Today marks the last day of the physical edition of Arrow Video FrightFest, but attendees shouldn’t be too sad as the organisers have cooked up some wondrous delights for their last day at Cineworld Leicester Square. Kicking things off in style we have The Retaliators, a film that is certain to blow the cobwebs out with its mixture of loud rock music and aggressive kills. Ahead of the screening we chatted, via the power of email, with the movie’s producer and lead, Michael Lombardi, and screenwriting brothers, Darren and Jeff Allen Geare.
For those that haven’t read up on it yet, without too many spoilers, what is The Retaliators about?
The Retaliators centers around John Bishop, a beloved pastor and family man in a small town that lives a pretty charmed life. Bishop’s world is flipped upside down. This unlocks a chain of events that leads Bishop into a twisted underworld where he is given a secret opportunity for revenge. The film takes the audience on a journey where you face the question: If you lost someone you love to a cold-blooded killer … and someone gave you five minutes alone with them, would you take it? In a tragic and fun way, we explore the extreme consequences that can come from making that choice. It’s a film that looks at morality, justice and faith … but, very importantly, it’s ultimately meant to be a thrill ride that leans in and winks at classic 80’s horror and action movies i.e. The Evil Dead.
Where did the idea come from?
The very personal and tragic inspiration begins with screenwriters, The Geare Brothers’ younger sister, Jody. Her harrowing story led The Geare Brothers to write The Retaliators. In 2004, Jody Geare, then a teenager, survived a vicious rape assault while walking home alone at night. Jody narrowly survived the attack by fighting off her attacker and crawling out of a 20-foot ravine. 12 years later, through DNA advancements, her rapist was caught. Her attacker was found guilty and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Throughout the ordeal of the trial, The Geare Brothers began writing an idea that explored the concept of an underground revenge-fantasy service for family members of crime victims. When The Geare Brothers told Jody about the script, she told them, “Please, if this script ever turns into a movie, use my name. Get my story out in the world. I want to be an inspiration for other girls.” Shortly after her incident, Jody became a firefighter. Today Jody is one of the few female Fire Captains in the United States. (You can read Jody’s story here)
At what point in the writing process did you know that you would be / wanted to play John and did that influence how you wrote him?
The first person The Geare Brothers sent the finished script to was Michael Lombardi, as he was their top choice to play the lead character, John Bishop. Not only was Michael Lombardi friends with Darren Geare (they had professionally written and recorded music in years past) but Lombardi also had a special connection to the material. Jody Geare, as part of dealing with her trauma from the past, used to binge watch Rescue Me over and over. Her favorite actor on the show was Michael Lombardi. When Michael read the script, he called The Geare Brothers immediately. Michael saw the vision of the film very clearly. He got it. He understood the genre influences. The personal backstory. The dark humor. He saw the unique blend of John Carpenter and Sam Raimi-inspired 80’s action/horror and the Mann/Friedkin/Siegel crime genre influences as well. The Geare Brothers made a commitment on day one to entrust Michael with producing and starring in the film and turning The Retaliators into a reality. Michael then brought the script to Allen Kovak at Better Noise Music. He told us that he had a perfect fit. Allen was starting the Better Noise Film division with Michael as the creative head of production. Michael knew Allen would be the perfect guy and Allen’s Better Noise Music artists would add a tremendous amount to the picture.
Your character has a lot of action sequences, how did you go about training for those?
At the start of the production I was pretty fit and trained hard for those fight sequences, but with Covid and also the workload of being a producer on the film it got tricky to stay in shape. The shoot was extended over a long period of time. We shut down, and had to then do pickups when we could throughout the year. Our stunt coordinator Norm Douglass was tremendous. I had worked with him several times over the course of 100 episodes of Rescue Me where I played a New York City Firefighter. When I read The Retaliators and saw what we had to tackle stunt wise, I knew Norm and his team were the right guys for the job.
Narratively, The Retaliators is told via a wide range of voices, joining almost every character at some point in the story. What informed the decision to tell the story in this way rather than just sticking with John?
The idea was to first establish John Bishop as our hero and moral center … but then to gradually lead the audience down an interesting journey with unexpected turns. We wanted the audience to look at the story from different angles: flashbacks, multiple character perspectives, etc. At one of the more shocking moments, we are watching a flashback within a flashback. There is not a clean message in the film. We wanted to explore the grey areas. We wanted to write a film that you could go for drinks or dinner afterwards and spark debate and arguments. To show all angles of the moral dilemmas and let the audience make up their own mind as to what and who was right and where certain lines should be drawn when it comes to justice.
The film is filled with all these incredible cameos from the world of music and television, how did these happen?
Yes!! The strength of the script and the excitement around the project attracted Allen Kovac and then so many of his incredible artists. We are so proud of all of the performances. All of the musicians were fantastic! My goal as a producer was to make a solid film first! Meaning, strong story and great performances to an already great script written by the Geare brothers. Even though we have the silver lining of all these absolutely incredible and successful rock bands. I didn’t want that to be gratuitous. My goal was that if you were not a fan of the band, that you would just think those were great actors playing those parts. I feel we pulled that off. All the rock stars who are extremely successful musicians were excellent on set. They really brought it. They were so committed to their characters. I spoke with each and everyone of them before they got to set about the story and their roles. I knew they were all strong story tellers on stage with their songs, but I truly have to say, I was extremely impressed with their commitment and work as actors.
FrightFest passholders are planning their film viewing schedule, why should they pick The Retaliators? What do you think the film has to offer that some of the others might not?
One reason pass holders should pick The Retaliators is because the film will take you on a very unique journey. It starts as a slow burn that continually takes you places that you won’t see coming … then when you get to the third act, the film explodes into a chain of events that is thrilling, horrifying and satisfying. I think what The Retaliators has to offer is that the film stretches typical expectations for a horror or thriller … while also nodding to 80’s classics in the spirit of Romero, Carpenter and Raimi. And of course, the soundtrack!!!!!!
The Retaliators screens at Arrow Video FrightFest today.
