Louisville Horror Filmmaker Counts Down '7 Days to Hell'

On a balmy Saturday in June, at 7:00 p.m. in theater 7 at Baxter Avenue Theatres, Louisville native Shane Woodson screened his newest feature film "7 Days to Hell." Woodson is the writer, director, producer, and star of "7 Days to Hell," an unholy amalgam of horror, crime, action, and comedy. Although currently based in Los Angeles, he grew up in the Highlands.

Woodson wrote his script in seven days. "Seven is my favorite number, and I feel so good about this: '7 Days to Hell,' 7:00 p.m. in theater number seven. Head back to triple sevens. And that's blackjack, 21. You can't beat that."

A sequel to "8 Days to Hell," an anthology of interconnected narratives about spree killers in LA, "7 Days to Hell" is a self-contained story that functions as a distinctive starting point for a planned series. "'8 Days to Hell' is what kicked us off," Woodson says. "Now we've got '7 Days to Hell' and I'm going to do 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — and then we'll be in hell!" He has ideas germinating for how to grow his franchise over time. "My goal is to have a big horror franchise out of this, and it's getting bigger and better each time."

He found a independent distributor for "8 Days to Hell" and it has been generating consistent revenue. "7 Days to Hell" is a bigger production. "Better camera lenses, lighting, and grip equipment. Better cast. Everything about it is better," he says. "I'm very happy with how it with how it has come together." A distributor has already made an offer on '7 Days to Hell.' "And I haven't even shopped it yet, which is a good sign!"

The film features Woodson as JJ, a rock and roll cowboy whose unbothered demeanor recalls a Quentin Tarantino character. Woodson's co-star is Colombian-born Andrea Garcés Lopez, who performed alongside Sofía Vergara in the Netflix miniseries "Griselda." The diverse cast is rounded out by Haitian-born Denise Milfort, and Louisville native Phil Cherry, whom local audiences will recognize from his tenure on the faculty of the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts, and his work with both Kentucky Shakespeare and the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Although filmed entirely in LA, all four leads were at the Louisville premiere.

An unfortunate — and at times, morbidly hilarious — series of events leads JJ to make a literal deal with the actual devil. The devil is named Hellena (Garcés Lopez), who delivers her sardonic dialog with a sultry voice, calling JJ on an metaphysical flip phone to assign him seven murders that he must commit in seven days, or burn forever. Adored in a bandana under a cowboy hat and a red sequin smoking jacket, JJ cruising the streets of LA in his vintage car, looking for his assignments. And then he meets a sex worker (Milfort) in desperate need. If this sounds like the plot of a midnight movie that you discover by chance yet cannot look away from, it is. But the real magic of this film is in its roots.

From Atherton To Hell And Back

A graduate of Atherton High School, Woodson did not go on to study film production in college like so many film geeks have before and since. Instead, he became a stage actor, auditioning around Louisville until he found roles. "My father was a writer, and my grandmother was a painter, so I come from a family of artists," he says. His creative intuition and determination to make art soon led him to the film industry.

Woodson has been acting professionally since 1991. He relocated to LA in 1999. He has since been cast in "Zodiac" with Jake Gyllenhaal, "Take" with Minnie Driver, and "Resident Evil: Extinction" with Milla Jovovich. Although he has enjoyed — and still enjoys — being in front of the camera, the more he learns about the process of filmmaking, the more enjoys being behind the camera too.

With a resourcefulness reminiscent of do-it-yourself filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Woodson produces his ambitious films on modest budgets. He does almost everything himself. When he cannot, he finds a friend.

The score for "7 Days to Hell" is by Thomas J. Peters. This is the first time the two have worked together, but Woodson says, "he's my guy going forward because he plays most of the instruments … he plays the trumpet, plays electric guitar, plays piano. My post [-production] sound guy, Patrick Giraudi? He's an Emmy winner. This guy's done over 700 films. He did about $50,000 worth of post sound for pennies on the dollar because he's one of my friends."

Woodson is the principal investor in the film, but clarifies that investments from fellow Louisvillians are what made it possible. His close friend John Dant, owner of the Back Door Bar and Grill, who passed away after a sudden onset of illness in October 2023, was one of the executive producers. An underworld nightclub in "7 Days to Hell" is named The Back Door as an homage.

"We were going to have the wrap party at the Back Door," Woodson says. "But since he passed away, we're looking for another place here in Louisville where we're all going to hang out afterwards." That place ended up being Nostalgic Cocktail House + Restaurant in the Highlands. Cast members celebrated with family, friends, and investors.

Woodsons says "7 Days to Hell" was truly a labor of love. "Everyone that worked on this worked on it because they loved the story and the team, and it was a real group effort to get this baby shot and taken through post. I can't wait for people to see it because we've been very meticulous."

Before he left Louisville, Woodson had worked as an usher at Village 8 Theatres. He has screened his previous films there, but since Village 8 closed, he decided to screen "7 Days to Hell" at Village 8's sister location, Baxter Avenue Theatres. "I haven't screened there before, and this is where I grew up, so it's good to bring it home."

Coming Back To Planet Louisville

Woodson's co-star Garcés Lopez is new to Louisville and says she loves it here. She moved to LA when she was 20 years old. She met Woodson in 2023 during the Writers Guild of America strike. "My agents weren't submitting me for anything, so I did a self submission for this project online," she says. "I saw the breakdown and it said 'Sexy Dracula.' So I was like, this is right up my alley. I'm going to submit."

She was skeptical at first. "But then you get your sides. Once I got the audition sides, that's when I fell in love with the character." In the same way that JJ makes a deal with Hellena in "7 Days to Hell," Garcés Lopez makes a deal with the viewer, the terms of which are: Believe in the wild conceit of this story, and I will captivate you in every scene.

"I'm like, is it bad acting, what am I doing?" Garcés Lopez asks with a laugh. "But then, I'm like, no. I remember being told in school, if you believe it, then when you're over the top, it's fine." She went to the Beverly Hills Playhouse Acting School, a school for film actors founded by Milton Katselas in 1978. Her fellow alumni include Michele Pfeiffer, George Clooney, and Jim Carrey, among many others.

Garcés Lopez thinks "7 Days to Hell" creates a niche, a horror comedy not so unlike the Addams Family — but with billowing smoke, gushing blood, and copious F-bombs. She believes this film is going to be the seed that grows a franchise. She is already excited for the low-light, Gothic production design of "6 Days to Hell," and (although not entirely decided yet), the Colombian look of "5 Days to Hell." "We want to involve farms and forests and rivers and waterfalls … very nature-based with more sunlight."

Woodson shares this excitement for future installations in the "Days to Hell" series, and adds that he has three projects that he wants to film in Louisville. One is a documentary about the life of Henrietta Helm — a real-life ancestor of Phil Cherry — one of the first Black students to attend public school in Louisville, who grew up to be an educator. "We want to do that project." Woodson also wants to produce "Mantis Women from Outer Space," a campy 1950s sci-fi tribute to Ed Wood in Louisville. And then, of course, "6 Days to Hell," of which he says, "I could potentially film that entire movie in Louisville."

In one scene in "7 Days to Hell," JJ says, "I'm from Planet Louisville." The sold-out theater cheered. Woodson's upbringing here has informed his creativity and his resilience. The experience he has gained in LA will inform his future work Louisville. And he plans to do whatever it takes to tell his stories.

"Quality, not quantity. That's been my thing. I've only made six features, but I always do the best I can. I learn from each one, and I've never gone back and recut any of them," he says. "You just make it the best you can make it at that point in your life, and then the next one gets better because you learn things."

Filmmaking is not only an art, it is also a distinctly commercial venture. Many aspiring filmmakers struggle to bring their ideas to life, or to share their work with a wider-than-local audience. To this, Woodson says that rather than waiting for opportunities to be offered to you, you have to go out into the world and create your own. "Make your opportunity," Woodson says with all the bravado of a midnight movie anti-hero. "Don't wait. Make."