A movie about a man who accidentally opens a portal to hell, filmed in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow, will hit cinema screens in the United States in August.
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Warrimoo writer-director Colm O'Murchu has secured an international distribution deal for the supernatural thriller, Tabernacle 101. The $3 million production value film will be released theatrically in the US on August 30 before becoming available on DVD and Blu-Ray. The deal also includes its release on streaming services including Amazon Prime and GooglePlay and multiple other platforms over the following six months.
Tabernacle 101 was filmed at various locations in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow region over 12 months in 2016.
One of the film's key scenes - showing lead character Frank (David Hov) performing a miracle - was filmed at Echo Point.
"We got there very early when there was hardly any tourists but there was one point where [the tourists] worked in well with the scene because the lookout was just packed with people taking photos," said Mr O'Murchu. "It looked they were filming the character... We got a great scene with that."
Other Blue Mountains locations included Springwood, Wentworth Falls Lake, Katoomba, Mount Victoria and Leura. The crew also spent a chilly three nights filming in the Lithgow State Mine Museum in August, while a park in Rylstone was used for another key scene.
Described as "Flatliners meets Ghost", Tabernacle 101 tells the story of an atheist who sets out to disprove the afterlife. Instead, he accidentally opens a portal to hell. The only person who can help him prevent the world's destruction is a psychic medium he has previously sought to denigrate.
"They fight back. I won't say much more," said the writer-director.
Indie Film Rights is the company that locked up the international film rights for the Australian genre pic. "We have not signed with an Australian distributor yet, this will be our next step," said Mr O'Murchu.
Co-producer Yolandi Franken said she was impressed by the Warrimoo resident's persistence throughout the making of the film.
"Making this film had some very unexpected challenges. To be able to create a great supernatural film on the budget that we had, was very challenging," she said.
For more details visit: www.tabernacle101.com.
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