Where to see local renegade filmmaker’s new horror flick world premiere


WANT TO GO?

What: Henrique Couto's "Amityville: No Escape"

Where: By-Jo Theatre, 20 N. Main St., Germantown

When: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5

Cost: $10

More info: 937-855-7510 or www.by-jo.com

​Henrique Couto is a renegade filmmaker with a flamboyant fashion sense. However, the director behind low budget films like “Alone in the Ghost House,” “Making Out” and “Calamity Jane’s Revenge” isn’t reckless. Couto takes a studied and cautious approach to locally-produced projects like his latest horror offering,” “Amityville: No Escape,” which has its world premiere at the By-Jo Theatre in Germantown on Friday, Aug. 5.

“One of the big aspects of doing this for a living is you have to diversify and make very conservative, thought-out investments,” he said recently, sitting on a sofa inside Ghostlight Coffee. “Judging by my pants and stuff, you wouldn’t think I’d be the guy to come up with a conservative business model, but I’m very good at that. I don’t know how or why but I’m very good at looking at trends and making a very smart decision about how much money to spend.”

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While Couto has been obsessed with Amityville-based ghost stories, he says it was also a sound business decision to tackle a film inspired by the series of haunted house tales.

“There have been rumbles about ‘The Amityville Horror’ in the marketplace,” he said. “It’s more about the fact you can’t copyright Amityville because it’s an actual town in New York. There are already quite a few movies with Amityville in the title.

“It can’t really be related, but it can be related,” Couto continued. “I wanted to make something fun and spooky that’s kind of tied around that mythos. I used that as a catalyst to make the film marketable enough to make. Then, from there, I got to play with it.”

This “found footage” film, co-written by Couto and Ira Gansler, features two separate storylines in different time periods. The movie stars Julia Gomez as Lina in flashback camcorder footage. The present-day cast includes Josh Miller as George Wells, Joni Durian as his love interest Sarah Benning and Allison Egan as George’s sister Elizabeth.

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“The big moment I knew this movie was something special was when I came up with the concept of it actually being two found footage stories that play simultaneously,” Couto said. “I don’t think that’s ever been done before. Some folks might go into it with a pessimistic attitude, but I think it’ll really knock them on their butt.

“This movie should do well when it gets out in the market,” he added. “People should really enjoy it.”

The By-Jo presents screenings of “Amityville: No Escape” at 8 and 10 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $10.

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