The night of Wednesday, Dec. 11 will be a special one for Surrey-based filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero.
Her debut feature film, a timely horror-thriller called Culture Shock, will have its Western Canadian premiere during a free-admission event at Vancouver’s Rio Theatre.
The 90-minute movie follows a young Mexican woman who, in pursuit of the so-called “American Dream,” crosses illegally into the United States, only to find herself in an American nightmare.
The 9:30 p.m. screening is “a very beautiful opportunity for Vancouver to see what a local filmmaker got to do in Hollywood,” Guerrero told the Now-Leader.
“The (Rio) has been a big part of my career where I have showcased all my short films and been part of many local film festivals,” she added.
The Dec. 11 event, hosted by Joel McCarthy, will include a Q&A with Guerrero. The free tickets can be reserved at riotheatretickets.ca.
The made-in-California Culture Shock, part of Blumhouse Productions‘ Into the Dark series, debuted on the Hulu network on July 4.
“Turning a real-world crisis into a horror movie plot, Guerrero and her impeccable cast deliver a remarkable, fierce, and relevant episode,” raved one review on Rotten Tomatoes.
Born in Mexico and later schooled at White Rock’s Earl Marriott Secondary, Guerrero has made a career of scaring people with her movies and also as a longtime creator of Fright Nights, the Halloween-month attraction at the PNE.
• RELATED STORY, from 2018: PNE ‘Fright Nights’ are fun for Surrey-based director of horror films.
In 2013 she co-founded LuchaGore Productions as a vehicle for blood-spattered film projects that include the La Quinceañera series, El Gigante and Mexico Barbaro. She’s also an actor who does voice-over work, among other jobs in the entertainment industry.
.@DEADLINE BREAKING NEWS!
Amazing when your life is blessed w/beautiful gifts & opportunities.Gracias @blumhouse @jason_blum, everybody at the studio. You've inspired me for years!
Excited of our new adventure#LaMunecaDelTerror #horror #mexicandirectorhttps://t.co/GuCdn7nAR3 pic.twitter.com/yE7VQVr5d3— Gigi Saul Guerrero (@HorrorGuerrero) September 10, 2019
Tonight's eyebrows in downtown LA #LaMunecaDelTerror #guapa #latina #babe #mexicana pic.twitter.com/3ksFYzEcMz
— Gigi Saul Guerrero (@HorrorGuerrero) November 16, 2019
Now signed to a film-and-TV deal with Blumhouse, Guerrero is set to direct a horror film inspired by the mythology of Santa Muerte, a personification of death in Mexican-American folk Catholicism.
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