Denizen (2010)

Denizen is a low budget film directed by J.A. Steel and was released in 2010. It follows the story of a group of scientists who must stop a creature attacking the town's residents. The film was filmed in April 2008 in, for the most part, Muskogee Oklahoma, a small city in the eastern portion of the state. The film is regarded as a " B-Movie" due to its ludicrous storyline, cheesy dialogue, and over-the-top characters, including a transgendered general. The film was picked up by IndieFlix ,for DVD and VOD releases, after a semi-successful horror/sci-fi film festival circuit. Critics and B-Movie fans alike gave the film overwhelmingly negative review, though some were more apologetic and found the film to be entertaining because of it's B-Movie throwbacks. Despite the film's negative response and commercial failure, J.A. Steel is determined to continue her longtime character Sierra Deacon, and the film's fiction in other mediums. The film is soon to be adapted into a line of comic books.

Plot

The Foxxxy Ladies

Peace gets shattered in a small town, when suddenly a mysterious creature starts to leave a bloody trail. The last hope for the residents to fight the terror and prevent the destruction by military forces rests on the courage and the resourcefulness of a small group of scientists, including Sierra Deacon (J.A. Steel), Dexter Maines ( Ben Bayless), and Dallas Murphy ( Jody Mullins) are called into action to stop a mysterious creature that is putting a small town under attack. The team must help a group of locals led by Callie Calhoun ( Julie Corgill) from stopping the monster's relentless slaughter of the town's residents. After several deaths, an Army unit led by General Jernigan ( Glen Jensen) is called into action to contain the creature's attack, and, if all else fails, destroy the town. It becomes a race against time to stop the monster and save the town.

Production

Production began in April of 2008 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. After nine days in Muskogee, parts of Mexico, and Salt Lake City, Utah, principal photography was completed.

Crew

Shooting on location in Utah.

The film's crew consisted of a wide array of men and women from around the country including Hartley Powell's cinematography, Wayne Rawley's editing, and original music composed by Salt Lake City, Utah rock band The Street. Several other crew members were new to the film scene including: Lawrence White, who handled the film's production design, and Devon Brewster and Marc Hall, who experienced their first time operating a camera for a film crew. The film had an extensive amount of art design from the likes of unknowns Lawrence White, James Reed, and Paul Johnston. The stunts were handled by grizzled veteran Jacque Ruffner, who has worked for several directors in France, choreographing Bert Wolf and Rodger Lee in the fight scenes. The director also credits members of the Muskogee city government and Lake Tenkiller officials for their unapologetic support for the film.

Cast

The cast is notable for the use of a transgender supporting character in General Ezekiel 'Zeke' Deacon, who was played by transwoman actress Dominique Storni, and the return of Sierra Deacon, J.A. Steel's character in The Third Society.

Filming

Steel behind the underwater camera.

Despite this being only her third feature, this was the second time that Steel used Muskogee as a filming location, having used the area as the sole setting for her previous film, Salvation. Steel also used some of her vast experience of scuba diving in the project, an activity she has known well ever since she completed her award-winning documentary, Dive in the Deep Blue. The scuba scenes in Denizen were filmed at Lake Tenkiller, which has a the distinction of having an entire small town which has been submerged underwater for years. To help her in her efforts, Steel received sponsorship from notable brands such as Aqualung International and Riffe Spearguns, in a bid to enhance the overall quality of the action sequences.

Soundtrack

Denizen contains original music from Salt Lake City, Utah band The Street. The Street composed six songs for the film including: "Light of Day", "Walls", "Devil's Dilemma", "Vendetta", "Bitter" and "Make Up Your Mind." The Street also included six more songs on the film's soundtrack; "Greetings from the Ghetto," "Step Up," "Nemesis," "Vendetta's My Name," "Shovel,"One Man Battle," and "Head or Be Dead." The album is entitled "The Street: The Devine Debauchery- Music from the Original Motion Picture Denizen".

Release

Reception

Denizen received mixed from specialist movie blogs and was not reviewed by any professional outlets. Nic Brown, writing for B Movie Man, offered the most positive take on the film, complimenting the "surprising array of stunts" and the "interesting characters". Brown says that Denizen is a "respectable independent action film" with an "interesting story involving monsters". FilmSnobbery was also quite positive, citing the actors as "engaging" and coming across as enjoying their parts. They continue to say that the wide range of locations are complimented with action scenes that make use of the limited budget. However, they deduct points for the audio quality, noting that the "soundtrack, sound effects and dialogue are uneven".

Scott Shoyer for Anything Horror is a bit more critical. Shover calls the monster a "shaggy Wookie", the dialogue unintentionally hilarious and a story that is all over the place. However, Shover points out that despite these downfalls he still found Denizen to be a "fun time". Fatally Yours was far more critical, saying that the film was one of the worst indie films they've ever seen, listing off a load of problems such as "painful acting" on undeveloped characters, "poor effects", a meandering story and a bunch of technical problems.

Mike Spring from DVD Snapshot gave the film a positive review professing his appreciation for an intentional B-Movie, stating, "There are two kinds of great B-movies. The first kind is where the filmmakers have no idea they're making a B-movie, and you end up just laughing at it, whether it's a comedy or not. The second kind is where the filmmakers intentionally set out to make a B-movie, and you end up laughing with the filmmakers. J.A. Steel's creature feature Denizen is the second kind of B-movie, and it's a lot of fun as a result."

Director's Reaction

J.A. Steel states that she has not been discouraged by the overwhelmingly negative response to her film. She states that people who "enjoy this type of film seem to have a great time watching this. I think that the film's cult status will grow over time." On the state of her next project she states that the failure of Denizens will "not keep me from moving on to my other projects I have mapped out after this. I make films for the fans not the critics. I'm a fan and I enjoy watching this movie."

Awards

Denizen won the 2010 Accolade Award of Merit for Warrior Entertainment, the 2010 Goldie Film Award for innovative feature film, the 2010 Park City Music Festival Bronze Medal for Excellence, the 2009 Park City Music Festival Silver Medal for Excellence, and Best Actor, Best Oklahoma Soil Film, and Best Sci-Fi Feature at the 2010 Bare Bones Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Distribution

Denizen was premiered at the 2010 Bare Bones Festival, at the Roxy Theatre in Muskogee - in the same area where

Bare Bones Festival

shooting took place. At the festival, it was well received, picking up several accolades from the judging panel. Their recognition of the film saw it nominated fro Best Sci-Fi feature, Best Oklahoma Soil Feature and received an honorable mention for Glen Jensen for Best Actor in a Feature.

In the following months, the film was also shown at various festivals and events including the 2010 Outlantacon, Croatia's Trash Film festival and the 2010 Park City Film Music Festival in Utah. In a bid to promote the film, Steel also attended the 2010 Comic Con.

Prior to the tour at the festivals and conventions, Denizen was picked up by IndieFlix, who won non-exclusive distribution

Adaptations

A comic book adaptation of the film is in the works. The graphic novel version of Denizen is being lined up by Lawrence

Comic Book Cover

White, with a view to a publishing deal with White Eye Comics, in the latter half of 2010.

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Name	Denizen
US Release	April 10, 2010
UK Release
AUS Release
Runtime	83
Language(s)	Add a new language English
Genre(s)	Add a new genre Action Horror Sci-Fi
Theme(s)	Add a new theme monsters transgender
Rating	R
Alias(es)

Domestic	$0
Foreign	+$0

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	J.A. Steel	Sierra Deacon
	Julie Corgill	Callie
	Ben Bayless	Dexter Maines
	Glen Jensen	General Jernigan
	Jody Mullins	Dallas Murphy
	Dianne Sullivan	PFC Noyce
	Janet Mayson	Mayor Greenwell
	Dominique Storni	General Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Deacon
	Jessica M. Bair	Young Deacon's Mother
	Christina Mahan	Sheriff Hannigan
See Full Credits