‘MASSACRE ACADEMY’
McKeesport filmmaker cuts through negativity to make slasher movie
Pittsburgh helped Mark Cantu get into the right head space to make the movie he always wanted to make. The 42-year-old McKeesport resident came up in the San Antonio, Texas, film scene before moving here four years ago. He admits to arriving in Pittsburgh at a low point as he battled alcoholism and an eating disorder that left him with “a lot of anger and anxiety and depression.” His first attempt at making a movie in Pittsburgh, “Night Zero,” was done at the height of his drinking and the negative reception to it left him in an even darker place.
Cantu eventually had to take a year off from filmmaking to focus on his marriage and relationship with his kids. He “rediscovered himself” during that time and decided to give filmmaking a shot again. He got back into the cinematic groove with the locally shot 2018 short film “Last Man” about an escaped convict who runs into a lone hiker in a Pennsylvania forest. That gave him the confidence to try an even bigger horror project.
“Massacre Academy” is a 1980s-set horror comedy written and directed by Cantu and shot mostly in McKeesport from late summer 2020 through winter 2021. The slasher about a killer in a terrifying clown mask had its red-carpet premiere July 31 at The Lamp Theater in Irwin and will also be shown at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on Aug. 29 and Sept. 5.
“This is the movie I was made to make,” Cantu told the Post-Gazette. “I’ve told my wife 1,000 times, ‘If something happened to me tomorrow and this was all I was known for, I’d be happy for the rest of my life.’”
Although the film doesn’t have a national distribution deal yet, Cantu hopes it eventually will be released widely via DVD and video on demand. In the meantime, he has already started selling DVD copies of the film and says a website will be up in the near future to streamline that process. “Massacre Academy” is also on the festival circuit and recently won best feature at the Frostbite International Film Festival.
The film follows Kris (Jess Uhler), who’s trying to rebuild her life after Carnie the clown’s first rampage through her college town. The new killer seems hellbent on finishing the job Carnie started, targeting Kris and those closest to her, including her sister, Maggie (Sierra Mitchell), and friend, Becca (Christina Krakowski).
When Cantu was searching for inspiration for his ’80s slasher romp, he came across a scene he had written as a 20-year-old where everyone at a party is gruesomely slaughtered. The goal was always to balance scares with humor.
“The two hardest things to pull off in filmmaking are horror and comedy,” Cantu said. “It was awesome to undercut a jump or scare with a gag or something completely bonkers. It helped the rollercoaster ride of people being grossed out and then laughing right after that.”
The former actor deliberately tried to “run a set where everyone is treated well.” Uhler praised him for being “very conscious of other people’s time.”
Uhler, 30, of Clairton, grew up in Harrisburg but has been living in Pittsburgh for 13 years. She’s a veteran of Steel City horror films after also starring in the cannibals-terrorizing-campers flick “The Boonies.” She appreciated “Massacre Academy” for being the rare low-budget horror film populated with well-drawn female roles.
“There is that stereotype with slashers of helpless damsels in distress,” she said. “Everything in Mark’s story is done on purpose. There’s a reason
for everything.”
B-horror movies aren’t generally seen as being particularly progressive, but “Massacre Academy” features a tender LGBTQ+ storyline between Krakowski and Mitchell’s characters. Krakowski, 22, of Mt. Lebanon, says the film has “a little bit of something for everybody” in terms of horror, comedy, romance and positivity.
Mitchell, 18, of Elizabeth, identifies as bisexual and enjoyed the chance to play Maggie.
“I was very excited because I’ve never seen LGBTQ+ representation in horror,” she said. “It’s always the cheerleader with the hot boyfriend. It’s never two girls. I felt instantly more connected to Maggie because I could understand the process of trying to be who you are.”
The film was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Cantu said was fortuitous because potential filming locations that might have been busy were available. He said the McKeesport mayor’s office was instrumental in securing those locales, including the old Daily News building where much of the film’s back half was shot.
To Cantu, “Massacre
Academy” is proof of what the Pittsburgh filmmaking community can accomplish even under the harshest circumstances.
“It speaks to the level of love and care for filmmaking that the film community has in general,” he said. “It also speaks to the resolve everyone in Pittsburgh has. Our cast and crew poured their blood, sweat and tears into this in the middle of the pandemic. It’s a testament to the work ethic of Pittsburgh ... and what Pittsburgh is capable of even in the worse conditions.”