Quiet Earth was invited to the set of World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2, the sequel to The Zombie Diaries, which was co-written and directed by Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates. While the sequel has a bigger budget, the writer/directors are keeping to their low budget roots, asking for zombie volunteers to assemble at a Welsh horror film festival last year.
While the sequel's synopsis revealed the movie takes place 3 months into the zombie plague, Gates provided more details on the sequel.
With the story, I wanted something that would work as a direct sequel but also work as a stand alone film. So we kept some elements from the first film and linked in with the original ending and the soldiers finding Leeann.
Of course, with the memorable Goke surviving the first film, we had to bring his character back in as well. The script follows this platoon as their base is wiped out by the walking dead and they're forced to try and make it to the coast on foot and to try and escape the UK, as it's well and truly fucked now!
Leeann is taken with the soldiers on their journey and we witness her transformation to an unlikely strong female, albeit with somewhat psychopathic tendencies. So rather than telling several stories, as with the first film, we have focused on one narrative thread, adding a lot more suspense, action and most importantly, zombies.
World of the Dead will be shot in first person, like the original, and will be distributed by The Weinstein Company in the U.S. Bartlett admits that a third Zombie Diaries could follow.
I think, as with the second film, distributors will throw money at us to do a third film, due to the success of the brand. A lot of people will be very surprised when they see World of the Dead and how good it looks. It's amazing what you can do when you have a budget (Unlike the first film!).
I am trying to convince Kev to go down the whole Hazmat route with the third film - a bit like Tag 26, my favourite short film - and I'll be knocking up a few different treatments to show the financiers and other interested parties. Of course Kev and I might have our hands full with Timeless by then, so let's see what happens.
Timeless is the time travel movie that Bartlett and Gates are working on next. As usual, we can't wait!
To check out the rest of Quiet Earth's set visit, head here.
