Locally-made films set to screen across the region

Local film producer Robert Savakinus, the president of Cannon Fire Productions, has spent years telling stories about Northeast Pennsylvania. He’s produced documentaries on local institutions of yesteryear like Rocky Glen Park and Hanson’s Amusement Park, and was one of the lead creative forces behind the documentary “Agnes.”

In recent times, he dove more into narrative filmmaking, but he’s hasn’t turned his back on Northeast Pennsylvania in pursuing these new goals. His four upcoming pictures — “12 to Midnight,” “Bitter Souls,” “Shadows of the Past,” and “Odyssey: The Possession” — were all filmed locally. Moreover, each of the four films will be screened at drive-ins and theaters across the region.

Savakinus has helped bring a filmmaking culture to Northeast Pennsylvania through his work, or perhaps he has awoken a hunger that was already present. He’s pulled from local talent behind and before the camera, and the shooting locations will be familiar to a wide swath of the local audience.

“12 to Midnight”

A partnership between Savakinus and Los Angeles-based producer Jeff Miller launched the production of “12 to Midnight” in Northeast Pennsylvania. The duo scouted filming locations in the area and decided that it would be the perfect place to shoot the movie, which is an homage to the 1983 flick “10 to Midnight,” starring Charles Bronson.

In “12 to Midnight,” the Bronson stand-in is played by Hungarian actor Robert Bronzi. In a somewhat similar premise to the film that spiritually preceded it, “12 to Midnight” finds Bronzi’s character seeking out a serial killer. In this case, the killer winds up being a werewolf.

“We filmed mainly in the Tamaqua area,” Savakinus said of the film. “We filmed at the No. 9 Coal Mine. We filmed at the WK&S railroad. We filmed at part of Centralia… And then, in the Tamaqua area, we filmed at about a dozen other locations — some of the restaurants, the street scenes, just a bunch of unique locations…”

The film was made in the summer of 2023, and is now available to the public. The Circle Drive-In in Dickson City, the Moonlite Drive-In in West Wyoming, and the Pocono Cinema & Cultural Center in East Stroudsburg have been among the regional venues that have screened “12 to Midnight” in the past few weeks.

An additional, special screening of “12 to Midnight” will be held on Sept. 20 at the WK&S Railroad filming location in Berks County.

For more immediate access, “12 to Midnight” can be streamed exclusively on DirecTV, and Savakinus said it will soon be available to watch on other streaming platforms.

The trailer for “12 to Midnight” can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN6J5GwQxlU .

“Shadows of the Past”

The Stegmaier Mansion in Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Area High School were among the filming locations for “Shadows of the Past.”

“[Wyoming Area] gave us a partnership, in which we had some of their students working with our technical people, learning the skills and crafts at every turn,” said Savakinus of the filming process at Wyoming Area. “They let us use the stage there for a couple of days to film.”

Savakinus described “Shadows of the Past” as a “horror anthology” that runs for about an hour and a half. The main theme of the film — coal — is one that will certainly be relevant to Luzerne County residents.

“There’s three stories to it, in addition to the one major story that ties it all together,” Savakinus said.

Of particular note is that “Shadows of the Past” features an entirely local cast and crew.

“We had a very large cast, a lot of young adults and younger kids involved, and their parents,” said Savakinus.

The film will premiere at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, at the Ritz Theater in Scranton. As is the case with his other films, Savakinus is confident that “Shadows of the Past” will play at the Circle and Moonlite drive-ins and the Pocono Theater in the future.

In addition, “Shadows of the Past” will eventually be available to physical media fans as DVDs of the feature currently being produced.

“Bitter Souls”

The filming of “Bitter Souls” took place mostly in Lackawanna County in the early summer of this year.

“Bitter Souls” features a stacked cast, led by “Candyman” actor Michael Hargrove and social media influencer Avaryana Rose. The film is, in Savakinus’ words, a “voodoo revenge movie,” which might not track with the Northeast Pennsylvania perception of places like Carbondale. But when discussing the project with his collaborators from the Deep South, he convinced them that the New Orleans-style tale could be told in the northern half Lackawanna County.

“It’s going to go through the drive-ins, and with Avaryana’s social media following and things like that, we’ll probably get [“Bitter Souls”] out to a streaming service as well,” Savakinus said of the film’s rollout.

Regarding exact dates, Savakinus is still determining when the film will be available to Northeast Pennsylvania audiences. He projected that “Bitter Souls” will be released in the second half of October, “just in time for Halloween.”

“Odyssey: The Possession”

Savakinus and Rose collaborated again for “Odyssey: The Possession,” a movie that’s similar in tone to “The Conjuring.” Most of the filming for this one took place in Florida.

“It’s a young rock group that is going out to rehearse and things like that, and there is something in the lake that comes to life, and does just that — possession,” Savakinus said of the film’s premise. “I don’t want to give up too much on it.”

The local flair for “Odyssey: The Possession” is tied to an unsung piece of the filmmaking process: promotion.

“[Avaryana] is actually going to come back to the area to promote this movie…,” said Savakinus. He cited Rose’s online initiative “Babes Against Bullying” as a potential benefactor of the film’s promotion in Northeast Pennsylvania. He also hopes that “Odyssey: The Possession” will positive impact the excitement surrounding “Bitter Souls,” as the two films share a star.

“Odyssey: The Possession” will have its local premiere at the Circle Drive-In on Oct. 19.