New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Ansonia twins featured in Conn. native's newhorror movie
A cross between “Friday the 13th” and “Evil Dead,” “She Came from theWoods” is a newly released horror movie directed by Hartford filmmaker Erik Bloomquist, and co-written by his brother, Carson Bloomquist. The movie, which features “Strangers Things” actress Cara Buono in the leading role, follows a group of camp counselors who unleash evil spirits onto the campsite.
“My brother and I have the box set of all the ‘Friday The 13th’ movies before we made this, and we made our way through all of them just to have an awareness of summer camp movies,” Erik Bloomquist said earlier this month. “If you like those movies, you’re definitely going to like this one. We’re playing it straight. We’re not trying to deconstruct anything or repeat anybody. I feel like it’s a really good addition to the summer movie lexicon.”
Among that group of campers are Ansonia’s Anthony and George Marini, who are making their acting debuts in the new horror movie. The twins, who play campers possessed by the evil spirits, are the sons of John Marini, who works for the city of Ansonia as the Corporation Counsel.
“It was a pretty surreal experience to go to the premiere, see it with their family and friends and see them up on the screen,” John Marini said. “This movie is sort of a little coming-of-age thing for them. They start off as little kids and then by the end of the movie, they’re ripping people apart with their fellow campers.”
Anthony and George are 13-years-old and have been fans of the horror genre since they were children. John said that he has been taking them to Connecticut Cult Classics at the Strand Theater in Seymour; it’s operated by Larry Dwyer who worked as the youth casting director for “She Came from the Woods.” He thought Anthony and George would be a good fit. The twins were 11 years old and were “pretty natural” for the role of terrorizing the camp counselors, according to their father.
“When we initially got involved, there was a certain point when the director sent out a message to some of the parents of this group of campers that George and Anthony are a part of. He basically wanted to see if the parents were okay if the kids killed somebody on screen,” John said, which he was more than okay with.
John recalls the first scene that Anthony and George filmed involved them being covered in fake blood that got all over their clothing. John thought it was great but “their mother wasn’t as appreciative of it.”
“It was really fun,” George said, adding that it was “an experience I’ll never forget.”
When asked about their favorite scenes to film, “the killing scenes” were among the favorites for Anthony and George; they also enjoyed working alongside notable actors like Buono, William Sadler (”Shawshank Redemption,”Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey”) and Michael Park (”Stranger Things,” “As theWorld Turns.”)
The family recently attended the premiere of the movie and has been able to watch it alongside friends and family. Although, according John, the movie frightened some of their friends and family that aren’t used to watching horror movies.
Anthony and George are open to doing another movie but they’re currently focusing on the drama club at their local middle school.