Director Mark A. Lewis Spills on Thaw Origins

Posted by dominie in Films, News on August 19th, 2008

Bloody-Disgusting caught up with director Mark A. Lewis (Ill Fated) of the new Sci-Fi Thriller/Horror, The Thaw. In the plot, four ecology students discover a deadly parasite that can potentially cause a global epidemic. Each student successively becomes infected and turns on each other until the remaining survivor must decide to sacrifice their lives and burn everything to the ground.

Lewis tells Bloody-Disgusting that production has wrapped, gasping, “Thank God” and was very happy with the outcome of the project. In comparison to this previous project, Ill Fated, whose budget was only 1/10 of The Thaw, he was ecstatic to have had a proper budget to hire experienced key crew members, but the pressure was always on with time against them.

Filming a bloody horror film was “more something that just happened” Lewis reveals. He had been working on several pieces lately, all of which have been rather dark, and the toughest part of each being to make it meaningful. For inspiration he first turned to his family and Star Wars before Saw, though he warns the film is “surprisingly bloody, and disgusting.” The idea for the film came from an experience his brother, Michael, had with his girlfriend that involved beer and bedbugs. He told Dread Central, “I think ultimately where this story comes from is the idea or, more accurately, the feeling of vulnerability [...] of our species and how we’re about to experience the wrath of Mother Nature as a result of global warming. Remaining faithful to our inspiration [about bed bugs], we chose to make Mother Nature’s device the most hideous parasite we could imagine.”

Lewis acknowledges his appreciation for the support from family, especially Michael, who co-wrote the film with Lewis, and says “I’ll be a stronger person and a better filmmaker because of [their support].” Lewis is unsure about what project will surface next for him, but as to the open ended ending in Thaw, he claims it was not intentional. He leaves us with this comment. “I think we found the inevitable ending to our story. Though I suppose so long as the Arctic keeps melting at terrifying rates, there will be room for sequel(s). A scary thought for more than one reason.”