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411 Visits The Set Of Upcoming Werewolf Movie Frenzy Moon

January 12, 2025 | Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz
Frenzy Moon Image Credit: Digital Guerrilla Cinema

Frenzy Moon Set Visit Report

Image Credit: Francois Vaillancourt

Frenzy Moon is a new indie werewolf horror flick from writer/director Gregory Lamberson, the moviemaker behind such movies as Slime City (1988), Killer Rack (2015), Johnny Gruesome (2018), Widow’s Point (2019), and Guns of Eden (2022). Set to be released at some point in 2025, Frenzy Moon, is basically about six graduate students who, while spending a weekend in a cabin out in the woods, encounter a deadly creature that turns out to be a goddamn werewolf. The grad students also have to deal with a seriously disturbed, heavily armed stranger that’s hunting monsters. Who is more dangerous, the stranger or the werewolf? Working with a super talented cast and crew, Lamberson’s tenth movie as a director is set to be chock full of scares, suspense, practical special effects with plenty of blood and gore, and a “man-in-suit” werewolf.

Lamberson invited me out to the set of Frenzy Moon to see what the heck making an indie werewolf movie on the outskirts of Buffalo was all about (the movie was made in Clarence, New York, which is essentially right next door to Buffalo), and I went out for day twelve of a scheduled fourteen day shoot (the actual number of shooting days exceeded fourteen in the end). What you’re about to read is what I saw and experienced during a shooting day that started at three in the afternoon on a Friday and ended at roughly three in the morning on a Saturday. A twelve hour day. In October. In Western New York. So, yeah, it was pretty cold before the sun went down. It was even colder later.

The Cabin in the Woods

I arrived at the set of Frenzy Moon a little after 3:30 in the afternoon. I had slight issues finding the set, the Clarence Conservation Center, which is an old cabin that was originally a Girl Scouts building that was eventually taken over by the town. The cabin is secluded, nestled in an area of woods that’s fronted by a giant dirt mound (this spot is where the town of Clarence brings its residents’ dead leaves and tree debris). If you didn’t know ahead of time that the cabin was back there, I’d imagine no one would ever expect anything is back there except woods and nature. I know I wouldn’t have. I was told that, when I arrived, I had to call the set to find out if I could actually drive up to the cabin and park in the cabin’s little parking lot or if I had to park in an area just before the start of the woods. It all depended on what they were shooting at that moment in time. I called Keith Lukowski, one of the movie’s producers and the movie’s unexpected production designer (there was an issue with the movie’s original production designer, who apparently left the movie just before actual production began, and Lukowski stepped in). Lukowski told me that I could drive up to the cabin. So that’s what I did. Driving into the woods was pretty weird, mostly because it got dark damn quick (it’s all due to the trees).

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

When I walked into the cabin proper, filming hadn’t actually begun quite yet. Three actors were working on the choreography for a pivotal scene where one of them was set to be hit in the head with a wine bottle. The actors (Alyssa Grace Adams, Kayla Malika, and Gabrielle Nunzio, all fantastic) were trying to figure out who needed to do what and where they all needed to look. While that was happening, producer and cinematographer Chris Cosgrave was working with camera operator Alex Frank, and 1st Assistant Director Hope Muehlbauer was making sure that she was organized so the movie shoot itself could be organized (and there was never a moment where Muehlbauer, a super talented moviemaker in her own right, was not organized and on top of what everyone was supposed to be doing next). There were also various production assistants doing things, awaiting for shooting to commence (and those PAs, for the record, were Salvatore Kilonsky, Alex Berry, and Jay Gleason, all very nice and eager to do whatever needed to be done). There was also a guy there named Donovan Gale who seemed to be helping everyone and doing everything and had more energy than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. Gale would eventually put on the werewolf suit later in the night, but before that he was moving around the set like a force of nature, figuring out where the actor’s marks needed to be placed (he had a sort of “utility belt” that had all kinds of things dangling off of it, including these little rubber/plastic “X” dealies that he would put on the floor). Gale was also wearing what looked like combat boots and kneepads and, in that moment, I figured that if an actual werewolf did show up at the cabin, Gale was going to fight it and hit the creature with a double flying knee combination and probably win and then get back to working with the crew to get the next shot. It was obvious that nothing was going to stop him from whatever it is he needed to do.

I then checked in with director Lamberson. He was sitting at the monitor set up along with his wife and producer Tamar and the script supervisor Kim Piazza, discussing what they did the day before, and what they needed to shoot that night. A lot needed to get done. A lot. Would it all get done? What sort of issues would present themselves in the coming hours that would require Lamberson to problem solve on the spot? Would the special effects work? I could tell very quickly that Lamberson was existing in two warring states simultaneously. He was laid back and leading by example and clearly trying to foster an environment of fun and creativity and art (they are just making a movie) while also exuding an obvious tension about what was ahead of him. There was just too much to do and not enough time to get it done. Yes, on some level, that’s the constant state of all moviemaking, regardless of the movie being made, but Frenzy Moon was happening under very different circumstances than he had originally planned. It would all get done and he would make the movie goddamit, there was never any actual doubt about that. But the process of actually doing it was going to be a challenge that he, and everyone else involved with it, would have to live through and endure.

The actual interior of the cabin was a marvel of space usage. Every square inch of the cabin was being used for something. There were multiple banquet tables filled with items that had to stay in place for continuity reasons. There were metal shelves that had all sorts of objects on them that you would likely only see as background things in the actual movie (I spotted several of Lamberson’s novels on at least one shelf as well as an armadillo). The craft services area was hidden behind these metal shelves (for the record, based on my observations, the favorite snack of the crew was crunchy Cheetos). There was also a room off to the side that functioned as a kind of “break room” for the actors and crew (this room would have to be vacated when the special effects team arrived, and whatever that was inside of that room would then be replicated just outside of it). And behind where the monitors were set up were what could best be described as “piles of things” (I don’t know what else to call them). As the night wore on, all of these various areas within the cabin, except the special effects room, would be moved around. Just about every open area of the cabin would be used to film something.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

When the actors were ready to film the big “wine bottle to the head” sequence, Muehlbauer called for a safety meeting. Safety meetings were convened multiple times during the night, so everyone on the set would feel safe and informed regarding anything that could potentially be perceived as dangerous. We all went outside into the parking lot to see how to handle the wine bottles made of sugar glass that would be used in the “wine bottle” sequence. During this demonstration, actor Gabrielle Nunzio broke multiple sugar glass wine bottles over director Lamberson’s head, an action that made most everyone laugh. While the sugar glass bottles made a nasty “pop” sound when broken, they were generally harmless (although everyone was told that one could be cut with the sugar glass in the right circumstance). Sound mixer Adam Burke also made an effort to get sound of one of the sugar glass bottles breaking (the more I heard that “pop” sound, the more unsettling it was. It just was). Burke spent the entire night “getting sound” on just about everything and he did a great job.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

Once the safety meeting was complete, everyone went back inside the cabin to do the scene. Lamberson did a quick walk through of the choreography of the scene to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do, and then a few moments later the sequence was completed. The “pop” of the sugar glass bottle was somehow even more unsettling inside of the cabin. The full sequence was done twice, with “one for safety.” When director Lamberson was completely satisfied with everything, the sugar glass debris was cleaned up. This cleanup was a three person job that included supervision and one of the most badass vacuum cleaners I’ve ever seen (the glass cleanup crew was referred to as “sweep nation”). It took a few minutes to get everything cleaned up, and when it was finally done the crew could move on to the next sequence.

The Next Sequence

The next sequence involved a character getting punched in the face. Much like they did with the broken wine bottle, the actors worked out the choreography for the punch to the face. Some very old looking blue stunt mats were brought out for this sequence, as the victim of the punch would be falling back once punched (the mats looked like the same kind of gym mats you would see being used in any school gym glass). I’m not entirely sure how many times the actors and crew practiced this punch sequence, but they did go into detail about what everyone needed to do and what needed to be seen for it to succeed. Everyone wanted to make sure it worked, looked right, and no one would get hurt doing it. Yes, no one was actually getting punched in the face, but physical activity was being engaged in and, even under the safest conditions, things happen. And since there were no stunt doubles being employed for any of this, everyone needed to know how it all was supposed to happen. When the punch sequence was finally filmed, it went by quickly, as planned, and without incident. The mats worked.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

The next sequence involved actor Aaron Krygier, who was playing the monster hunter Gavyn, brandishing an assault rifle with a green laser sight. In order to see the green laser beam, the area had to be flooded with fog. Another safety meeting was called in order to remind everyone that the assault rifle being used in the scene was an inoperable airsoft rifle (I was asked to briefly inspect the rifle to make sure I was comfortable being around it, which I was). Everyone was then reminded that, outside of Krygier, only three people on the crew were authorized to handle the rifle: Cosgrave, Muehlbauer, and Lukowski. This sequence was completed quickly. It was at this point that director Lamberson revealed that multiple sequences involving coverage of Krygier’s Aaron from the previous day would have to be redone.

As Krygier attempted to relearn the necessary dialogue for the redo scenes (and he did this fairly quickly), I briefly conferred with Lukowski about where the heck one gets sugar glass wine bottles (you can get them online from a prop house, the ones Lukowski acquired came four to a box, and they were sticky as hell). Lukowski is an extremely likable person with a super positive presence and a booming voice (it’s like if you combined Everett McGill with Jim Varney. You’re just immediately drawn to him). He’s been a part of the local moviemaking scene for well over a decade, and has been a producer, an actor, and a production manager on various projects. You get the sense that he’s going to do whatever he can to make Frenzy Moon as good of a production as possible, which is exactly what a movie needs in a producer/unexpected production manager. And very specifically for Frenzy Moon, you need a guy that knows how to build an outhouse structure that isn’t going to fall apart. Lukowski is that guy.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

When Krygier was confident he knew his lines, the reshoots began. The first scene redo was long and incredibly intense, as Krygier had tons of dialogue to get out. And Krygier was nothing short of phenomenal, with his character Gavyn brimming with a dark fury that he was a master of keeping in check until the exact right moment. When they did his close-up it was both disturbing and exhilarating to witness. And reconciling this character’s fierceness with the actor portraying it was, at least momentarily, difficult, as Krygier is an incredibly nice guy. That’s how you know that when the actual movie hits the world, you aren’t going to be able to take your eyes off of Gavyn.

It was around this time that the special effects team arrived to the set. Once all of the necessary pickups were completed, John Vincent and Mike Boas, the special effects practitioners (they were later joined by Dani) brought all of their various props and equipment and whatnot into the now former actor’s breakroom. It was also at this time that the first cabin interior move was completed (everything was moved to the side of the cabin with the tables, allowing the area with the windows to be used for the next set of sequences). This move took about thirty minutes.

Special Effects

Seeing practical special effects up close is something every horror movie nerd wants to do at least once in their lives. You not only want to see blood and guts (damaged body parts, decapitated heads, stuff like that), but you also want to see monster effects, too. Frenzy Moon is going to have copious amounts of both. During the big move from one side of the cabin to the other and setting up the next set of shots, Vincent and Boas brought out two of the decapitated heads that would feature in the night’s scenes and placed them on a banquet table for everyone to look at and take pictures of.

When I got my chance to see the heads up close I was both disgusted and intoxicating. Even knowing that the heads were just movie props and “rubber heads,” they were absolutely revolting up close (part of that, I think, has to do with how the material used for the heads glistens under the lights. Gelatin really is gross looking). It was intoxicating because, holy crap, I’m looking at prop movie heads on a werewolf movie! And when I got the chance to see the heads on the playback screen, the heads looked “real.” Again, holy crap.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

The next filmed sequence required dolly track and an intense camera blocking session. Director Lamberson and cinematographer Cosgrave and camera operator Frank quickly figured out what they needed to do to get what they wanted to see while also doing a sort of live rehearsal with the actors appearing in the sequence while script supervisor Piazza read out the necessary stage directions (Harold Octavius Jacob joined the actor group for this part of filming). The sequence required a character to be tied to a chair. The initial plan for the scene would have the character’s arms and legs tied up with actual rope, but there was some sort of continuity issue that they couldn’t figure out so director Lamberson decided to use zip ties for the character’s legs and handcuffs for the character’s wrists. Lukowski led another safety meeting about the assault rifle, as well as a fake knife (the knife was not sharp but was “real” in that it had weight). Lukowski was also the crew member that handled the zip ties.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

And so filming the next sequence began. All five actors were involved. The knife was brandished in a threatening manner. The tied up character performed a werewolf howl that was truly unsettling every time it was done. And there was dialogue. Lots and lots of dialogue. Every character had a close-up. Multiple takes were ruined by various noise issues, including planes flying overhead. There was then a dolly track move, which required moving things around in the background.

During all of this, I heard two things that are commonly heard on movie sets but I had only ever read about. I heard someone was “10-1,” which is code for going to the bathroom, and I heard someone say “points,” which means to watch out for someone carrying a light stand (you are watching out for the legs on the stand). I would also hear about “apple boxes” later on. These movie set terms are things I never thought I would actually hear in real life.

After completing this sequence, it was time for lunch.

Lunch

For lunch, the cabin was once again broken down and set up with multiple banquet tables for the cast and crew to sit at and eat and whatnot. The food was being provided by WNY Food Carts, which was stationed outside in the parking lot. While the cabin location was never overly warm or uncomfortable, you definitely noticed the difference between being inside and outside. People were sent out in small groups to order what they wanted. You had a variety of food to choose from (hamburgers, chickenburgers, hot dogs, salad, stuff like that), and it was made to order. I had a chickenburger and a salad. The chickenburger was pretty good.

Lunch went on for around an hour. During that hour, I realized that while I liked the chickenburger I ordered, the chickenburger didn’t like me, and as the hour passed the more generally uneasy I became. Was it the grease that was in the chickenburger? Probably. It also likely didn’t help that I hadn’t eaten anything substantial since around noon. I’m bringing this up not to gross anyone out or to denigrate WNY Food Carts (they really do have good food), but just to admit that the next twoish hours of filming was brutal. I basically sat off to the side, mostly watching the view screen, trying not to move all that much while sipping cold ginger ale and ice water, and praying to all of the Gods that my stomach didn’t make loud noises, that I didn’t barf, have some other type of “accident,” or cause a scene.

And the thing is, I initially thought about getting both a chickenburger and a hamburger. I’m glad that I didn’t. If I ate more, there definitely would have been a disaster.

I also want to say that, during lunch, someone was playing the harmonica. I don’t know who it was, but it was oddly nice to hear someone doing it. It’s something that you don’t hear happen all that often (at least in my life).

5 Hours to Go

When lunch was done, the area was once again dismantled. After finishing the necessary close-ups from the previous set up, the next sequence filmed involved a severed head flying through a window and into the cabin. How the heck were they going to do it? And where was that severed head going to land? Figuring out where the head would land and what they actually needed to do in order to get the head inside of the cabin was a time consuming process. On top of the gross rubber head, there would also be a whole bunch of rubber glass shards used in the sequence. Where the heck was all of that going to land? How would it look in the sequence?

In order to figure out the exact choreography director Lamberson wanted, the special effects team brought out a “rehearsal head” to practice (the special effects team actually called it a “shemp head”). It was during this practice they realized that the bear rug on the floor would have to be taped down so it wouldn’t move. When the actual sequence was filmed, it was done twice “for safety.” The glass cleanup was slightly more difficult than before, as it seemed as though the fake glass shards went everywhere. Because that’s what glass tends to do (I know this from my days working retail and having to clean up broken glass).

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

The next sequence was a close up on the severed head rolling on the floor. Director Lamberson explained to the special effects team that they were going to “bowl the head” on the floor and that it was all about the roll. They would also add rubber glass shards to the floor while bowling the head. Surprisingly, this sequence was completed rather quickly as only two takes were necessary to get what director Lamberson wanted. It was at this point that the special effects team had to clean-up the cabin’s concrete floor where the severed head had landed, as fake blood from the head was sticking to the concrete. The special effects team had a bucket of cleaner nearby, and they scrubbed the fake blood residue out of existence.

Next up was several coverage shots of the various actors reacting to the head coming through the window. Just about everyone screamed (and who the heck wouldn’t do that? It’s a goddamn human head crashing through a nearby window and rolling around on the floor). Camera operator Frank had to lie down on the floor to get one of these shots.

As obtaining the various coverage shots continued, the crew had to figure out where the severed head needed to be to maintain continuity for the sequences where the audience would see the head in the shot. Lukowski also had to devise a plan to open up all of the other windows that they needed to get the next set of shots. As part of the “head on the floor” situation, director Lamberson had the special effects team add blood and goo to the claw wounds in the severed head prop.

During a brief bout of downtime, script supervisor Piazza remarked to the set photographer Nancy J. Parisi, “These werewolves waste meat.” I’m not entirely sure why she said that, but it did make me wonder if the werewolves in the movie would actually be eating their human victims, or if their ultimate purpose was to commit violence and instill fear. I would suspect that it’s all about fear, but maybe werewolves like eating their victims, too. In one sense, werewolves are wild animals, and wild animals do like to eat. Would they eat the head?

Before moving on to the next sequence, director Lamberson informed Gale that he would be “suiting up” as the werewolf soon.

The Werewolf Enters!

The next big sequence involved a character jumping back in fear towards a window as the severed head comes into the cabin from a different window. That was the first part of the sequence. The second part would come later and involve the character being attacked by a werewolf arm. The first part was fairly easy to complete. The second part would require serious consultation between director Lamberson and cinematographer Cosgrave on the choreography of the scene. They eventually came up with a solution that could be called “one arm, and then the other arm.” It took almost an hour to complete this second part, as on top of the choreography of the werewolf arms and the actor being attacked, there was also more rubber glass to deal with. I can’t stress this enough: that stuff gets everywhere.

When Gale entered the cabin in the werewolf costume it was nothing short of bizarre. The actual costume looked pretty cool, and Gale looked scarily formidable wearing it. Gale wasn’t wearing the werewolf head, though. Instead, Gale was wearing a sort of ninja head sock. For the window sequence, Gale didn’t need to wear the werewolf head since the audience wouldn’t see the werewolf head in the shot, just the arms.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

When director Lamberson was satisfied with the arms sequence, the production shifted to outside. Everyone who had parked their cars in the little parking lot just outside of the cabin had to drive their cars into the lot just before the woods. It was getting close to 2AM or so when everyone had to do this, and it was a bit nerve-racking because it was so damn cold outside. Would everyone’s defroster work fast enough to clean everyone’s windshield? Would people be able to safely navigate the dirt road to the auxiliary parking lot? Would there be wild animals in the woods we would have to contend with? Were there any real werewolves out there? Thankfully, we wouldn’t have to walk back to the cabin (Lukowski used his massive pickup truck as a kind of taxi back to the cabin. There was enough room to hide Lukowski’s truck just outside of the cabin). But, Jesus Christ, it was cold out at that time of the night.

The outdoors sequence would use a fake window contraption built by Lukowski and would have Gale in the full werewolf costume. Donning the head made the full werewolf costume creepy as hell. I mean, in one sense, from a certain angle, the whole idea of someone wearing a werewolf costume out in the woods is ridiculous. What sort of normal person does that? And, yeah, it’s just a costume and everyone in the vicinity here is just making a movie. It’s all fake. And yet, somehow, seeing Gale in the full werewolf getup, out in the woods, fog machines working overtime to create a scary atmosphere, and knowing that the werewolf was violently attacking someone, it all became rather distressing. And seeing all of this through the playback screen was terrifying, even knowing, again, that it’s all fake and just a movie and I saw the goddamn werewolf without its head because it’s a costume.
This outdoors sequence was quite elaborate and difficult to pull off, but it was completed fairly quickly. Director Lamberson liked the way the werewolf attacked the character’s face.

There was one sequence left to film.

The Final Attack

With roughly thirty minutes left in the day’s shooting schedule, the final sequence was a close-up of the werewolf attack. The sequence would involve the actor’s head being placed inside the mouth of the werewolf. The werewolf here was a head that was a giant hand puppet operated by both Vincent and Boas (one of them would operate the mouth and the other would pump the blood). The head operator would have to stand on a wooden bench so the head could be at the same height as the actor being attacked. An old fashioned drop cloth was put on the floor to protect the concrete floor from the blood. Director Lamberson conferred with both the special effects team and the camera team about the choreography of the sequence. They only had time to do the sequence once.

There was going to be screaming. There was going to be giant werewolf teeth. And there was going to be blood. Lots and lots of blood. Everyone was ready.

Director Lamberson called “action!”

“Cut! What are you doing? It’s all wrong!”

It was all wrong. All of it. The choreography was all wrong. The blood started pumping too soon. They didn’t get anything needed in camera. They were going to have to do it again.

But how could they do it again when they could only do it once?

It didn’t matter. They didn’t have the shot. They were going to have to go again. The actor would have to be cleaned up. The blood pump would have to be refilled. And the choreography would have to be gone over again. They needed to get this shot right and done.

So the crew set up the shot again. It took about ten minutes to get everything back to where it was, or at least as close as they could (the actor’s face had to be cleaned up, which was a bit of an ordeal. Fake blood can be sticky). The second attempt went better, but it needed more blood. But instead of going from the beginning of the scene again, director Lamberson decided to have the special effects team pump more blood. Nothing would have to be cleaned up. And so that’s what they did. The special effects team filled up the blood pump and the sequence had even more blood than before.

And at 2:57 A.M., director Lamberson called wrap on the day. Day 12 was done.

Well, the filming day was done. It would be another thirty minutes or so before the day was actually done, as the crew had to break various things down, put things back where they were, move things from outside to inside, and the special effects team needed to clean up the bench. There was fake blood everywhere.

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

Conclusion

Although I wasn’t there for it, I do know that the next filming day for Frenzy Moon was an absolute marathon, as director Lamberson and his crew tried to get as much done as they could. And they eventually did get everything shot that they needed to. Principal photography was eventually completed.

But that wasn’t the actual end of filming. There were several more days of pick-up shots, and as I write this there’s still a few bits and pieces that need to be done before the movie is finished finished. And when it’s actually finished and scored (the great Armand John Petri, who dropped in a few times to film behind the scenes stuff, is working on the score) and unleashed on the world, I’m willing to bet that horror movie fans will dig Frenzy Moon. Director Lamberson has said that he thinks it will be his best movie yet. Based on what I saw, I think he might be right. Frenzy Moon is going to rock.

Be sure to keep an eye on director Lamberson’s social media for updates and whatnot on Frenzy Moon (you will find the links to that social media below).

And I will end this with what I think the ultimate effect of Frenzy Moon will be once it’s unleashed upon the world, especially after what I saw on my set visit day:

Heads will roll, the blood will flow, and the werewolves will howl at the goddamn moon!

Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz

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Check out the Frenzy Moon Indiegogo page here!

Check out Gregory Lamberson’s official website here!

Check out Gregory Lamberson’s Facebook page here!

Check out The Frenzy Moon Twitter page here!

Check out Gregory Lamberson’s Bluesky page here!

Check out the official The Frenzy Wolves Facebook page here!

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Image Credit: Bryan Kristopwitz