Spring Break
Hillsdalians join horror films
Students and faculty cast in two separate, ghoulish flicks
Patrick Timmis
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Focus
Zombies are stalking Hillsdale College's campus.
Nikolai Wenzel and Charles Steele, assistant professors of economics, recently played zombies in an indie horror film with a libertarian message. The film, titled "Chartarum," is produced by Jason Osborne, a '99 graduate of Hillsdale College.
Osborne described the film as "Red Dawn" meets "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." When a fungal disease breaks out, infected mold men attack humanity and spread their plague. Incidentally, the mold men also take over the government.
A scientist named Milton Mises desperately works toward a cure, concocting potions which he throws on the zombies. Wenzel and Steele are two of his antagonists.
"It was a little bit different from my normal line of work here," Steele said.
Osborne said the film examines a number of ways that the government controls our lives. The way the monsters behave, he said, is the way government officials behave.
"The idea we want to leave people with is that if these monsters didn't exist, things wouldn't really be any different," Osborne said.
Steele said the film is a cautionary tale about what happens when a large number of people stop thinking for themselves, not unlike the rise of the Nazis or Communists.
"Maybe Hillsdale should have a course in zombie films, emphasizing the heroic individual vs. the mindless collective of the undead," Steele said.
Juniors Kari Snyder and Alex Green each played small roles in the film.
Snyder said her character is attacked by Green's before she succumbs to the spreading infection.
"Alex Green is like the creepy homeless mold man dude who's walking down this alley stalking this chick, which is me," Snyder said. "Eventually he just bolts and throws me against the wall and tries to infect me with this mold."
The mold was a strip of Pocahontas wig covered with corn syrup and food coloring. Snyder called it "green goopy stuff," saying it at one point stretched between her mouth and Green's.
Nikolai Wenzel and Charles Steele, assistant professors of economics, recently played zombies in an indie horror film with a libertarian message. The film, titled "Chartarum," is produced by Jason Osborne, a '99 graduate of Hillsdale College.
Osborne described the film as "Red Dawn" meets "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." When a fungal disease breaks out, infected mold men attack humanity and spread their plague. Incidentally, the mold men also take over the government.
A scientist named Milton Mises desperately works toward a cure, concocting potions which he throws on the zombies. Wenzel and Steele are two of his antagonists.
"It was a little bit different from my normal line of work here," Steele said.
Osborne said the film examines a number of ways that the government controls our lives. The way the monsters behave, he said, is the way government officials behave.
"The idea we want to leave people with is that if these monsters didn't exist, things wouldn't really be any different," Osborne said.
Steele said the film is a cautionary tale about what happens when a large number of people stop thinking for themselves, not unlike the rise of the Nazis or Communists.
"Maybe Hillsdale should have a course in zombie films, emphasizing the heroic individual vs. the mindless collective of the undead," Steele said.
Juniors Kari Snyder and Alex Green each played small roles in the film.
Snyder said her character is attacked by Green's before she succumbs to the spreading infection.
"Alex Green is like the creepy homeless mold man dude who's walking down this alley stalking this chick, which is me," Snyder said. "Eventually he just bolts and throws me against the wall and tries to infect me with this mold."
The mold was a strip of Pocahontas wig covered with corn syrup and food coloring. Snyder called it "green goopy stuff," saying it at one point stretched between her mouth and Green's.
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