Coming to a local venue this month - the world premiere of The Adventures Admiral Atlantis and Wolf Punch - a feature length comedy movie created and directed by Haddam Killingworth High School graduates Ryan Blewett and Luke Chase.

While a premiere date had not been firmly established at press time, you can check for updates at http://admiralatlantisandwolfpunch.com and also on Facebook. The movie is suitable for all ages. The $400-budget movie features characters created by Blewett and Chase while students at HKHS. In this film, Admiral Atlantis and Wolf Punch struggle to fend off an up-and-coming villain, while still balancing their friendship.

The light-hearted, action-adventure film features both Chase and Blewett as the title characters, as well as cameos from other HK graduates. Blewett is a film major at New York University and Chase is a film major at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI.

"We've been working on the film for over a year, starting last November," notes Blewett. "After a few months of writing and preparing, we shot it during the summer from June to August on a combination of our own equipment and some pieces borrowed from HK.

"We shot almost every day for two months, for a budget of under $400, compared to most other feature films which range anywhere from $1 million to $200 million. All of the actors and crew that we used were local to Haddam or Killingworth, and all locations are in the Shoreline area," Blewett adds.

"The idea for the movie really came out of our love for superhero mythology combined with our love for movies," says Blewett. "Whenever Luke and I are together, we spend the better part of it talking about movies, so we wanted to take our own crack at it, and try to channel some of our favorite works into an original piece.

"Ryan and I were brainstorming ideas for his short film for the 2009 HK High School Film Festival," says Chase. "He was pretty set on doing an old school superhero movie: with a main hero, and a sidekick." Assuming he would be playing the sidekick, Chase immediately began to think of an action that would combine with an animal for the name. He mentioned the name Wolfpunch, in the middle of a Probability and Statistic class, and there were no doubts that that name was a match for Chase's character.

They had a lot of trouble coming up with a name for Blewett's character, however. But inspiration came to Chase and "the name Admiral Atlantis popped into my brain and I couldn’t shake it. "We quickly agreed that Admiral Atlantis’ name would not refer to the ancient underwater city, and that that would be something he would have to preface before every introduction or conversation," says Chase. "Atlantis is the loveable main superhero, a fact that he holds over Wolfpunch’s head. He is a more agile and spry fighter, with complete confidence in his intellectual ability, which proves to be both a blessing and a curse. He is the leader, mostly because his social skills are existent, which automatically deems him overqualified compared to Wolfpunch.

We knew that Wolfpunch had to have a mask, which led to a lot of other decisions, since there is such freedom with a masked character. Wolfpunch would be the bumbling sidekick that has to do most of the grunt work, but doesn’t get any glory for it. He is the simpler of the two, fighting-wise, using brute force over intelligent maneuvers. We also agreed that he would have surprising, domestic skills that appear at random times, such as his expertise in the culinary arts. His random skills, coupled with the fact that he is a slightly better fighter, help make up for his distinct lack of social awareness. Admiral Atlantis goes for style; Wolfpunch’s approach is ungraceful," Chase explains.

"We're also working closely with a few high school students who are interested in creating a short film to be played before our feature," he adds. "These kind of events are very rarely in the HK area, so before we premiere it at festivals we are looking to give shoreline residents the first opportunity to watch it."

"The goal was to bring in a lot of different members of the community, and show them that anyone can create a movie with the right mindset," says Blewett. "We are going to be selling DVDs, as well as some small bits of merchandise, and any profits will go back to fund the costs of the film, which were taken directly out of our pockets.

"The humor is a combination of desert dry humor, and slapstick. The dry humor is geared more towards college age kids and up. The slapstick humor should also make it entertaining for others," Chase states. "We have been very much looking forward to the premiere for quite some time." adds Chase. "We will definitely be dressed up and have a red carpet, etc. We’re definitely setting it up to have the appearance of a classy event.

"The event itself, however, will be very laid back," Chase notes. "We will give some time for people to settle in and get comfortable. We’re planning on having popcorn and other snacks as well as refreshing beverages to wash them down. We’ll introduce ourselves, thank everyone for coming, speak briefly about the film, and then the lights will turn off and it’ll begin. We’ll open it up for a good old Q&A after the movie.

"The premiere will be completely free of charge; a fun event for local families to come out to and enjoy. The purpose is to get people interested in what we do and to have a relaxing evening seeing something we’ve been working on in Killingworth and surrounding towns, for about a year now," he notes.

"Our main objective is to really create an atmosphere where people can watch the movie, and have a good time," says Blewett