For McKeesport filmmaker, '80s-style horror movie has happy ending

It’s not often a horror movie helps someone get their head on straight, but it happened for Mark Cantu.

The McKeesport-based indie filmmaker was considering giving up on his chosen career path when he was inspired to begin writing what would become “Massacre Academy,” set for a world premiere July 31 at the Lamp Theatre in Irwin.

“The story developed at a point at the end of 2017 when I was dealing with some heavy personal situations,” Cantu said. “I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this any more.’ ”

When a previous film project called “Night Zero,” which he wrote and directed, “didn’t really go anywhere,” he said he was left wondering if the hard work, long hours and financial toll of independent filmmaking were worth it.

“Then I got the itch again,” he said, and knocked out the first draft of “Massacre Academy” in about a month.

“It’s built around a scene I wrote about 15 years ago,” he said.

The story follows college student Kris McNeil (Sierra Mitchell), who is trying to get on with her life two years after the brutal murders of her parents by a slasher in a clown mask known as Carnie. When new killings begin, Kris realizes that Carnie may still be alive and coming for her and her younger sister, Maggie.

Courtesy of Cineworx

Sierra Mitchell (left) as Maggie and Christina Krakowski as Becca in a scene from “Massacre Academy.”

“With time running out, Kris must choose to either run from her nightmare or stand and fight,” the movie press kit says.

Helping in the hunt for Carnie are a police detective, Kris’s softball coach and other faculty members from her school.

Early interest

Texas native Cantu, 42, says he came of age in the 1980s era of horror movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Halloween,” which influenced the vibe of “Massacre Academy.”

He modeled Kris after strong female characters like Ripley from “Alien,” Sarah Connor from the “Terminator” series and Clarice Starling from “The Silence of the Lambs.”

In addition to writing the story, he directed and produced the 83-minute movie.

His interest in movie making started when he was about 8 or 9, and his father presented the family with a VHS camcorder for Christmas.

“We started making movies immediately,” he said. “We spent our school breaks, weekends and holidays making movies.”

Cantu and his wife, Liz Cantu, a Hershey native, started filmmaking in San Antonio. Eventually, feeling like their progress had stalled, they started talking about a move.

They settled on the Pittsburgh area in 2017 for its filmmaking opportunities; its “no frills, no fuss attitude”; driving distance from other large cities with filmmaking communities; and its four-seasons climate.

“Before I came here, I’d only seen snow once before,” Cantu said.

Old-school texture

“Massacre Academy” was filmed in 19 days in the midst of the pandemic, from September to February. The old McKeesport Daily News building served as the sound stage.

“We wound up using every floor, every hallway, every stairway and below street level where the old press used to be,” he said. “It has that old-school texture, that tile from the ’60s and ’70s, that fit what we were looking for so well.”

The crew also shot scenes around McKeesport in the Cantus’ yard, the People’s Bank Building and Renzie Park.

Cast and crew were assembled from local people Cantu knew in the business and from their recommendations. He said his nontraditional casting method includes using people he thinks will get along and be able to trust each other.

The role of police Lt. Hallenbeck had been meant for James C. Leary, a veteran of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, whom Cantu had worked with in Texas. When Leary’s other commitments took him to Germany and left him unavailable to return during the pandemic, the role went to Rick Dutrow of North Huntingdon.

“Those things happen in the industry, and you can’t fight the tide — you just have to go with it,” Cantu said. “Now, I can’t imagine anyone else in the role.”

Sunshine and rainbows

Dutrow originally was cast as faculty member Dr. Brady, a role that then transferred to his wife, Stephanie Swift.

Dutrow, who has a recurring role in Showtime’s “American Rust,” says Hallenbeck is “the kind of ’80s detective you would expect him to be.”

“When you first see him, he’s woken up by the phone in his hotel, and he’s not really sober,” Dutrow said. “He’s called to a crime scene, a slaughter at a local frat house, and he’s severely hungover trying to do his job.”

About Dr. Brady, Swift said, “She’s a female nerd, like Velma (from “Scooby Doo”) plus Steve Urkel. She’s obsessed with the previous murders, and there’s a question of why she’s so obsessed with the case, like who done it?”

The premiere of “Massacre Academy” will return Dutrow to the scene of his first date — when he was in sixth or seventh grade, the Derry Township native said, he and his date saw “The Return of the Pink Panther” at the Lamp.

After the premiere, Cantu has other screenings lined up and applied to show “Massacre Academy” at some film festivals. He also is considering offers from distribution companies.

He said positive reviews from sources like pophorror.com and horror-nation.com “have shown us that we’re on the right track.”

“My story winds up kind of mirroring Kris, dealing with past issues and coming out on the other side,” he said. “There’s that lesson, this is what I’m good at, this is what I’m meant to do. There’s that ’80s happy ending — everybody learns a valuable lesson, and there’s sunshine and rainbows at the end.”