Tim Sukits

Tag: Mangrove Slasher

  • Slash and learn: The story of locally produced horror flick Mangrove Slasher II’s murder, and how the film is now rising from the grave

    Published September 15, 2010 Mangrove Slasher II Casting Call 2-5 p.m. Sat., Sept. 25, The Venue, 500 Central Ave., Sarasota, 539-0010 or mangroveslasher2.com, free. Back in late April when CL broke the story about Mangrove Slasher II, an independent horror movie being filmed around the Suncoast, the two young filmmakers involved had been working on the project for nearly seven months, and planned to wrap up shooting in May with a tentative mid-June release date. Little did co-directors Sean Haitz and Chris Potter know, that date would soon become far more tentative than they had expected. Potter, who Haitz brought on as co-director after meeting him toward the start of production, was arrested on May 13. According to various news reports Manatee High School, where Potter had worked as a television production instructor for four years, informed him that they would not be renewing his contract, and he later told a fellow teacher that he was going to bring a gun to an upcoming faculty event. This prompted the Bradenton Police Department to confront Potter in the school’s parking lot, where they found Roxycodone pills in his possession. According to the BPD, an investigation revealed Potter had been pawning equipment from the school’s audio and visual department since January to pay for his prescription drug addiction. (more…)

  • The horror film, the horror film: On the set of the eminently quotable Mangrove Slasher II

    Published April 28, 2010

    “DID YOU KNOW IT WAS ILLEGAL TO CUT DOWN THESE MANGROVES?”: The Mangrove Slasher II trailer

    After ducking out of an Emerson Point Preserve beach party, a young couple leans against a tree to make out. But as things get hot and heavy, a dark figure lurks in the muddy mangrove brush behind them. A sinister-looking man with filthy bloodstained overhauls emerges from the muck and slowly approaches the two unsuspecting teens. The metallic sching sound of two machete blades sliding across each other splits the air, followed by a shrill scream and a splatter of blood on the tree bark. The male victim thuds to the ground, holding his slit neck; the female gags as the killer grabs her throat. “Cut!” yells Sean Haitz, turning to his partner Chris Potter to review the footage. “That was perfect.” (more…)