Review Fix Exclusive: Brett Brentman Talks Apocalypse Road

Review Fix chats with director Brett Brentman, who discusses his new film, “Apocalypse Road.” Detailing its creation and inspiration, Brentman lets us know what inspires his creative process and why you should watch the film.

About Apocalypse Road:

Following a post-apocalyptic event, two sisters are hunted down and separated by a gang of ruthless killers intent on creating their own twisted form of law and order.  The sisters must fight through this new, dangerous world to stay alive in the hopes of being reunited, and escaping to freedom.

Written and directed by Brett Brentman, Apocalypse Road premieres on VOD 12/5/17 from Wild Eye Releasing.

Review Fix: How was this film born?

Brett Brentman: I came up with the idea for AR based off the idea that you see all these films and television shows about the end times, but none of them seem to depict what the everyday person would encounter when that actually happened. It’s always sprinkled with zombies and so on, and I wanted to show what I felt the end of the world would feel like. Nothing overly dramatic visually, just a lot of urban blight and decay. I also didn’t want to take a grand scale to the film. I wanted to show the story of two sisters dealing with this new world they’re forced to live in. AR is their story and the beauty of it is, we can go on and on with the AR universe because we kept the concept small and left room to expand upon it.

Review Fix: What inspires you to create?

Brentman: I’m a music guy. I write to music, I edit to music too, I even read my own scripts and encourage my actors to read my work to specific tracks as well. The right tempo, the right vocal, instrumental can inspire me to create a mood, then put that mood into words on paper. When I direct, I try to shoot in a style that creates a feeling in the viewer. We don’t use standard words like “coverage” on set because I feel that kind of lingo stunts creativity.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself thought this film?

Brentman: Not on this film, but on my first film, called KREEP, which is a modern day western set in west Texas I learned how NOT to make a movie. We shot AR right after that horrible experience because I said to myself when I left Kreep, “that cannot be the way it’s done.” Terrible producers will ruin your vision. I created AR and kept to the crews and cast I wanted to use so that my vision was held intact the entire filming process.

Review Fix: How did you feel the first time you saw it post editing?

Brentman: We edited AR in sequences so that we could really dive into each 20 minute chunk. It was so exciting to see it come to life that way.

Review Fix: You need a special cast to pull this off. How did they?

Brentman: We didn’t hold any kind of auditions for the film. I knew what I wanted and we went out and got it. So much of acting in a movie like AR is coming off like you’re acting at all. Just talk and be yourself. I think our team did a bang up job of that.

Review Fix: Bottom line-why must someone see this film?

Brentman: Look, there are thousands of films out there. What AR brings to the table are two important things: we shot a feature film on a micro-budget and it’s actually damn good and we create this world where I think the viewer can see themselves in. It’s not crazy all-out-war… it’s a place where each of us COULD see and hopefully viewers will see the film and agree with those two points.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Brentman: My thriller THE NIGHT BEFORE is currently in Redbox throughout the US and hitting some other digital platforms like Amazon here shortly. We have a New Mexico based DEA crime thriller, DUKE CITY, in the works which stars Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris, Steven Michael Quezada and the great Wes Studi, which films next year in Albuquerque. We have also dabbled in some AR prequels and I just penned a horror film. Lots of projects in the mix.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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