Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!

By Tine Roycroft

Forget Jason.??Forego Freddy.??Your new cinematic source of terror (and eye-rolling hilarity) is an indecorous creature from the deep ~ The Riverbeast!

Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You is a new movie from producer Matt Farley and director Charles Rocksburgh.??The talented local film team wrote the script, which celebrates all parts of the glorious horror movie genre, while managing to keep it family friendly.

“The movie’s about a small town that has a riverbeast that’s killing the local inhabitants,” Farley explains.??“I play a local tutor who saw a riverbeast years earlier, but no one believed me.??My character was alienated and left town, but recently returned.??People start thinking that I’m the prime suspect because the Riverbeast started killing when I came back.??So I need to clear my name.”

Farley and Rocksburgh both attended Providence College in Rhode Island, where they began making movies with the help of some faithful friends and family members.??Calling it a labor of love, they’ve created a movie or two each year since those college days while still keeping their day jobs.

“We’re inspired by really bad horror movies that have bad dialogue and bad actors,” Farley says.??“We think it’s delightful to watch a poorly-made horror movie.??We love the style and we’ve seen hundreds of them.??We just wanted to put our own spin on it.”

The cast of Riverbeast consisted of people Farley has known for years because, he admitted, he could rely on them through thick and thin. ?One such cast member is Farley’s cousin, Erin McHugh, who plays a wedding guest and is the voice of the police dispatcher. ?Currently a junior at Assumption College, McHugh started making appearances in Farley’s films over ten years ago.

The low-budget movie lifestyle is not for the faint of heart.??The loyal bunch was paid in pizza and $5 Footlongs from Subway.??With scenes shot in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, filming took place over the course of four months in 2011, with the wrap occurring in November.??The frosty river temperature turned out to be the real horror for Farley, who also played the Riverbeast.

“We waited until the last day of shooting to do the shot that has the Riverbeast coming out of the river,” Farley, 34, remembers.??“We didn’t want to destroy the costume.??That was the hardest shot for me.??It was very cold.??On the DVD, there’s a bonus section and you can see me hyperventilating as I try to crawl out of the river.”

Don’t Let The Riverbeast Get You recently premiered at the West Newton Cinema.??Farley is waiting to hear back from various film festivals he’s entered the movie in before bringing the Beast to a theater near you.

For more info, go to?www.shockmarathons.com?or check out the trailer:??www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vune9ittpUs&feature=youtube_gdata_player