Friend of the World
Friend of the World is a 2020 American independent black-and-white film written and directed by Brian Patrick Butler in his feature film debut, starring Nick Young and Alexandra Slade. The surreal experimental film takes place post-apocalypse and tells the story of a young filmmaker and a military general trapped in a bunker with a mysterious threat.
Written as a dark comedy body horror film in 2016, the film was produced by Charybdis Pictures. Inspired by the threat of nuclear war and current political events, Butler also cited the works of Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg as influences.
Filming took place at Gray Area Multimedia and other parts of San Diego County in May, 2017. It premiered August 15, 2020 at the Oceanside International Film Festival and was released on video on demand in 2021. The film was distributed by Cineverse and Troma Entertainment.
Film critics compared it to Night of the Living Dead, Dr. Strangelove, The Lighthouse, and 10 Cloverfield Lane. It has approval rating from reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, ranking in their best horror and science fiction films of 2021 and their 100 Best Zombie Movies.
Plot
Diane awakens in a bunker surrounded by dead bodies after a brutal massacre. After attempting to escape the structure, she eventually passes out at the bottom of an elevator shaft where she is rescued by a mysterious man who calls himself General Gore.Though he plays mind games with her, Gore gives her food and water as he attempts to figure out who Diane is and how she got into the bunker. Still shaken, she has trouble piecing it together, but she can remember being taken there by force. She also tells him about the film she had been creating.
Gore hints at a contingency plan for escaping the bunker. Without a good alternative, Diane decides to follow him through the toxic environment in hopes of reaching safety. Along the way they are attacked by mutating creatures that were allegedly poisoned by radiation. A tension and psychological confrontation slowly develops between the two survivors as they get nearer to their destination and Diane feels her sanity start to slip.
Cast
Production
2016–2017: Development and pre-production
The script was formulated in 2016. Butler said the film is a "universal story about conceptions of good, evil, corruption and the twisted passing of the generational torch from a fractured, wisened psyche to a self-righteous, still-developing one." Inspiration came from issues at the time such as the threat of nuclear war and the 2016 United States presidential election.Pre-production started around August 2016. For casting, Nick Young said he was stumbled upon while performing on stage and was cast as Gore after being asked to audition by mobile video. The character of Diane was originally written as a young man, but scheduling conflicts and delays led to rewrites and ultimately Alexandra Slade was cast in the role. Kerry Rossall contributed to the production as executive producer, funding the project directly.
2017–2019: Principal photography and post-production
began on May 13, 2017, in San Diego County and lasted for ten days. The majority of filming took place at Gray Area Multimedia, an underground studio which doubled as a bunker, a key location Butler had intended to use for the production. One of the exterior scenes was filmed at Sunset Cliffs, a location Butler chose to resemble the beauty of the world before chaos. Another location was the Tierrasanta entrance to Mission Trails Regional Park near Camp Elliott. The cinematography was handled by Ray Gallardo and the special make-up effects by C.J. Martinez. Butler had a rough cut of the film ready within months of wrapping but the final stages were not complete until 2019, after Daniel N. Butler edited the visual effects and sound. The production was Butler's directorial feature length debut and the first film of his longer than a 15 minute runtime. Upon completing the film, Butler said:Music
Corin Totin of Sick Flix mentioned the film has "a background score of an almost unrecognizably discordant version of Ode to Joy." Celia Payne of Let's Talk Terror said "a surprisingly gleeful string arrangement accompanies scenes where humans-turned-monstrosities melt into themselves, shape-shift, and eat rats, bringing the audience into their world of insanity."Themes
Style
Melissa Hannon at Horror Geek Life said "although it technically falls within the post-apocalyptic category, Friend of the World defies any specific genre." Mark Harris at Black Horror Movies mentioned it mixes horror and sci-fi with heady drama. Several critics pointed out that it is a body horror film. Others conclude that it is a strange avant-garde art film filled with subtext. Lisa Marie Bowman at Through the Shattered Lens said it comes with "a hint of Kubrickian satire" with scenes reminiscent of Alien, concluding that surviving the end of the world does not mean you'll have a choice on who remains with you.Joseph Perry at Horror Fuel mentioned it's like The Twilight Zone if Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont ate psychedelic material, or if ideas from Dr. Strangelove, Night of the Living Dead and Apocalypse Now were merged. Albert Valentin of World Film Geek claims it is a zombie apocalypse film in the realm of "Romero meets Muschietti meets Cronenberg." Redmond Bacon at Tilt Magazine said it blends the zombie film genre with the existential film drama, acknowledging Butler, as if he had a "Raging Bull-like" David Lynch version of 10 Cloverfield Lane. Sean Parker of Horror Obsessive mentioned it has similarities to The Divine Comedy, with political satire and doomsday conspiracies. Paul Klein at Filmhounds Magazine said the "weird mix of horror and comedy" felt like a "companion piece" to The Lighthouse.
Butler chose to have the film mostly in black-and-white to accentuate the perspective of Gore's world. Alain Elliott at Nerdly said shooting in black and white helped its style and low-budget film constraints. Milana Vujkov at Lola on Film claims it has "a terrifyingly delightful string of corruptive catalysts, explosive apparitions of post-humanity, taken straight out of Burroughs" and that the "unsustainability of the human condition in a genetically modified apocalypse is a mix of home movie and Brechtian theatre play." Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews said that the fifty minute film is split up into chapters which allows for viewers to ponder at the nonlinear narrative.
Jeremie Sabourin at Cinema Smack mentions that some filmmakers will extend a narrative out to ninety minutes even if they don't have enough story to tell. "With Friend of the World though, it sometimes feels like there's ninety minutes of content compacted into its fifty minute runtime." Celia Payne at Let's Talk Terror appreciated its shorter runtime, stating that "it shows the filmmakers know when their story is done and don't try to extend when not necessary." Butler claims he structured the film to be around fifty minutes, like an episode of Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. Butler said:
Connection to reality
Karla Peterson at The San Diego Union Tribune said that Butler did not anticipate his feature-film debut to happen virtually during an actual pandemic, although "the surreal environment is a perfect match for an unsettling film where the source of chaos might just be a contagion." Being made available around a global conflict, during a pandemic and controversial election year, it was received by critics as a prophetic experience.Some critics called it a COVID satire or socio-political horror thriller, drawing thematic comparisons to Butler's 2023 screenplay Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea and speculating that the latter film could be a prequel.