. Fortunately, Tristan
experienced a “Eureka!”
moment.
“It just came to me one
night. I was watching a
documentary that had cows
hooked up to a methane
generator and I thought, ‘why
don’t we have our zombies
breathe out this methane gas and
run the car on the methane?’
That’s never been done before,
let’s do it!”
Following its 2014
premiere at Fantastic Fest
in Texas, the positive buzz
surrounding Wyrmwood
gathered momentum
online. And a recent,
one-off Friday the 13th
screening across 74
Australian cinema
screens put the movie
in sixth position on
the Australian box-
office chart for that
week, establishing
the Roache-Turner
boys as local
talents to keep an
eye on. So what
can we expect
from them next?
“We’ve got a few
offers from Hollywood,
but to be honest with you,
we’re really keen to stay
in Australia for our next film,
Tristan says. “We want to do another
genre project. It’s going to be a ghost
story – if you can imagine an R-rated
Ghostbusters that’s freakier and scarier.
We want to go with the horror aspect but
keep a lot of action in there as well, so
that’s what we’re hoping to do next; we’re
very excited about it.
“I think Australia can make great genre
movies,” he adds. “Hopefully we’re at
a tipping point where we’re going to get
some really cool stuff coming out in 2015
and 2016, as well. There’s been some
awesome ones lately like The Babadook
and 100 Bloody Acres.”
Add Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead to
that list.