Georgetown Filmmaker Achieving a Lifelong Dream (by giving us nightmares!)
J.J. Perez has been watching scary movies since he was a little boy, and, earlier this year, released his very own horror film; written, filmed, and premiered right here in Georgetown. He is completely self-taught and, while he started the day as a gifted writer, he is happy to be learning all the skills of the movie craft as he moves forward in his career.
Perez has been making short films since high school and says, “In 2018, I went to see a new film by my favorite indie director and I got to talk to him. It was super inspirational to have a mentor tell me to never give up. A week later I just sat down and wrote the story. We filmed for 23 nights last March, and we were thrilled to have a screening at the Georgetown Film Festival so everyone in Georgetown could enjoy a story created in our own backyard.”
Since then, Perez has continued to promote his film, Beneath. He’s been featured in more than a dozen movie festivals in and outside Texas, received 12 nominations among them, and awards for Best Music, Best Horror Film, and Best Actress (beating out Vivica A. Fox!). “The reaction and the touring is more than I ever imagined,” Perez says. “I love promoting my movie, but also seeing others’ works and talking to people I’d like to emulate, seeing audiences being scared and laughing… all of it.”
The Movie
The story begins with a group of cultists who performed rituals in an underground cavern in the 1960s to summon a demonic force. Years after the cult events, tour guides find out about the curse and decide to have a look for themselves. True to the genre, bloody frights ensue. But to give full credit, the movie includes plenty of terror; i.e., the fear of what is about to happen, horror; the squirmy reaction you have after it happens, and plenty of comic relief throughout.
He does emphasize the movie is really for 17-plus audiences (bloody scenes and language), but is just for fun. “There is just one demon that stays in the cave and only awakens for 21 days every ten years unless summoned. There is no back story at all; it is not a real name or based on any mythical characters or historical events. I even made up the language in the ritual scene. I just like scary movies.”
Perez is the writer, director, and producer, and, after getting great audience feedback, not to mention the fistful of awards, he is already writing the sequel and planning another festival tour.
The Scene
The movie setting is our very own Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown. Perez is a popular employee and tour guide there, and if you have visited the caverns, you may recognize most of his cast are employees and tour guides. “My cast really nailed it, even the dramatic scenes, because they are natural performers.”
Perez says filming in the caves wasn’t scary, although the cast and crew occasionally thought they heard something, but people love to be scared and that was kind of the point. “Working and filming here was a great marriage. The employees already have great respect for the caves, so the management had a lot of trust with us.”
Perez says the cast and crew all enjoyed filming, although it wasn’t without challenges and they all learned the hard way. “We had cast members running in near dark. And then there’s me, a camera, light and sound, all running backwards in tandem with a 50-pound battery to capture the action.” Sweaty actors, bumps and cuts… the works.
Perez also helped create and modify sound effects himself…cutting wet, sliced bread sounds a lot like a knife cutting a finger.
Festival News
“Festivals are how indie films get noticed, and I never would have thought it would be like this; more fun than I ever imagined,” Perez says. More than anything, he is able to do what he loves and flex his creative muscle in a way that brings him joy. And, like many who have jobs to pay the bills, the best thing about his first success is that, okay, he’s not living high in Hollywood, but when you ask him what he does, he can say, “I am a filmmaker.”
Fans and potential fans can see the official trailer on Facebook and Instagram (BeneathCaveFilm), and he hopes to have the full feature on Amazon Prime soon. If you want the full ambiance, he is working on a special Halloween showing at the Palace Theater on the Square.
You can even be part of this cinematic success and help share Beneath with more audiences. Help J.J. make his (non-scary) dreams come true and get his film across the country at GoFundMe.com/72dknq8 ↔