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Gregory Lamberson On Crowdfunding His New Horror Film Frenzy Moon

The 411 Interview: Gregory Lamberson

Gregory Lamberson is a director, writer, and producer who has been making movies since the late 1980’s, starting with the classic horror flick Slime City. Since then, Lamberson has directed such movies as Naked Fear, Slime City Massacre, Dry Bones (he co-directed this with Michael O’Hear), the absolutely fantastic horror comedies Killer Rack and Johnny Gruesome (the best movie of 2018), the truly unsettling horror flick Widow’s Point starring modern horror icon Craig Sheffer, and the badass action flick Guns of Eden (check out my review of that flick here). Lamberson is also an author, responsible for the books Black Creek, Carnage Road, Johnny Gruesome, The Frenzy Wolves, and The Jake Helman Files series. Lamberson also co-directed, with Chris Scioli, the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival for a decade, and is set to debut the new Amazing Fantasy Film Festival in September 2024. Lamberson’s next movie is set to be the werewolf horror flick Frenzy Moon, and he has launched a full on Indiegogo campaign for the movie (check out the campaign page here). In this interview, Lamberson talks with this writer about why he wants to make Frenzy Moon his next movie, what sort of werewolves to expect in the movie, and more.
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Bryan Kristopowitz: How did you decide that now is the time for Frenzy Moon to be your next movie as a director and why did you decide to go the crowdfunding route again?
Gregory Lamberson: I wanted to direct Frenzy Moon after Johnny Gruesome, but Widow’s Point fell into my lap. Then my daughter was diagnosed with three diseases (she’s fine and doing great), and as soon as we started to get a handle on that, Covid shut everything down. I couldn’t shoot a “cabin-in-the-woods” movie with seven actors, a crew, and a practical special effects crew during a global pandemic, so I made Guns of Eden instead. It was always my intention to do Frenzy Moon next.
BK: Has your vision for Frenzy Moon changed at all since you decided to go the crowdfunding route? If it has changed, how has it changed?
GL: The story hasn’t changed, but I wrote it for my buddy Craig Sheffer, and there’s no way I can afford to shoot SAG now. I’ve always been a big believer that casting unknowns actually helps horror films. I’ve polished and polished and polished this script repeatedly over the years, so it’s better than it was. And of course I’m going to shoot everything as economically as possible.
BK: Your new proof of concept trailer is pretty dang cool. Where did you film it? How long did it take to complete?
GL: We shot that in the same Western New York private clubhouse that we used for the funeral home in Johnny Gruesome. We shot everything in one day, but of course I scheduled too much for one day, so we had to come back with a skeleton crew on another day to re-shoot a couple of things and get one key shot we had missed.
BK: Where and when do you plan to shoot Frenzy Moon?
GL: Buffalo is known as “the 20-minute city” because you can get anywhere in 20 minutes, and I’m a Buffalo filmmaker. I shoot everything close to home.
BK: Have you cast Frenzy Moon?
GL: I’ve tentatively cast most of the roles with people from the proof-of-concept trailer. I have three speaking roles left to cast, and one howling role.
BK: What sort of werewolf monsters can we expect to see in Frenzy Moon?
GL: I wrote this to be a man-in-suit practical effects werewolf film. John Vincent will be making a full-size werewolf suit with animatronics. He already made a very cool looking 18” rod puppet, but that will be seen minimally. I also want a head we can puppet. In my mind, only the full-size version can be scary.
BK: What kind of werewolf fighting weaponry can we expect to see in Frenzy Moon?
GL: The setup is that these six college students are trapped in a cabin with this hunter after they hit him with their car. He’s suffering from PTSD and has this semi-automatic rifle that’s the source of a lot of tension. That’s the weapon – the students only get steak knives.

BK: How long will the Frenzy Moon Indiegogo campaign go on for?
GL: I scheduled it for 30 days. I hope it remains that long, because I don’t want to extend it. These campaigns are a lot of work.
BK: Just how nasty will Frenzy Moon be?
GL: Good question. I expect it to be the goriest film I’ve directed, but the film is more about drama and suspense.
BK: Where did you get the green laser sight for the machine gun?
GL: You mean the Feyachi Tactical Green Laser Sight? From Amazon! I’m no fan of guns, but I loved that laser sight. We pumped haze into the cabin, and that laser just fired up, bright green. We dollied along the beam, and I’ve never seen that done before. Expect a lot of trick shots like that.

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A very special thanks to Gregory Lamberson for agreeing to participate in this interview.
Check out the Frenzy Moon Indiegogo page here!
Check out The Frenzy Moon Twitter page here!
Check out The Frenzy Wolves Facebook page here!
Check out Gregory Lamberson’s Facebook page here!
Check out Gregory Lamberson’s official website here!
Check out the official Amazing Fantasy Fest Facebook page here!
Gregory Lamberson headshot courtesy of Gregory Lamberson. Frenzy Moon poster created by Francois Vaillancourt. All other images courtesy of Digital Guerrilla Cinema.