Mutant gophers return for a final time in new Dead Prairies Productions movie
Horror movie fans are eager to see the latest movie release by Swift Current-based Dead Prairies Productions and they bought all available tickets in less than 25 days.
Now they will have to wait patiently until the movie’s premiere at Lucky Charlie’s Pub on May 11 to discover the fate of humanity on the prairies in their deadly encounters with mutant gophers.
Gorephers: Final Gnaw is the third and concluding movie in the Gorephers series written by filmmaker and producer Devon Oman. It is also the 16th movie made by the non-profit movie company since 2012.
He is really pleased with the positive response to the release of tickets for the new film, because this is the fourth Dead Prairies Productions movie premiere in a row since 2020 to be sold out.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “I remember when Vile Spirit sold out and I was thrilled. Then The Killer Balloon sold out and I was like wow, that’s two films back-to-back selling out. And then Swift Nightmares 2 sold out and it was wild having three films back-to-back selling out. It’s very cool that we’re still selling out films. … I think that’s a huge accomplishment for what we do in Swift Current.”
He recalled that tickets for a new Dead Prairies Productions movie used to sell mostly at the door. The recent presale ticket success is a result of more detailed planning of a movie premiere.
“I find since I started to plan the events better and figure out dates, it seems to be better for that,” he said. “I used to be not looking at events as much.”
He will now give careful consideration to events taking place locally, but also to what is happening in larger centres such as Calgary and Saskatoon. He realized he can lose up to half of a potential audience if a movie screening takes place on the same day as events such as the comics and entertainment expo in Calgary. While tickets for the premiere of Gorephers: Final Gnaw are already sold out, Oman is still doing some editing to the movie.
“I have the first cut, but I still have to adjust a few things and tweak a little bit more,” he said. “I’m usually like that. I usually don’t have the final project until two weeks before the showing, because I’m kind of my own worst critic.”
He must be careful during the editing process, because he does not want the movie to look too polished.
“That’s the thing with Dead Prairies Productions films, they’re not perfect,” he said. “They’re not like Hollywood, Oscar worthy. They’re just a fun film. If you polish it too
much, it might take away that whole fun aspect.”
He enjoys watching films that are gritty and he feels that every type of independent horror film has their own look to it.
“I’ve always been a big fan of horror comedies and I try to stick with that element,” he said. “I find a lot of B horror movies have a bit of comedy to it and they don’t take themselves too serious. If you take yourself too serious when you have a B horror film, it doesn’t come off as fun to me.”
Most of the films created by Dead Prairies Productions are horror comedies and Gorephers: Final Gnaw also fits within this genre. The first movie in the series was released in 2015 and the mutant gophers returned for Gorephers 2 in 2019. Oman felt there was still potential to create a third movie that concludes the series.
“I made a promise to myself years ago saying that I’ll never make more than three in a series and I’ve never broke that yet,” he noted. “I can only do so much in the series where I don’t feel it’s just repeating itself. I enjoy having new original ideas so that it doesn’t feel like recycled material. Gorephers: Final Gnaw even feels different than the first two, which made me happy, because it gave me some creative ideas.”
He actually wrote a script for a third movie in the series several years ago, but then decided to scrap the project. He revived the idea more recently and created a new script with a new title for the movie.
“It’s a really cool title,” he said. “This is one of my favourite titles for the films I’ve made. I just love the final gnaw. It just suits the Gorephers thing.”
Gophers are synonymous with the prairies and it is therefore a horror movie series inspired by the prairies. Oman got the original idea for a movie about mutant gophers after he became aware of another movie about zombie beavers. There is also a connection between the Gorephers movies and the official logo of Dead Prairies Productions, which depicts a zombie gopher holding a chainsaw.
The filming of the new movie began during the summer of 2023 and the final scenes were shot in October. Filming took place on locations in Swift Current and Piapot. He also went to Regina to shoot scenes with cast members Rina Hanowski and Patrick Palmer, who live in the Queen City and expressed interest to act in a Dead Prairies Productions movie.
“They sent me a clip that they filmed themselves, which was cool,” Oman said. “I didn’t really have a scene for them in the script, but I love their chemistry together. So I went out to Regina and filmed on location with them and we had a green screen, which was crazy. We never had a green screen ever in our films. … I’m not really familiar with doing the green screen, but for this certain scene, it worked really well.”
The movie features a cast of over 20 characters. Corey Schimmel had an acting role and also co-directed the film with Oman.
“Corey’s been helping out quite a bit with directing,” Oman said. “We get along quite well and I’ve had Corey film a few things for me in the past. I love working with him.”
It has become a tradition for Dead Prairies Productions movies since 2019 to showcase the music of Saskatchewan bands. The soundtrack for Gorephers: Final Gnaw features songs of eight different bands, including Swift Current band Tombstone Whiskey.
“It’s metal, country, hip-hop, blues, rock, every kind of genre out there,” he said. “I’m willing to listen to them all and if it works for the scene, I’m willing to put them in. I get to discover and listen to these Saskatchewan bands and I hope our movies give them a bit more attention. I hope people will listen to them or even check them out in concerts.”
All proceeds from the premiere screening of Gorephers: Final Gnaw, including the sale of Dead Prairies Productions merchandise and DVDS of previous movies, will be donated to the Swift Current SPCA. This non-profit movie company has donated over $30,000 to the animal shelter since 2012. Those who were unable to get their tickets for the screening of the new movie will have to wait until it is released on DVD. All previous movies are available on DVD through the online Dead Prairies Productions store