Meet Ken Cosentino the twisted mind behind ‘Attack of the Killer Shrews’
White Lion Studios, LLC head mastermind Ken Cosentino (@KenCosentino) is a heartening example of how quality indie films can be made when you make the right moves. Ken and his crew at White Lion Studios, LLC recently released their horror/comedy “Attack of the Killer Shrews!” on DVD. The debut product for the company took home multiple awards at its first film festival outing.
In the company’s official line, Cosentino declares:
“It’s our first product as a company, and after selling multiple films, we really wanted to self-distribute this one,” says director and CEO Ken Cosentino, “we have future plans for these characters and we own the universe.” The characters of whom Ken speaks include the snarky Professor Perry (Jonathan Rogers), B-Movie Starlet Fiona Rae (the hilarious Elizabeth Houlihan), and small town Sheriff Martin Blake (bug-eyed comedian Bill Kennedy). Stealing the show with his solo performance is stunt man turned actor Baird Hageman as the wild motorcycle-riding Wayne, who is Martin’s deputy, “and his cousin.”
In November, Attack of the Killer Shrews! took home two awards at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival: Best Western New York Comedy Feature and Best Western New York Actor (Elizabeth Houlihan). The packed screening was hosted by President of Troma Entertainment Lloyd Kaufman, who also has a cameo in the film.
Based on the 1959 cult-classic The Killer Shrews which is famous for the filmmaker’s use of bad puppetry and coon hounds wearing shrew costumes. In Ken Cosentino’s newly released remake, the puppetry is worse than ever and yes, there is a dog wearing a bathroom mop.”That’s the scene everyone is talking about,” says the film’s 27 year old writer/director, “that and the stop-motion intro to the film.”
The Hype Magazine caught up with this amazingly driven and talented film maker to get his insight on the indie film industry and why he went rogue…forsaking his available established industry resources in favor taking all the chances as an independent.
“Attack of the Killer Shrews” is your first foray into the film market as an independent production company. What was the most tension-filled moment in making the decision NOT to use your mainstream channels?
We made the decision to self-distribute the film knowing full well that there isn’t a single distribution company who will give Killer Shrews the care and guidance as we will. Probably the most difficult part of this decision comes when considering how and when to reach mainstream platforms without a distributor. Luckily, I have some background knowledge in distribution, and it’s paid off, although our self-distribution is very much a slow burn method as we establish our outlets.
What sparked your twist on the pre-1960’s film? How did you make it relevant to today’s audience?
The original film is public domain, which made it fair game for us to recreate. We tried to keep the time period in which the film takes place as ambiguous as possible. Our film has more modern language, and I think the characters fit more into our current state of affairs in the world. This creates a funny juxtaposition with these whacky characters facing this classic outlandish situation that’s seen in so many monster movies of the silver screen era.
Now an award winning Film Company with the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival Wins in Feature and Actor categories; White Lion Studios has the spotlight on…what’s next?!
Yes, we also won Best Short Feature at the same festival for our other film, Wolf House, which is available at Walmart and on VOD. We are currently in development on a sequel to Killer Shrews, building up the Shrewniverse and ultimately the franchise. We are just looking for investors, that’s always the hard part, but once we’ve found a reliable financier we will begin motion on the sequel. We hope to shoot it next year.
What is it about indie films that bring the acting and crew communities together to bring productions like this together?
Independent cinema has a creative magic that big studio films lack. Hollywood is a money-making machine; it’s not really about art or storytelling anymore, it’s about breaking box office records and selling merchandise to the masses. We stepped outside of the formulaic method, which is seen more-often-than-not in big budget films, and went off the rails with a tongue-in-cheek style. Our actors ate that up because they were given creative freedom to explore their characters and add their own touches on things. Generally, the atmosphere on our sets are much more laid back, even though they are professional, and every morning as the director I would greet everyone first thing. I don’t care if you are a production assistant or Jimmy Bigbucks, if we are working on a film together then there is mutual respect. That’s something that’s missing from a lot of big budget movies, where those below the line are constantly having fingers snapped at them, while everyone above the line is royalty. God forbid you look a SAG actor in the eye, I’ll tell ya…
You’ve answered before, “We have future plans for these characters…” in regards to future plans for Attack of the Killer Shrews. Shall we expect a franchise of sorts?
Yes, absolutely. The franchise starts when we get the sequel off the ground. We have established our characters within the Shrewniverse; now we are creating the world that they live in. It’s great to be able to take the dynamics of each individual character/actor and build off of their relationships with each other. We want to see how they pit up against other movie monsters. Our choice to self-distribute the film is primarily based on the fact that we want to keep running with these characters, and thus we had to own them 100%. Can’t have some big shadowy movie producer from Acme Studios telling me that all of a sudden I have to swap out the cast to actors who are more recognizable. This is our franchise, and we intend on staying true to the first one. People have loved the characters so far, and many of our fans are questioning eagerly what these characters will get into next!
Will White Lion Studios look to take over the digital space in conjunction with Netflix and retail sales?
I honestly don’t think there is a chance in Hell that we will get this one on Netflix. It was made for $3,000 and a very niche market. Netflix used to be an indie platform until it was bought out and now it is a weird hybrid of sorts, with less focus on the little guy. I do, however, think we have an excellent chance of getting into other VOD platforms such as Hulu, where the original Killer Shrews is already available. There’s a great service called Distribber that we are using to pitch to VOD platforms. As for retail sales, we have a big list of mom & pop stores across the US that we are contacting. Like I said, it’s a slow burn since we all have our day jobs and our daily lives to attend to, but hopefully some day soon we will all be able to quit our day jobs and focus solely on White Lion Studios, LLC.
Want to watch the movie?! Here’s how to get it:
Included in the DVD is feature commentary, a behind-the-scenes feature, deleted scenes and closed-captioning. “I hid some Easter Eggs when I did the closed-captioning,” smirks Cosentino, who had the painstaking process of typing the closed-captioning for the film; he continues “I did it because I want viewers who are hearing impaired to be able to watch and enjoy Shrews, and I wanted to give them something extra with the Easter Eggs.” The DVD is $12 plus shipping and can be found at www.killershrewmovie.com
About the Author
Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
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