Mattawamkeag director produces chilling film> `Frostbite’ first segment of `Twisted Tales’ trilogy

Cannibalism can put a horrible strain on a friendship.

That’s the theme behind a new suspense thriller by Lucas Knight, a writer-director from Mattawamkeag.

“Frostbite,” a 20-minute film, is meant to be a segment in a three-part anthology called “Twisted Tales,” from Knight’s production company, Edge Productions.

“Frostbite” is the story of two friends, the only survivors of a plane crash still alive after several months in a remote tundra.

“It’s a psychological thriller of how two longtime friends react in a survival situation,” said the 29-year-old Knight.

Troy McLeod plays Paul and David Hamm portrays Tony. The two friends bring a whole new meaning to airline food, dining on their deceased fellow passengers and the flight crew. The tension builds as it becomes time to decide who will survive and who will be the next entree. The film is rough around the edges, but Knight does a good job at pacing and establishing the characters.

It took two years for Knight to bring “Frostbite” from concept to finished product, with filming and editing taking six months. Knight, co-producer Frank Welch and a small volunteer crew shot the plane’s interiors on a set built inside a garage belonging to Knight’s father. They also shot exteriors in a nearby field, plowing snow up around a tail fin and a wing to simulate the crash site.

“People kept bugging my father about that,” Knight said with a laugh.

Knight is now submitting “Frostbite” to film festivals across the country that don’t charge entrance fees, with it set to be shown at festivals in Seattle and Florida. He will be sending the film out to other festivals on a cash-available basis.

“I hope to get some recognition and to have it seen by money people at the festivals,” he said.

Knight, whose influences are Stephen King, David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock, is now raising funds to film the second segment of “Twisted Tales.” One segment he has firmed up is “After the Beep,” a horror film about what befalls a tabloid reporter. He’s still developing the anthology’s last segment.

Knight’s first project, the TV series “Dark Currents,” is on hiatus, after two seasons on public-access stations across the state, as he works on “Twisted Tales.” It is running as a cyberserial on the Edge Productions’ Web site (www.angelfire.com/biz/edgeprod).

“We post the episodes in story form,” Knight said. “We get feedback and it helps us touch up the scripts. I plan to bring `Dark Currents’ back in the future, but I can only afford one production at a time.”

Knight hopes to keep pursuing his dream from Mattawamkeag, but he is realistic.

“I’d love to stay here and keep making films, but I may have to move to a bigger area,” he said.