“When I tell someone who’s seen ‘Perfect Circles’ that I’m making another feature, their first, and only, question is ‘How many people die in this one?’” 2012 Southern Lehigh graduate Riley Geis, currently a college sophomore, told the Spotlight last April when his second feature film was announced. He promised a film twice as amazing as his first with “infinitely superior resources and talent.”
When his sophomore attempt at filmmaking was released to the internet Wednesday, September 18, Geis did not disappoint.
His new film entitled, “The Cult of Persuasion,” a drama about hazing, fraternities, and revenge, rocketed to over 600 views on vimeo.com within 24 hours of its release.
“[The reaction to the film] was stellar,” Geis said. “With releasing it online, everyone who wanted to see the movie could at their leisure, and it spread virally to people I’ve never even met through actors in the film, and their friends, and their friends’ friends. It’s pretty exciting.”
This was not Geis’ first encounter with the moviemaking system. Many in our community remember the debut of “Perfect Circles” in the fall of 2011.
“[Working on ‘The Cult of Persuasion’] was definitely more stressful [than working on ‘Perfect Circles’]. Since you aren’t paying anyone, you can’t be surprised when they say they’re going to show up to shoot and don’t. So [‘The Cult of Persuasion’] was a lot of begging, borrowing, stealing, lying, cheating, and cajoling to weasel someone to getting a shot on camera,” Geis said. “It was wildly stressful, but the fact that it exists now has already made my job for the next one easier, as people know that it can be done.”
What is it like to work with Riley on a film like this? Two of the film’s actors, Nick McDonald and Cole Woods, shared their insight.
“Riley is easily the most ambitious filmmaker I have ever met, which is saying a lot, because, up until I met him, I was the most ambitious filmmaker I have ever met,” said Woods, who plays the film’s primary antagonist, Carter Creed. “I nicknamed him ‘Mini-Fincher’ during the shoot. After seeing the final product, I can safely say that he IS the next David Fincher.”
“Riley is one driven dude,” said McDonald, who plays Harry Hamilton, one of the film’s lead protagonists. “He is very much about actually going out and doing the things most people daydream about.”
Regardless of who you’re working with, making a movie is never without its sour moments.
“Since we couldn’t pay anyone, it was really tough to get people’s schedules to match up,” McDonald said, “and there were a lot of late nights and sometimes quite a bit of frustration when things didn’t go smoothly.”
“A feature film is a long story to create, many scenes to shoot,” Woods said. “This was an extracurricular project for all of us. We all had our own school work and had to shoot this in our free time. That was probably the toughest part.”
“I don’t think you’re ever going to get 100 percent of what you want in a movie, so the next best option is deciding what you could trim and reshape so it stays the best it can.” Geis said.
Despite all the hiccups, there were still some fond memories during production.
“By far the best memory is from when we were shooting the hazing scenes,” McDonald said. “It was the end of a long weekend shoot, and I told Riley I wasn’t feeling so good, but that I had one or two more shots in me. So, we do one shot, and I stand up, and before we could do another take, I crapped my pants. We all laughed pretty hard, definitely my favorite memory.”
“My favorite scene is when I get beaten.” Woods said. “It was literally Carter’s downfall, and Riley finally let me let out Carter’s true side.”
Ready to put down this paper and go watch the movie? Here’s what viewers can expect.
“It’s violent, so hopefully you’re someone who can handle it. [It’s also] a bit disturbing during some of the hazing scenes,” Woods said. “I pictured it as the perfect ‘guy’ film, but every girl I know who watched it loved it, so there you have it. It’s family fun for everyone.”
“If you’re going to watch the movie, which you should, you should expect a fun ride.” McDonald said. “It’s just a kick butt movie, and a heck of a lot of fun to watch.”
“[Expect] speed.” Geis said. “It’s a fun hour and twenty-seven minutes. Take a week night and check it out. And for the [Southern Lehigh] crowd, Nick Masciantonio gets urinated on, Brad Zamojski vomits in slow-motion, and John Schmersahl plays a hitman. If that doesn’t convince you, I can’t waste any more time trying.”
