A Latino-owned horror-film production company is hoping to put North Texas on the map for independent filmmaking \u2014 and even wants to resurrect a famous Stan Lee project from 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
This video created with the assistance of AI.<\/p>\n
Joe Manco and Catalina Querida founded Arlington-based Little Spark Films<\/a> in 2013, after the two punk rock band members were unsatisfied with the videos another agency created for them. Since then, Manco and Querida have gone on to create short films, commercials and now film projects.<\/p>\n “We were working with someone else to make music videos, and Joe was not happy about how the music videos turned out, so I said you should try it since you went to school for it, just go ahead and do it,” Querida said. “And then it started an obsession.”<\/p>\n During the past couple of years, the studio has produced several horror projects including\u00a0Hellbound Laments, Beyond Dusk, The Torturer, Vicemares and Death World.\u00a0Little Spark is interested in producing a diverse range of content, from cerebral A24-style psychological thrillers to slashers, ghost stories, adult animation and musical content.<\/p>\n Previously, Manco and Querida self-funded their projects, making them in their backyard with limited resources. That changed this year, though, with a $1 million investment from producer Chris C. Rushing. They now have access to better equipment and bigger crews, and can even invest in other filmmakers and fund other projects while making their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n Little Spark recently wrapped up their latest project: Bridgette Wrona and the Whisper Creek Murders.\u00a0It’s Little Spark’s first feature film as a fully financed studio. The film was written by Preston Fossil, produced by Larissa Dali (who also acts in it) and produced-directed by Mary Beth McAndrews.<\/p>\n The film follows\u00a0Bridgette Wrona, played by Amanda Huerta, who is the 20-something host of a true-crime podcast. When a serial killer known as the Flower King resurfaces in a remote East Texas town, Wrona\u00a0sets out to investigate.<\/p>\n “It’s ‘weird-girl cinema’ at its finest. We’re looking at it as a gateway horror film for young women who maybe don’t know if they like horror or they want to dip their toes in it,” said director McAndrews. “So it’s very ‘girl power,’ almost all women in all of the roles, and it’s also got some queer vibes to it, as well.”<\/p>\n Fossil was inspired to write the story when he asked himself the question: “If I had a daughter, how could I get her interested in David Lynch movies?”<\/p>\n Dali said that the film also highlights women living full, independent lives without romantic relationships serving as the center of their stories.<\/p>\n “I’m really excited to see the response to all of the different female characters that are so individual in their own right, living their own lives without any of the romance, there’s quite literally none of that in there and it’s very interesting,” Dali said.<\/p>\n The film’s shooting took 13 days, and it was filmed in multiple locations around North Texas, including Deep Cuts Coffee in downtown Dallas and Old School Pizza Tavern in Arlington. Most of the cast and crew was from Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another Little Spark project is Night of the Witch. It was first conceived more than five decades ago by Marvel legend Stan Lee and\u00a0Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman. Lee and Kaufman began developing Night of the Witch in 1969 and completed an early draft in 1971. Several filmmakers tried to bring the project to life, but it has remained unproduced for years, eventually becoming the stuff of legend. Until now.<\/p>\n Manco and Querida first learned about the screenplay through\u00a0Kaufman’s book, Make Your Own Damn Movie! Over the years, the couple built a close relationship with\u00a0Kaufman, working on his films and hosting him during his Texas Troma Tours. Eventually, Manco mustered the courage to approach Kaufman during one of his Texas visits, and he asked to read the legendary screenplay and bring it to the big screen.<\/p>\n “We went after Night of the Witch before we became a studio,” Manco said. “Like, we were can lights and DSLR cameras, you know? We wanted it bad.”<\/p>\n It’s a story of a young Mexican-American woman named Elsie Gomez, who lives in a secluded, predominantly white Texas town and who is suspected of witchcraft on the bicentennial of a historic witch trial. The original script was formatted like a stage play instead of a film and had more than 40 characters.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It was wild when we found out that Elsie was Mexican American, because we’re Mexican American and as people who have that lived experience, maybe we can understand Elsie better and this story better,”\u00a0Querida said.\u00a0 The film is on the cusp of getting greenlit and will start production soon.<\/p>\n Little Spark’s movies can be streamed and are available on DVD and Blu-ray.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s currently a hole in the Texas genre space, and Little Spark Films is here to fill it,” said Preston Fassel, Little Spark’s creative director.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s an incredible amount of stories out there to tell, and we’ve got the ability to help creators tell those stories.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Subscribe<\/p>\n