Following numerous successful shorts and a recent segment in the horror anthology film, Phobias, Filipino-American filmmaker Maritte Lee’s feature directorial debut, Black as Night will release this October 1 on Amazon Prime forming part of the second wave of “Welcome to the Blumhouse” films.
An action-horror hybrid with a strong social conscience and a biting sense of humour, Black As Night boasts a predominantly up-and-coming young cast, headed up by Asjha Cooper (There’s Someone Inside Your House, “Snowfall”) who plays Shawna, a resourceful teenager driven to leave her childhood behind to do battle with a coven of savage vampires when her drug-addicted mom becomes the latest victim of the sanguisuges. Shawna hatches a bold plan to infiltrate the vampires’ nest, destroy their leader, and turn his disciples back to their human form. But the plan proves more complicated to execute when truths are revealed and Shawna and her crew realise they’re caught in a centuries-old conflict between warring vampire factions, each fighting to claim New Orleans as their permanent home.
Ahead of the film’s October 1 release on Amazon Prime, SCREAM caught up with Lee Go and Cooper who revealed the true inspirations behind screenwriter Sherman Payne’s singular and metaphorical script and what bringing a film to life under the wing of Jason Blum meant to them.
Words: Howard Gorman
