Eight years after the release of the feature-length catastrophe Zombie Cats from Mars, production has begun on the long-awaited prequel Zombie Cats from Mars 2.
Executive producer Ryan Cloutier has acquired the funding to shoot a portion of the film to be used to leverage additional investors and crowd-funding via Kickstarter to complete the remainder of the film. Those interested in pre-ordering a copy of the film or appearing in a cameow can pre-register on Kickstarter to be notified when the campaign goes live in August.
The prequel takes place in 1957 amid the Cold War and follows the Peterson family, including remarried widow and mother Diane, her husband Warren, and her children William and Armand. Rounding out the ensemble are William’s best friend Howie, cat-owning schoolgirls Doris and Patricia, the venerable Dr. Goff, retired physicist Grandpaw Bill, and the eccentric neighbor Agnes, a former opera singer who loves performing Italian arias for her cat, George. Under the backdrop of the nuclear family, a team of Soviets is rushing to launch an artificial satellite into space – a satellite which has the potential to communicate messages of murder and mayhem to all of Earth’s cats.
Zombie Cats from Mars 2 is written by Cloutier and directed by Montetré, the same production team from the original film. The crew includes cinematographer Jim Stanek, sound engineer Esteban Ortiz, lighting designer Forrest Brennan, cat handler Marci Koski, and special effects makeup artist Carrie Puterbaugh. While the original film was a campy, low-budget romp, the producers expect to increase the production value significantly, with improvements in all areas of filmmaking. Production will take place in and around Portland, Oregon.
The original Zombie Cats from Mars film is available on Amazon. Production updates will be posted on social media, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the film’s website. For questions related to this film or the production of the prequel, please reach out to zombiecatsfrommars@gmail.com.
