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Fund This Film: ’80s Action Throwback ‘Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins’ From the Makers of…

By  · Published on February 9th, 2013

Fund This Film: ’80s Action Throwback ‘Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins’ From the Makers of ‘Bellflower’

This week’s spotlighted project is sure to be a success. In less than three days of being announced, Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins has already raised more than half of its $60,000 goal. And there are 42 days left. No surprise, though, because who doesn’t want to see the next movie from the team that brought us Bellflower?

I don’t even know if I need to say anything more. If you’ve seen Bellflower and you love it (some of you don’t, which is unfortunate), you’ll want to see what other insanity comes out of the minds of its makers. Once again there will be awesome cars, flamethrowers, but there will also be a lot of fights, a speed boat sequence and other great action sequences – if they can afford it all. Basically they’re doing this all DIY and can almost do it on their own, except the stunts are pretty costly.

Chuck Hank will be directed by producer/editor/composer Jonathan Keevil rather than Bellflower helmer Evan Glodell, though he and the rest of the Coatwolf collective are on board again. And it seems to have a really simple plot involving a turf war. The film is said to be an ’80s throwback influenced by (and not at all parodying) the action movies and video games (namely Double Dragon and Streets of Fire) from that era. “We want to create a visually rich world that honors a time when a street fight necessitated brass knuckles, chains, cut-off jean jackets, and HUGE Mohawks,” says the intro to their crowdfunding campaign.

Unlike most of the projects we’ve posted about, this one is done not through Kickstarter but Indiegogo. It’s still fixed-funded, so if they don’t make that $60k, they don’t get any of it. And they’ve got a lot of nice perks/incentives for donors, including bandanas, prop weapons, walk-on extra roles, producer credits and more.

Now to the part you’ve probably already skipped down to: the ridiculous campaign trailer, which stars Keevil, Glodell, actor Tyler Dawson (Aiden in Bellflower), actress Olivia Taylor Dudley (Chernobyl Diaries) and, most importantly, the Medusa. (There’s also a SFW version.)

If you want a more sober, suit-and-tie (well, not quite that) kind of pitch, or if you just want to hear more about the film, here’s a video with interviews from the creative team:

And you can also visit the Coatwolf Facebook page for updates and a concept art gallery here. Don’t think that just because the $60k will be raised in no time that you shouldn’t be a part of this thing. That’s the minimum goal, and obviously anything above that will contribute to making the film even more awesome. There’s no mention of an estimated time of completion, but hopefully this thing can be ready to premiere at Sundance 2014.

Do you want to see this film? Enough to help fund it?

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Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.