By Richard Morchoe

Ah … the ’50s; no post-war decade inspires as much nostalgia. This is so even in people who were born later. Folks still celebrate the rise of rock n’ roll, Elvis, the iconic cars and the threat of nuclear war.

“Celebrate” may not be the word for nuclear war, but the decade was famous for the Cold War. One wrong move, and the Big One could turn the citizenry into briquettes.

It was not just “the bomb.” A complete Civil Defense apparatus was built around the idea of survival. None of it was used. Was it all just surreal madness? If it was, it fascinates Andrew Shanley, who is memorializing it in a movie, Fallout Frank.

Shanley is a local guerrilla movie-maker. He and his mates filmed on whatever equipment was available, burned DVDs and sold them at festivals such as Horrorfind and the local Rock and Shock. Most recently, he co-wrote and co-starred in the horror movie, The Last Exit, shot in Gardner.

How did Shanley come up with the nuclear option? Our man is public access coordinator for Charter Communications. Much of that is helping people to put on their own productions and express themselves, which he enjoys. Another aspect is finding films to show in an ultra-low price range, aka, free.

The old Civil Defense productions from the ’50s, such as Duck and Cover, come without cost. With such fodder, inspiration was almost unavoidable. He knew he should make a movie about the era’s paranoia updated with a contemporary feel, sort of.

Today’s culture has changed too much to set such a movie in this decade. Personal computers, smartphones, reality shows, no Soviet Union ~ the world is much too different to sustain comparison. Thus Fallout Frank is set in 1993. That was not long after the implosion of the Communist Bloc. Technology had advanced but not as radically as now. People from the early post-war period could recognize, if not be comfortable, in the ’90s. These teen years of the 21^st century would be another dimension.

So who is Frank? He’s the “doomsday prepper who, in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, places himself into a radioactive suspension chamber to survive what he believes to be the apocalypse.” The man is the ultimate Cold War paranoiac.

One problem Shanley does not face is a dearth of props. Usually when making a movie about the past, much of the physical material has been destroyed or deteriorated. However, the Civil Defense regime produced vast amounts of literature, equipment and supplies that Shanley is mining like gold. Helmets, posters, radiation-measuring equipment ~ there is a tsunami of the junk.

Shanley has started auditions and is set to film the trailer in September. It should create some buzz at horror fests and for a crowdfunding campaign. This is going to be a real Worcester project.

To find out more, visit falloutfrank.com.