“Woodland Heights” is a flashback to a 50’s horror B-Movie. The film was written and directed by Samuel Gonzalez Jr.. Currently Samuel is a full time filmmaker, but years back he was in Iraq and was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with Valor for his bravery and sacrifice during an attack while stationed in Baqubah. Unfortunately Samuel lost a very close friend in that attack. While still there, he grew from his tragic experiences and began documenting his day to day life with a video camera. When he returned home he enrolled in the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and soon after he was making short films.
Staring in the film is Arielle Brachfeld who is no stranger to B Movie Nation and starred in the films “The Haunting of Whaley House,” “Chemical Peel,” and “Live-In Fear” amongst many others. She costars with James Preston from the TV series “The Gates.”
“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” Hitchcock. In tradition with drive-in horror movies of the 1950’s, Woodland Heights tells the story of a young couple’s prom night taking a bizarre turn for the worse. The film is based on the classic urban legend “The Hook.” Which makes it ideal that the film was set in the 50’s since the story “Hook-man” has been around since then.
“Woodland Heights” will be playing at this year’s Screamfest L.A. on Friday October 11th, 2013 at 9:30pm. For more information and to check out the trailer click here:
http://screamfestla.com/content/woodland-heights
For reference, here’s the story of The Hook Man.
The Hook
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hook, or Hookman, is a classic example of an urban legend. The basic premise involves a young couple parked at a dark lovers’ lane. The radio plays music as the couple make out. The music is interrupted by an announcer who reports that a serial killer has just escaped an institution which is nearby. The killer has a hook in place of one of his hands. For varying reasons they decide to leave quickly. The legend ends with the discovery of the killer’s hook attached to the outside handle of one of the doors. Many variations include the sound of scraping on the car door. Some legends have the same beginning, but end up with them seeing him first, warning some others, then having him come to their car. They try to escape, but end up with him holding on to the top of the car. It ends with both dying.
In an alternative version of the story, the couple are driving through an unknown part of the country at night, and decide to stop the car in the middle of the woods, either because the male has to relieve himself, or the car has broken down and the man leaves to go for help. While waiting for him to return, the female turns on the radio and hears about the escaped mental patient. While waiting for the male to return, she is disturbed many times by a loud thumping on the roof of the car. She eventually exits her car and sees the escaped patient on the roof of the car, holding the male’s decapitated head in his hand and hitting the roof with it. Other variations tell of her seeing the male’s butchered body suspended upside down from a tree above the car with his fingers dangling just above the roof.
A happier ending sees the couple driving off when it sounds as if the hookman is approaching the car. Along the way, they assure themselves it was just their imagination. However, upon getting home and exiting the car, they find the hook stuck in the door.
References to this legend have been found from at least the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s
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