A Devilish Drag Race

A Devilish Drag Race

Bruce Von Stiers

Recently I saw a social media post about a horror short film. It was a film about a young couple and a drag race. The title of the film is Boneyard Racers. I thought I'd check out the film.

The film starts out with two people in a car. Sam and Jackie are a nice young couple. They have just left a Halloween party. Driving in Sam's car, they're having an argument. All of a sudden they come across a zombie in the middle of the road holding a stop sign. The zombie asks if they are there for the race. What race? It's a winner take all. Well, Sam is driving this super cool Corvette Stingray, so yeah, he's probably gonna race. They are supposed to talk with Johnnie about joining up for the race. Thus starts the misadventure of a literal lifetime.

Jackie is played by Ryley Shandro, a relative newcomer to film. Thomas Kassian is Sam. Thomas has made a few films, including the short film The Hive and the feature film Hot Box.

They are approached by a zombie woman named Dee Dee who coerces Sam into meeting with Johnnie about the race. There are a lot of people milling around in various costumes, such as mummies, evil clowns and zombies. Johnnie's this laid back dude whose doesn't have much of a costume; he only has short devil's horns on his head.

So what's this race really about? Is it for pink slips or for something far more dangerous? Especially as Johnnie's race car happens to be a hearse.

This was a real fun film to watch. I would have liked it to be longer, though. I could almost imagine this being a feature length film, enhancing each scene and building on each main character.

The cinematography was well done. The camera work was smooth and both close up and distance shots were crisp. The acting was also excellent. Ryley and Thomas put in believable performances. Lindsay Christopher was great as the jeans and leather jacket '50's chick Dee Dee. Neil Chase as also great as the laid back, yet ominous Johnnie. And David Heacock was fun to watch as the sign toting zombie, Chuck. Aside from acting, Lindsay has worn several hats behind the camera, including directing, producing and casting. Other actors in the film who have experience on both sides of the camera include Sean Gordon and Jaime Hill.

Speaking of Neil, he wrote the screenplay. And David was the director. Logan Wilson was the cinematographer. His film credits include the television show Down Range and the upcoming feature Bagman. And not to be forgotten, Preston Ewasiuk was the producer. His credits include the short film Babageddon and a multi-faceted project called Rutherford Manor.

And as an added touch, there is a band that is shown playing during part of the film. The band is Canadian based Punch Drunk Cabaret. They have three songs in the film.

I'm not the only one to enjoy Boneyard Racers. The film has won Best Costume, Best Soundtrack and Best Cinematography awards at various film festivals.

The film is currently making the circuit at a few current film festivals. As such, it doesn't have an official release date yet.

You can learn more about Boneyard Racers, and see a trailer for it, at the film's official site. You'll find that site at https://www.boneyardracers.com/

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