Case Study: The production and making of The Bunnyman Vengeance

Date: 27 Nov. 2017
Case Study: The Making of The Bunnyman Vengeance
Filmmaker: Carl Lindbergh

indieactivity: What is your film about?
Carl: Bunnyman Vengeance is a dark comedy / horror film following the journey of a nomadic serial killer, who returns home to his adoptive family to find them running a haunted house attraction.

indieactivity: Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Carl: Bunnyman Vengeance is the third film in the Bunnyman franchise. Bunnyman 1 and 2 have been distributed worldwide. The creator of Bunnyman, Carl Lindbergh, has been featured in countless media outlets promoting the films, from exclusive interviews/features in print with leading horror magazines such as FANGORIA, to leading online interview sites such as THIS WEEK IN HORROR.

Buy or Rent The Bunnyman Vengeance on Amazon

Bunnyman 1 and 2 are available around the world, including such sites as AMAZON, but also major retailers such as WAL-MART, BEST BUY etc. Bunnyman 1 and 2 both had heavy rotation on CHILLER TV channel, which aired the films hundreds of times. Bunnyman has even broken into the mainstream, with parodies on SOUTH PARK etc.

Bunnyman Vengeance aka Bunnyman 3 was released digitally on 10/20 and DVD/BD on 11/21 from Uncork’d Entertainment. Shortly thereafter Bunnyman : Grindhouse edition will be released. Bunnyman : Grindhouse is a completely redone version of the original Bunnyman film. A Bunnyman comic book is also being shopped around.

indieactivity: Dramatic Feature
– Director: Carl Lindbergh
– Producers: Carl Lindbergh
– Budget: below 100k
– Financing: Family/credit cards
– Production: Feature film
– Shooting Format: Digital
– Screening Format: N/A
– World Premiere: VOD / Uncork’d Entertainment
– Website: Anoc Productions

indieactivity: Give the full official synopsis for your film?
Carl: Logline – Bunnyman, a nomadic serial killer, returns home to his adoptive family, who run a haunted house attraction.

Synopsis (short) – The adventures of Bunnyman continue in the third and final film in the Bunnyman franchise. The man known as Bunnyman returns home to find his family running a haunted house attraction. The family welcomes him home, but soon realizes you can not domesticate a wild animal. Death and mayhem ensue as the family turn on one another to fulfill their bloodlust.

indieactivity: Development & Financing?
Carl: I drove hours to a convention in Los Angeles to try and meet with film producer Jason Blum. I was unable to get a meeting, so I wandered around the convention upset. I then ran into someone who just happened to own and run his own Haunted House 10 minutes away from where I lived, in the same city. This felt like too much of a coincidence to not look into. I visited the Haunted House the next day, and realized I could film there very easily.

Now that I had my main location for my next film, I began writing a Bunnyman script that was set in a Haunted House. As a low budget indie filmmaker, I have to write to the means that I have. I don’t have the budget to build sets for a script, so I have to write the script to what locations I can find. The film was self-financed.

indieactivity: Production?
Carl: The film was shot in 18 days. 6 days on, 1 day off. All the locations were within a 10 mile radius of my house. Therefor I could house and feed the crew where I live, and be on location within 30 minutes. Because I am also a producer on the film, I try to keep things as simple as possible in order to manage everything. Once we wrap principal photography (I’m also the one editing the film) 90% of the time of post product is just myself and the computer editing the film.

indieactivity: Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Carl: I did not go the film festival route. From what I’ve seen, it’s more advantageous for me to go straight to the distributors since I’ve never had an issue with getting film distribution. Finding a honest film distributor is a whole other story though.

Meet Marshal Hilton, the Sheriff that didn’t let the Bunnyman down

indieactivity: The Release?
Carl: Bunnyman Vengeance aka Bunnyman 3 was released digitally on 10/20 and DVD/BD on 11/21 from Uncork’d Entertainment. As of this interview, we are still in the initial roll out of the film, so time will tell how it goes.

indieactivity: Advice from the Filmmaker?
Carl: Follow your heart. I think it’s important to make films for the right reasons. I don’t think you should make a film for money, to please other people, to make a “mass market” film that you don’t personally believe in. I feel creating a film is an internal journey, an artistic journey to create something from your heart and soul. I view making a film is akin to creating a painting, writing a song etc. and that it’s a creative outlet to express oneself. I feel if you do this, that you can’t “fail” since regardless of what happens with the film upon it’s release, making the film was never about the end product, the destination…. it was always about the journey which was creating something personal from inside of yourself.