Followed

Just previewed "Followed" at a theater in Macon, GA where the short was filmed. Where George Romero casts zombies as blind mass consumerists or felled military vets reliving the perceived glory of 'living', this film casts the zombies (mostly children) as pariahs of the injustices of the living; following the living around like undead albatross. It kinda flips the roles around to a degree. The zombies are little more than pests that are endured by the living (referred to as road-kill). This is a radical twist on the traditional flesh-eating monstrosities canonized by Romero wherein the living are hunted to near extinction by an ever growing majority of the undead. This is a social commentary that could mean 100 different kinds of injustice to 100 different spectators. Very interesting movie that could be read as a reflection on racism or child abuse or any of a number of social injustices, and how we (the living) try to rectify those ills. We are the consumers and the zombies are the cannon-fodder of our petty needs and desires. They are not quite indoctrinated into our society the way vampires are in "True Blood". They are more akin to 'Untouchables' in Hindu Brahman culture,..entities to be used (in life) and ignored (in death)after relegated to a lower strata of the social order.(In "Sean of the Dead", the living even domesticated zombies... Pets!!) A very interesting study...highly recommend. Cinematography was top notch.Sylvia Boykin, Erryn Arkin and Edith Ivey are fantastic in their casual discourse on the monsters that populate the world. The zombies are similar to Dickensian Christmas ghosts of Xmas future...silent but judgmental The locales are recognizable to us natives so i am biased ...Macon is a fantastic backdrop (almost a character of the feature in itself}. Do GO SEE this!!

FOLLOWED is a zombie film with a poignant twist that is produced and directed by James Kicklighter. I'm not sure if putting "a socially conscious monster movie in which zombies symbolize society's disadvantaged and oppressed." as the tag line is necessarily the right way to promote this film. I feel like telling audience members the twist takes away from the self discovery as to what these zombies represent. Erryn Arkin plays the lead role with great finesse. His character goes through an emotional roller coaster and Erryn pulls it off quite well. I'm not sure if his accent is meant to have deeper meaning. Abigail de los Reyes is stunning as the zombie girl. Her performance is worth the price of admission alone. The film visually is beautiful to look at. I think it shows how much this film meant to Kicklighter. Him and his team really have invested a good amount of time and money into this project and I hope for them that it pays off. Having seen this I really would love to sit down and read the original short story. All in all a solid piece of work. Well done Kicklighter. Well done indeed.

This is a great film that I think has not been done before.This is a movie about a man named Peter,who was a good person. He thought he did everything right. Had a good job,nice home,great girlfriend.He felt like he had accomplished so much but was not giving back to his community enough. So his conscious started bothering him and he was being followed by these zombies. It was a very different take on zombies,one that I wasn't use to. His girlfriend name Jenna is very supportive telling him to ignore the zombies and that he does plenty to help society and the less fortunate. All the actors were great.All the scenes made an impact. I was esthetic the film was shot in Macon,giving us more recognition. In closing I learned that you can only live the life you were given and only yours. Do the very best you can,and if you make it in life try to help someone else along the way. Go see this movie!

Taking the risky step of reaching out to someone who is culturally different is intimidating for most of us, it seems. But how do you feel when a touch of compassion seems to result in the demise of the befriended? Followed is a look at human conscience, and raises unexpected questions. i'm left with a curiosity and a desire for more. The question is not a new one and there are probably as many interpretations as there are people who've experienced the film. How does Peter feel about the result of his attempt to humanize the zombie girl? Maybe she reawakens in a subsequent scene to a new life as a human. or - in a more animated and sinister form ? I would love to see the whole story expanded into a filling out of possibilities.

Our newspaper did a brief write up about a premiere showing for the short film "Followed" which is based on a short story written by local GSU professor Will McIntosh and directed by GSU student James Kicklighter. Briefly described as the story of a college professor who finds he is being followed by a little girl zombie, I thought, "Why not?" and took my husband and grown daughter to the film. I was prepared to be entertained--the story line sounded fun, with zombies obviously representing whatever undesirable population you might choose as a substitute--stray dogs, homeless people, Glenn Beck disciples, etc. And the film IS entertaining--funny in places while asking the serious questions: What do you do? What SHOULD you do? However I was also very impressed with the QUALITY of the film. The acting was good. The child zombie is very compelling in her morbid appeal. Production values were quite impressive as well. The entire film was shot on location in Macon,GA. This short would make a good feature length film.