By Chris Post

Hilton Ariel Ruiz, the filmmaker behind the web series Zombie With A Shotgun, has dreams of adapting the five-part series into a single feature-length film. He’s been running a crowdfunding campaign to finance the effort and as it draws to close it has raised nearly $19,000 of a $35,000 goal.

Ruiz said the film version would be a retelling of the story covered in the series with the characters and events remaining basically the same. The vision of the film will also remain the same.

“I like to change the whole zombie mythology,” he said. “I like to show a different spin on it compared to other zombie films that are out there. I feel that there is many anxious zombie fans waiting to see something different than what we’ve been seeing for the past years.”

In the universe of Zombie With a Shotgun, zombies are different from those made popular in films and television like Night of the Living Dead and The Walking Dead.

“Zombie with a Shotgun is a film that will have the Zombie as the hero. He won’t come off as the mindless zombie we see in most of the zombie films out there,” Ruiz said. “This zombie will do everything a human can do, but with the makeup of a zombie.”

Adapting five 4-minute episodes into a 90 minute film will be a challenge, but Ruiz said details of the adaptation will have to wait until funding is in place.

“ We have to make sure that our budget can tell the story we want,” he said. “Unfortunately the budget is what will dictate how our story can be told.”

The budget will also have an impact on casting the film. Ruiz said one of the first hires will be a casting director who will then set to work choosing actors for the film’s various roles.

Ruiz said he hopes to begin filming this summer and have the finished product ready for the public in the spring of 2017.

“We’ll  definitely take it around on the festival circuit,” he said. “I also like to showcase the project in a few theaters to give the zombie fans an opportunity to view the film on a larger scope.”
The crowdfunding campaign ends July 4 and can be found at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/zombie-with-a-shotgun#/