Subterranean Sound & Vision presents a character-driven horror feature. The film uses the end of the world as the backdrop for a horror story. It is about grief, isolation, survival, and human connection.
ILLINOIS, USA (August 24, 2026) — Subterranean Sound & Vision has released the official trailer for HOLLER. An independently produced apocalypse horror feature currently entering the final stretch of production in Illinois
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Years have passed, after the dead have overtaken the world. An isolated survivor reluctantly travels across the rural Midwest with a pregnant young woman. What begins as a journey of survival gradually forces him to confront something he has spent years avoiding. Thus allowing another person to matter to him again.
The filmmakers centered the film on outbreak mythology or zombie spectacle. HOLLER uses the apocalypse as the environment for a more intimate story. It is about grief, loneliness, dependency, responsibility. What remains worth living for after catastrophe has become ordinary.
“We never wanted the zombies to be the entire reason for the movie,” says filmmaker Devin Smock. “The dead are part of the world, but the story belongs to the people who are still alive. Therefore, HOLLER is really about what happens when somebody who has survived by isolating himself suddenly has another person depending on him.”
HOLLER | Official Trailer #1
That character-first approach is reflected in the way the film itself is being produced.
Smock and fellow filmmaker Samuel David are both fathers who work full-time jobs and run businesses while making HOLLER independently. Without the infrastructure or uninterrupted schedule of a traditional feature production, the filmmakers have built the movie around jobs, families, locations, cast availability, limited shooting windows, and the everyday responsibilities that continue whether a movie is being made or not.
“We’re both dads, we work full time, and we both run businesses,” says David. “There was never going to be a perfect stretch of time where life stopped and let us make a movie. We’ve had to build HOLLER around real life, and in a strange way that has made us even more determined to finish it and make the film we actually set out to make.”
Produced through Subterranean Sound & Vision, HOLLER embraces the rural Midwest as an essential part of its identity. Roads, fields, small towns, isolated buildings, and the region’s open landscape become part of the film’s visual language rather than simply standing in for another part of the country.
The independent production model has also forced the filmmakers to consider carefully where their limited resources will have the greatest impact.
“We’re trying to use the things we actually have access to as strengths,” Smock says. “Instead of pretending we have the budget for a giant post-apocalyptic spectacle, we’ve focused on atmosphere, performance, location, and the emotional stakes between the characters.”
As HOLLER enters its final production stretch, the filmmakers have launched a final Kickstarter campaign to help complete the feature.
ABOUT SUBTERRANEAN SOUND & VISION
Subterranean Sound & Vision is an independent film production company based in Illinois, focused on character-driven narrative filmmaking and genre cinema. The company is currently producing HOLLER, an independently made Midwest apocalypse feature built around regional locations, a small production team, and an emphasis on character and atmosphere over spectacle.
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