If you grew up on 80’s horror, slasher films like Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, and American Werewolf in London, you will want to check out the film Rabid Love. Its throwback to the classic slasher genre is both refreshing and entertaining. The film stars Hayley Derryberry, Hannah Landberg, and Paul J. Porter, who is a graduate of the New York Film Academy. Porter is essentially the Woody Allen of Rabid Love as he is not only the lead actor, but also writer, director, and producer of the film.
Porter teamed up with other NYFA alumni including Executive Producer Paul Hutchens and Associate Producer Rob Thorpe. Porter initially met Hutchens online after realizing that both of them were veterans stationed at 29 Palms Marine Base. They officially met, face to face, on the first day of their MFA in Producing class.
“I feel like any school, and especially a film school, it’s going to be what you make of it,” says Porter. “Some of the producing classes I took were especially helpful in being able to work in the industry as a producer, such as the business/contracts, distribution, and budgeting/scheduling courses as well as the producing roundtable and the guidance of Lydia Cedrone. But I wasn’t content to just go to class and try to coast through the projects–I wanted to start my career as a filmmaker. So, the entire time I attended NYFA, I was working full time as a freelance producer, production manager, actor, or whatever else I could do on set–but the most important thing was graduating with my own feature under my belt as a producer/director.”
Porter’s persistence and work ethic has given him a head start on the rest of the pack. His film, Rabid Love, is available on Netflix and many video on demand platforms, or can be purchased as a DVD on Amazon.com.