 Media Credit: Courtesy of Sonnyboo Productions
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When it comes to World War II films, Ohio is not likely to rank high on the list of preferred shooting locations. Then again, the genres of science fiction and horror do not often blend with war movies either. Perhaps co-directors Peter John Ross and John Whitney decided that while they were breaking one standard of normalcy by filming their World War II film in Ohio, they might as well break another by making it a sci-fi horror movie.
"Horrors of War" follows a group of American soldiers as they make their way inland after D-Day. During their travels, Lt. John Schmidt (Jon Osbeck) and his men encounter and clash with what appear to be a German super-soldier. Schmidt is injured in battle, and is reassigned to a unit of misfits and criminals led by Capt. Mitchell (C. Alec Rossel). While on a mission to destroy a weapons lab in occupied France, the unit's plane comes under fire and miss their drop zone. On the ground, they find themselves stuck between the German army and a supernatural creature that resembles a werewolf.
Ross, 34, who is credited with the original concept for "Horrors of War," laughed when asked how the idea first came to him, describing it as a "funny, weird story."
"On a train ride going from Paris, France to Heidelberg, Germany, I was looking out the window, and all I could think is, 'Jesus Christ, this looks just like Ohio,'" Ross said. "And that kind of helped key it off for me."
Philip R. Garrett, 36, producer and co-writer for the film, who taught a course at Ohio State in the Advanced Computing Center for Arts and Design in the fall, returned to his home state of Ohio about two years ago. Having worked with Dreamworks and Disney on films like "Artificial Intelligence: AI," "Shrek" and "Madagascar" in the past, Garrett did not want to stop working on movies simply because he moved back to Ohio.
"I was trying to find a film project going on that seemed serious, and so I came across those guys and got involved producing and writing for the film," Garrett said.
The casting process, Garrett said, was done through auditions and open casting calls.
"We put the word out as wide as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis," he said. "So we had a lot of people come from Kentucky, Cincinnati and Pennsylvania."
Nevertheless, Garrett could not recall a single non-Ohioan who was cast.
Alec Rossel, a junior in film who plays Capt. Mitchell in "Horrors of War," said he became attached to the project in 2002 when Ross attended a screening of "Jack's Habit," a film Rossel made, at the Arena Grand Theatre.
