The sick, depraved and always entertaining Irish comic book writer Garth Ennis will be breaking new ground in the movie business next week. A 15 minute zombie short film written and directed by Ennis called Stitched is set to premier at the San Diego Comic-Con Thursday evening in Room 6DE around 8:15 pm. The event marks a first for the famous convention as they have never previously premiered a film on-site.
No, sadly its not quite The Preacher yet, but it is a chance to see how well the writers work translates to a new medium and the premier will also pave the way for future projects. With modern warfare, the undead and Ennis’ writing it’ll most likely be worth 15 of your precious minutes. The comic book writer actually has a full length version scripted and hopes that the Comic-Con showing will build support for the longer version of the film.
The story of Stitched follows three American survivors of a helicopter crash scrambling across the mountains of Afghanistan with no food, water or any hope of staying alive. At the point of desperation they of course come across these KKK looking zommies (zombie/mummies) who most likely make living even more difficult for the soldiers.
“I’ve been thinking about (directing films) for a number of years now. Ever since the interest in the Preacher film became more solid, and the options on it and The Boys were picked up,” says Ennis. “I’ve written screenplays and treatments for things like Crossed, but I haven’t really devoted myself to a film project before, not the way I have with Stitched.”
Garth Ennis is a 20 year veteran of the comic book industry, and according to Comic Related the convention believes that Ennis’ popularity will draw a maximum capacity crowd. The Northern Irish writer is the mind behind works such as Preacher of course, The Punisher story arcs, The Boys, Chronicles of Wormwood, 303 and many other comics. He is also sharing the Executive Producer title for the film with William Christensen, founder of Avatar Press—the company that has published a good many Ennis stories including the popular Crossed series.
If you like the film and want more, DVDs will be sold at the event and Ennis says he will be launching a new comic, drawn by Mike Wolfer, which will carry on the story past the film’s length. You can look for the comic in November.
Here’s the trailer thanks to Bleeding Cool. As it is Garth Ennis, this is probably not suitable for young children.
