Wolfcop’s Lowell Dean returns with zombie-apocalypse love story
Film | Jorge Ignacio Castillo
Die Alone
Cineplex Southland
It probably wasn’t his intention, but Wolfcop director Lowell Dean helped keep Saskatchewan’s film patch relevant during its darkest days. In the middle of bizarre political malice from Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party government, Dean’s gory, shaggy horror-comedy might have even saved the industry from drifting into oblivion.
Now, Dean has a new genre film that’s — for the moment, at least — playing in Saskatchewan theatres.
Die Alone has more heft than Dean’s previous work, particularly the delightfully campy Wolfcop movies. Set in a post-apocalyptic countryside (actually Regina, Katepwa, and Qu’Appelle Valley), the film provocatively opens with the lead, Ethan (Douglas Smith, Big Love, The Alienist) blowing his brains out within seconds of meeting him. Cut to the title card.
We re-encounter Ethan driving alongside his girlfriend, Emma (Kimberly-Sue Murray, The Wedding Planners) across a land devastated by a zombie uprising (rather than a virus, these are bodies reclaimed by Mother Nature to restore balance). Ethan suffers from amnesia and he can’t figure out where Emma is, or how they got separated. In his efforts to find her, Ethan is helped by Mae (Carrie-Anne Moss, Trinity in The Matrix) — a resourceful survivalist with plenty of tricks up her sleeve.
Die Alone is a handsome, sun-drenched film that makes the most of its prairie setting. Moss is the cast’s MVP: she superbly blends vulnerability with a sly sense of humor under a tough exterior.
I caught up with Dean in the midst of a publicity blitz: he’s promoting Die Alone while introducing another finished movie in several Canadian film festivals: the wresting thriller Dark Match, featuring Chris Jericho.
While you could call Die Alone a zombie movie, it seems like the undead are in the background of your lead’s ordeal. It reminded of something George Romero said: the best zombie movies are never about the zombies.
Funny you say that. I started writing this script 10 years ago. It was before the pandemic and there weren’t as many zombie movies. Every passing year since I would do revisions, and five new zombie films would come out. I started becoming less and less interested in the zombie of it all and more in the survivors. The creatures changed to service the story. Years ago, I would have called Die Alone a horror film, now I call it a post-apocalyptic love story.
Die Alone has the highest profile cast you have worked with so far (Smith, Moss, Frank Grillo). Did that impact the way you directed the film?
I don’t think so. Die Alone was a little more serious than some of the stuff I’ve done — like, say, Wolfcop — so I adopted a slightly more focused and emotional approach. But the way I work, I don’t think it fundamentally changed. I try to create a fun environment and hustle and do the best I can with the limited time and resources you have on independent films.
There are plenty of shots of wide spaces that are recognizably only possible in Saskatchewan. Tell me about finding these locations.
It was hard. People have this preconception that Saskatchewan is this big flat area and nothing else. You actually have to go pretty far to find the right flatness. So much of this film is set at a farmhouse, and we wanted it to feel truly isolated and not as if there were production vehicles just around the corner. I needed crazy wide shots, almost like a western. Saskatchewan has beautiful locations, and our industry has been dormant for a few years. I took this as an opportunity to not just to tell a story but also showcase what the province is capable of and has to offer.
The Dean’s List
If watching Carrie-Anne Moss deal with a lead with short term memory problems gives you deja-vu, Lowell Dean knows where your head is at. “She’s in one of the best amnesia movies ever (Memento). It speaks to her taste. It’s kind of an Easter Egg to have her in this.”
You continue to bring back the people you started with: Amy Matysio, Leo Fafard, and Jonathan Cherry. Is there a reason you have a troupe? Is it out of loyalty or comfort?
All of the above. I know I can count on them. Making indie films is very tough and Amy, Leo, and Cherry were with me on some of the hardest shoots I’ve ever done. For Wolfcop we had very little time and money. It speaks to their character and talent that even if the budget changes, I still want them involved. I consider them my ringers because when you’re friends with actors you’re not afraid to push them.
Outside of using fresh locations, what are the advantages of shooting in Saskatchewan? Aren’t Alberta and Manitoba more filmmaking-friendly?
Die Alone could have shot anywhere, but I think shooting in Saskatchewan benefited the film because the cast, the crew, and the community wanted to prove what they were capable of. Of all our department heads, none of them worked exclusively in Sask. Most had a side job like carpentry or teaching, or were bouncing between provinces.
Do you have a third Wolfcop movie in you?
One of the things I did during the pandemic was think about what I would do if I did a Third Wolfcop movie. I will say I’m too busy right now — good busy — but I will never say never because I love the characters. I know we would do something original and bizarre. But if only two Wolfcop films ever exist, I will not feel unfulfilled.
Is there a movie of yours that you don’t think got a fair shake? I for one think Another Wolfcop could have made more noise.
I agree with you. I chalk it up to lack of marketing. Wolfcop had such a built-in groundswell of awareness. Everybody was rooting for this little weird independent film. The biggest miscalculation with Another Wolfcop was thinking that we didn’t have to market it more. To this day, people come up to tell me, “You should make a sequel to Wolfcop.”
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