Broken Springs is an independent

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 written, directed, produced, and edited by Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 native Neeley Lawson, as his first feature

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 effort. It stars Teague Quillen, Jake Lawson and Shannon Wallen. The movie was filmed in late fall of 2008, mainly in Gate City, Virginia

Gate City, Virginia

Gate City is a town in Scott County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,034 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Scott County....

, U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Rogersville, Tennessee

Rogersville, Tennessee

Rogersville is a town in Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. It was settled in 1775 by the grandparents of Davy Crockett and is the second-oldest town in the state. It is named for its founder, Joseph Rogers....

, U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Plot

The movie centers on three high schoolers whose world is turned upside down by tainted moonshine

Moonshine

Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...

 which turns everyone who drinks it into a flesh eating zombie

Zombie

Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

. It does not take long for the whole town to be overrun by hungry cannibal zombies.

Critical reception

Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

wrote that the film borrowed "equally from George A. Romero

George A. Romero

George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 and Joe Dante

Joe Dante

Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....

 for its wit and politics", and that "fans exhausted with big-budget zombie movies will be refreshed" by the film.

OC Weekly

OC Weekly

OC Weekly, a sister publication of both LA Weekly and The Village Voice, is a free, left-wing weekly paper distributed in Orange County, California and also in Long Beach....

reviewer Matt Coker though remarking "How can one not love a film with 'undead', 'zombie”' and 'bastards' in the same title?", "barely" recommended the film, writing that as it acts as an "homage of sorts" to other low/no bidget zombie films, and has "just enough humor and ironic stereotypes to make up for the poor acting, bad lighting and looooooong build up to the inevitable conclusion".

28 Days Later Analysis wrote that of the film's world premiere at the Dances With Films

Dances With Films

Dances With Films is an annual independent film festival located in Los Angeles, California. Taking place every year since 1998, the festival is dedicated to representing true independent cinema stipulating that all films entered into the festival competition have no known actors, directors,...

 festival, Broken Springs stood out from the competition by its "turning a whole town into 'contagious cannibals'".

Cast

• Teague Quillen as Ken
• Travis Moody as Dave
• Brandon Jenkins as Brandon
• Shannon Wallen as Billy Jack
• Sean Loepp as Ron

• W. Scott Parker III as Cecil
• Jake Lawson as Flea Market Preacher
• Hunter Roberts as Cop
• Debbie Green as Ken's Mom
• Jeff Bobo as Danny

Release

Broken Springs had its world premier on June 4, 2010 in Hollywood at the Dances With Films

Dances With Films

Dances With Films is an annual independent film festival located in Los Angeles, California. Taking place every year since 1998, the festival is dedicated to representing true independent cinema stipulating that all films entered into the festival competition have no known actors, directors,...

 festival on Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...

 in Hollywood, California. As of fall 2010 Broken Springs was touring in film festivals. The second showing was September 24, 2010 at the Portage Theater

Portage Theater

Located at Six Corners in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago's Northwest Side, the Portage Theater is one of the oldest movie houses in Chicago. Designed by Mark D. Kalischer and Henry L. Newhouse, the Portage Theater opened on December 11, 1920 as the Portage Park Theatre...

 at the Chicago Horror Film Festival. Broken Springs also screened at the innaugral Anaheim International Film Festival, the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival

Southern Appalachian International Film Festival

Southern Appalachian International Film Festival is a yearly film festival. The purpose of Southern Appalachian International Film Festival is to publicly recognize and promote the work of independent movie makers and to encourage film production and culture in Southern Appalachia....

, The Spooky Movie Film Festival (aka Washington D.C. International Horror Festival)

The Spooky Movie Film Festival

Spooky Movie - The Washington, D.C. International Horror Film Festival is an internationally recognized showcase for independent and underground filmmakers of the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.- History :...

, and the Telluride Horror Show Film Festival. A teaser trailer

Teaser trailer

A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...

 was released on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

on October 26, 2009. Video/DVD release date is yet to be determined.