THE SKY HAS FALLEN onto DVD

By Michael Gingold

Indie filmmaker Doug Roos passed on the news that his horror feature THE SKY HAS FALLEN is now available on DVD. The movie, which he wrote, produced and directed, won Best Horror Feature at the Indie Gathering and Freak Show Film Festivals and has played numerous other fests in the U.S. and internationally.

Carey MacLaren and Laurel Kemper star as Lance and Rachel, two of the handful of survivors after the world’s populace is decimated by a virulent plague. Strange black-clad creatures begin to carry away the bodies of the dead for experimentation, and Lance and Rachel set out to stop them and save humanity. “Even though it went over really well, the version that played festivals was actually an early cut,” Roos tells Fango. “We did some additional filming last summer with Carey MacLaren, and I did more editing as well. I believe it’s important to take the time necessary to produce the best movie possible. You’ve really got to put everything you’ve got into it, especially when you don’t have a budget, no matter what kind of movie you’re working on.”

Part of that effort, where THE SKY HAS FALLEN was concerned, involved a return to horror-filmmaking basics. “A tagline I’m emphasizing for the release is, ‘No shaky cam. No green screen. No CGI.’ A lot of people prefer to see practical effects, and I’m one of them. Sometimes you might not be able to do that, or it might be better to use digital effects to enhance what you’ve done on set, but with this movie, it’s all practical and in-camera. I think that makes it easier for people to get into the movie and really believe what they’re seeing. I miss the models, suits and effects of ’80s films like ALIENS, John Carpenter’s THE THING and ROBOCOP. What I really wanted to do with THE SKY HAS FALLEN, though, was tell a story that's personal to me. Something I was really passionate about, and I’m going to do that with every single movie I make.”

The DVD, which can be purchased for $17.95 here, presents the movie in a 16x9-enhanced widescreen transfer with 5.1 Surround sound, with the following special features:

• Step-by-step maskmaking video

• Preproduction featurette

• Principal photography featurette

• Special FX featurette

• Postproduction featurette

• Recording the score featurette

You can see THE SKY HAS FALLEN’s official website here and its Facebook page here.