Horror film with local ties to begin production in April

In early 2022, Naselle resident Ken Johnson moved to the Pacific Northwest from Pahrump, Nev., and launched WWest Communications. Since then, the WWest CEO has found himself immersed in producing Columbia Coast TV and, most recently, writing and producing an upcoming feature horror film titled "Dark Redemption." Serving as one of the other three writers for the script, as well as director for the feature, is Ocean Park resident Jeremiah Rounds. The film won't be the first time Rounds and Johnson have worked together, as the two collaborated on a Porsche-themed reality TV show in Vegas during Covid and, more recently, Columbia Coast TV.

Receiving grants from organizations like Washington Filmworks, Johnson and Rounds, by the time they were wrapping up the "Pilot" episode for Columbia Coast, were already seeing other opportunities here locally.

Johnson said, "We had three or four different individuals approach us and say, 'I have an idea for a feature film. I might be able to fund it. Could you help us?' I felt a little bit uneasy because we really hadn't created enough of the jobs locally or the infrastructure to support it, and I didn't feel good doing that on somebody else's dime, so I went back to my board and said, 'I think there's an opportunity here, but I would really like to do a first project of ours - small scale - and see what we could do to build that infrastructure. Then we could do it for others.'"

Getting to work on "creating a new brand idea," Johnson, once he and a committee picked the idea, applied for a state incentive program. When those at the incentive program were afraid Johnson and his committee "weren't spending enough money to make it what it could be," the committee retooled the budget, went back, talked to the board, and qualified for "the real incentive." Noticing there were already wages he and his group had on the books that they were able to put towards the project, Johnson, now with the budget together, looks to begin filming "Dark Redemption" in April.

Describing the genre as "folk horror," Rounds notes this vampire-based story is "more atmospheric" than fantastic. "There are supernatural things happening, but it's more about the people, the relationships, and how that affects their reality," said Rounds. According to Rounds and Johnson, "Dark Redemption" will have themes topical to the area like logging and Finnish culture. Doing research, Johnson, Rounds, and the film's other writers visited Appelo Archives in Naselle, as well as attended the Finnish American Folk Festival held in December. "When we came up with the story idea, a lot of it was, 'What do we have here? What could we utilize,'" said Rounds. "Instead of coming up with some sci-fi movie that takes place on the moon. 'What do we have here locally that could enrich the story and make it more a compelling, realistic feeling thing?' That was one of the things that came into the discussion."

Stripping away "all the tropes," which, in film lingo, translates to "removing overused cliches," Johnson noted the intent of the story is to "make it look like Bram Stoker sensationalized what was a real phenomenon." Elaborating, Rounds said, "The more we learned about history and the pieces we could incorporate with it, the more it started feeling like a very complex, rich character. [It] makes it more compelling than a guy who kills people. There's two schools of thought: the Netflix school, which is 'spoonfeed everything because everybody's going to be on their phone anyway.' What I think we're leaning more towards is the more artistic and thought-provoking method which is 'trust your audience.' If you're telling a good story, they're going to pay attention and you'll reward them for that."

Hoping for the filming to begin in April and be "wrapped" by June, Johnson said, "I've gotta give a big shout out to Washington Film Works because they really got us kickstarted with the grant program... They've got a new program coming out for PA (Production Assistant) training, and we're hoping that we'll be able to select somebody from their training group to participate in our feature."

Looking forward to getting started on his "next project," Rounds, referring to a current one with Columbia Coast TV, said, "This TV show has been a wonderful experience, but it's also been long and exhausting to get 13 episodes of unscripted television perfect - the best that you can make it - and distribute it out across the nation within a long stretch. I think we're just really looking forward to being able to focus on a scripted narrative thing that we can all put our best artistry towards."