Here And Now – a Halloween Adventure by Liam Ray III

Sponsored Feature: Dead Pan Pictures, William vs. William Productions

Here And Now is an upcoming horror comedy written and directed by Liam Ray III.

Watch the trailer here!

Every Halloween, Savvy and Hattie have searched for a shooting star from their favourite horror film. This year, they find more than they ever could have wished for.

A Q&A with Writer/Director Liam Ray III

Hi Liam, thank you for joining us at Rabbit in Red to discuss your upcoming horror comedy Here And Now! How did you come up with the concept for the film?

Here And Now originated from, as a kid, wondering where the shooting star in Jaws landed and what it would be like to go searching for an alien relic from such an iconic horror film. From there, I’ve seen Halloween being celebrated less and less these last twenty-five years and also seen the rise of grief-horror as a subgenre. I wanted to respond to both of those with something that was totally non-serious, yet a love letter to horror and intrinsically, relentlessly tied to the spooky season.

The script comments on trends like reboots, requels and found footage. Were you inspired by other horror films/horror comedies during the filmmaking process?

Bit of a two part answer here, but the idea of addressing current horror trends such as reboots and requels came about because I knew I couldn’t have a film featuring horror fans without some metatextual conversation, which can sometimes feel like a coattail-ride of Scream (1996), but it gave me a way of discussing these types of films as a unique metaphor for processing death in a more light-hearted way, yet still relevant fashion.

As far as inspirations go, I unashamedly wear them on my sleeve and abundantly in our film. Huge influences include Phantasm I-V (1979 – 2016), Kenny And Company (1976), Now And Then (1995), and Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) in regards to young people growing up and discussing and processing death, especially during the Halloween season. I was also heavily inspired by the sense of fun, kind hearted nature, and camaraderie in the three Bill And Ted movies – a dynamic that fueled Hattie and Savvy’s relationship, along with what my own best friend and I are like. I also tried to include a sense of wackiness, wit, and off-beat humour from films I love such as UHF (1989), Gravy (2015), Return Of The Killer Tomatoes (1988), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Ed Wood (1994), Tank Girl (1995), and Galaxy Quest (1999). The final influences include family-friendly Halloween time films like Halloweentown 1-4 (1998-2006), Ernest Scared Stupid (1991), R.L. Stine’s Haunting Hour (2007), and Hocus Pocus (1993). Top that with a metric fuck-ton of Scooby-Doo and you’ve got Here And Now.

“Addressing current horror trends came about because I knew I couldn’t have a film featuring horror fans without some metatextual conversation.”

Here And Now has major Autumn vibes, a perfect watch for the spooky season. Tell us about how you decided on a location and setting.

The location was determined in part by necessity, because it’s where all of our cast and crew mostly lived, however, I also chose to just leave the film in Iowa for that quaint Midwestern setting as a juxtaposition to this epic adventure, but also as a subtle homage to Fright Night (1985), which most people don’t know is also set in Iowa. We shot mostly from September to November of 2023 to capture an authentic Autumnal look and feel.

What was the casting process like? Did you have actors in mind for roles when you began?

We did not have a traditional casting process and for the most part, the script was written with the majority of the cast already in mind and selected, beginning with Valentine Chenus (Savvy) and Stella Webster (Hattie) as I’d grown fond of them whilst working together in theatre and wanted to make a film with them. Interestingly, they were actually cast in the opposite roles until the day of our table read. Meanwhile, everyone else was generally asked to be a part of the film and did so as a favour and for love of the project. We also got cameos from friends across the country from Nebraska (Molly O’Blivion), New York (Fever Dreamland Theater), Florida (Dylan R. Nix), and Utah (Michael Ballif).

What were your main objectives when you set out to make Here And Now? What are you hoping viewers will take away from the film?

I didn’t know if I’d ever have the chance to make another feature film, so I wanted to tell the story that meant the most to me with Here And Now. One about friendship, Halloween, horror fans, and all the spooky-fun things in between. If I could have found a way to take the audience Trick-Or-Treating with us too, I would, but in lieu of that, I hope this just finds those with a desire for a quirky, (mostly) family friendly Halloween adventure.

To learn more about Here And Now, follow @hereandnowmovie2024 and @goryroryiii on Instagram.