Stabbin’ Cabin: EUg
ene’s own scary home
University graduate Matthew Hanna uses all things
Eugene in making his first feature-length film
BY KRISTEN GERHARD
PULSE REPORTER
Ayoung man lies in bed,though he
isfarfrom sleep. His sheets are pulled
tight around his body and flush
against his chin. His eyes dart warily
around the room. He has already
checked his closet twice and left the
light on to ensure that whatever
manner of monster is haunting his
mind this evening does not appear
without warning. This man is terrified.
And he loves it.
"There's just something about being
scared," explained the now not-so
young Matthew Hanna, a recent grad
uate of the University who is currently
working on his first feature-length film
—a horrorflicktitled "Stabbin' Cabin"
— in Eugene. "It's kind of a rush. I like
the feeling, when I'm watching a scary
movie, of being comfortable and un
comfortable at the same time."
Since hisyouth, Hanna has been
captivated by the horror genre. He re
members being fascinated by series
like "Halloween" and "Jaws." Accord
ing to Ted Robinson, Hanna's assistant
director on "Stabbin' Cabin," the film
maker owns more than 150 fright-in
ducing DVDs.
"With this movie though, we're
gonna scare people in a different
way," Hanna said. "You really won't
know who the killer is until the very
last second."
According to Hanna, the back story
of "Stabbin' Cabin" will focus on a fam
ily of four—a father, mother, son and
daughter—that lives in a remote cabin
on a river. The father is abusive to both
the females in the family, but the action
really begins when one of the charac
ters reaches his or her breaking point
Beyond this teaser, however, Hanna
and his crew are hesitantto reveal any
more a bout the film's plot.
"Let's just say this is a story about
retribution," Hanna said. "It’s about
coming clean with your own identity."
The crew generally agreed the film
is unique within the horror genre be
cause of its exceptionally strong fe
male characters. The male characters
tend to serve more as comic relief, said
Michael Van Pelt, the film's ground
crew coordinator.
"It's basically a women's empower
mentfilm," Hanna said. "It's almost like,
'Girl Power!'"
The shooting location—an isolated
cabin on the McKenzie River—was
cited by the crew as influencing the
film's distinctive nature.
"The place we're filming at is
amazing," Hanna said. "If you were
to come up from Hollywood to film a
horror movie, this is the placeyou'd
want to film. It's better than the set
ting for '(The) Amityville (Horror)’ or
'(The) Blair Witch (Project).'"
With regards to movies that have in
fluenced their careers, the unrated,
low-budget "Evil Dead" series, direct
ed by Sam Raimi, is a common favorite
among the crew.
"Just for the record, our hero is
Bruce Campbell," Hanna said before
he had even begun to explain the plot
of his own film. "His Ash character
from the 'Evil Dead' series is one of the
heaviest characters ever."
Brendan Redenius,the screenwriter
of "Stabbin' Cabin," also said director
Peter Jackson's "Bad Taste" is one of
his personal favorites.
"It's perhaps one of the goriest
movies ever," Redenius said. "It's
one of those 'so bad, it's good' kind
of things."
Despite this infatuation with fear,
Hanna's focus was not always on hor
ror, or even live-action movies forthat
CABIN, page 12
Kristen Gerhard | Pulse reporter
(From left) "StabbirY
Cabin" screenwriter
Brendan Redenius,
assistant director Ted
Robinson and director
Matthew Hanna review
scripts at a casting call
for the film, held in the
Metolius room of the
EMU Friday.
• t •
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