Some of the best convention conversations are the ones you do not schedule. At NJ HorrorCon, one of mine happened with Michael Jayne of Big Damn Films, and within a few minutes a table-side conversation had turned into a story about a new movie, a serious health scare, and the stubborn need to keep creating.
The project is ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil, Jayne's most recent film. There was a nice bit of coincidence in hearing about the movie when I did: only days earlier I had been at Smodcastle for Clerks: Open All Night 3, and I learned it had screened there. New Jersey's independent film world can feel surprisingly small that way. One weekend can connect Kevin Smith's home turf, a horror convention and a filmmaker from Mays Landing without anyone having to travel particularly far.
Jayne spoke about the film with the kind of enthusiasm that makes the project immediately more interesting than a title on a poster. He explained that the film grew out of a difficult period following a health issue, when creating something of his own became more than simply the next item on a production slate. It became a way to put his own vision on screen and keep moving forward.
That personal connection came through in the way he talked about the movie. There was no polished elevator pitch being recited by rote. He was clearly proud of the work, proud of the people involved and excited about what they had managed to build.
ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil was filmed in Mays Landing, which immediately made it more interesting from a New Jersey perspective. Horror has always had a special relationship with ordinary places made suddenly unfamiliar, and South Jersey offers plenty of atmosphere before a filmmaker even turns on a light: woods, campgrounds, long roads and the feeling that civilization can disappear surprisingly quickly once you leave the main drag.
The premise itself sounds promising, and the bits I was able to see at NJ HorrorCon were intriguing. I did not see enough to pretend this is a review, but I saw enough to want the rest. That is really the best outcome a filmmaker can hope for when someone encounters a project in pieces on a crowded convention floor. The imagery catches you, the idea sticks, and suddenly you are waiting for the opportunity to sit down with the whole thing.
Unfortunately, I missed the NJ HorrorCon screening. This was not because of a scheduling conflict, a competing panel or some elaborate journalistic obligation. I was sleeping.
More specifically, I was still recovering from Clerks: Open All Night 3 at Smodcastle. After spending Friday night watching Clerks until an hour when sensible people are usually waking up, my body apparently decided there would be limits to how much New Jersey movie culture I was allowed to consume in one weekend. By the time ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil was screening at the convention, sleep had won.
That makes Jayne's conversation even more useful. I did not leave NJ HorrorCon feeling as though I had missed the movie entirely. I left knowing why I wanted to see it.
And that is part of what these conventions can do when you wander beyond the celebrity tables and obvious attractions. The recognizable names are fun, but the creative ecosystem underneath them is often the better story. Filmmakers are standing a few feet away from their posters, actors are talking about projects that have not yet found a wide audience, and people who are building things in New Jersey have the opportunity to explain exactly why those things exist.
Jayne was one of those discoveries for me. ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil may have been the project on the table, but the more interesting part of the conversation was the conviction behind it: a filmmaker coming through a health challenge and deciding that the answer was to make the movie he wanted to make.
There is something wonderfully appropriate about finding that story at a horror convention. Horror is full of people surviving things, changing shape and emerging from experiences with a different understanding of what they are capable of. In Jayne's case, the result is not metaphorical. It is a movie, filmed in Mays Landing, with his fingerprints all over it.
I am looking forward to seeing ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil in full when I get the chance. Next time, ideally, after a normal night's sleep.
SOURCE NOTES
• Big Damn Films — Big Damn Films Premieres Horror Anthology ‘Arbor Day: The Root of Evil’ at Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Cinemas
• Big Damn Films — 'Arbor Day: The Root of Evil' Teaser Trailer Plants Fear and Grows Trees (Mays Landing, NJ)
• Arbor Day: The Root of Evil — official film site
• IMDb — Michael Jayne
• SModcastle Cinemas — Clerks: Open All Night 3
• New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival — Film Festival/Panels
Conversation passages are based on the reporter's interview with Michael Jayne at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival. Film, production and premiere details attributed to Big Damn Films materials cited in SOURCE NOTES.