'Terrarium' makes its debut Jan. 30

Independent filmmaker Mike Conway got the premise for his latest movie 15 years ago while feeding crickets to his girlfriend's tarantula. The result is probably something different than Marlon Perkins would have created.

"Terrarium" is the story of 12 human colonists who awake after 15 years in suspended animation aboard Cetus I to find that they've crash landed and are trapped in their "cryo-cells." Although they can't get out, an alien monster can get in, and the monster proceeds to devour one colonist after another over a five-hour period. Each cell is linked by an intercom, which means the surviving colonists get to listen while the monster, played by first-time actor George Miklos, gnaws wetly on the leg bones of their cohorts.

The audience, like the trapped travelers, never sees the gruesome scene. Conway made a conscious decision to mostly avoid splattering the film with blood and gore. "The blood and guts fans might get a little satisfaction," he said. "I think people will be surprised, they won't be expecting the drama."

In between becoming finger food, the colonists begin discovering the dark secrets that drove each of them to leave Earth to settle a new plane -- sort of an ultra-low budget "Alien" meets "The Breakfast Club."

" 'The Breakfast Club' as breakfast," said associate producer Paul Folger.

The action picks up in the second half of the movie, as the colonists escape from their cells and do battle with aliens who don't appreciate the sudden intrusion of humans to their planet.

The story of how "Terrarium" came to be is at least as interesting as the movie itself. Conway, with help from his stepfather Arley Steinbrink and from Folger, turned his backyard into an alien landscape complete with the crash-landed 9-foot high, 64-foot long spaceship, for almost three months. City building inspectors objected to the appearance of a decent sized apartment, 768 square-feet, behind the house on Hickam Avenue and ordered the ship demolished.

Conway stalled for time and promised to destroy the plywood structure as soon as filming was done, but keeping his promise meant destroying a key element of the film before viewing any of the 130 rolls of film. "We prayed the film came out," said his wife Sheila Conway, an actor in the film.

Sheila Conway was nine-months pregnant with the couple's daughter during shooting, but her character lives through the film which meant they had to hide the pregnancy, arranging camera angles that obstructed her stomach and framing her mostly from the chest up. "We did close-ups the night before I went to the hospital," she said. "We wanted to finish before the birth."

Because all of the actors have day jobs -- most of the cast is made up of Mike Conway's Treasure Island co-workers -- filming was done at night. Still, the movie was shot in the desert during the summer and for weeks the cast had to wear "cryo-suits," nylon outfits used by athletes trying to sweat off weight. Conway described the experience as laying in a 100-degree coffin.

"I had sweat pooling up in the sleeves and ankles," said Tim Daley, who played ship's captain Cmdr. Carl Halsey.

"I just looked desperate from the heat," said Sheila Conway. "I couldn't breathe ... but it worked."

The U.S. Customs Department confiscated the too-realistic weapons Conway ordered from Britain and the first monster broke his ribs in a car accident. The interior of Cetus I is made from 10 flight simulator consoles a neighbor happened to have in his yard. "He said, 'They're broken, take them,' " Conway said.

Conway made "Terrarium" for about $27,000. In contrast, director Sam Raimi made the low-budget horror classic "Evil Dead" for about 10 times that amount. Though "Terrarium" will get a professional release next Wednesday at the Paradise 6 Theatre -- and Conway hopes to get picked up for distribution by a studio -- for now his movies are a labor of love. He estimates to have worked on about 70 films, either his own or for other filmmakers and each time everyone involved in the project wound up doing multiple jobs.

Actor Jeff Rivera, a director in his own right, became part-time casting director introducing Conway to new actors, and he handles marketing for the film. Associate producer Folger didn't appear before the camera, but served as set builder, trouble-shooter and general jack-of-all-trades for the production. Sheila Conway doubled as caterer and Mike Conway, who didn't intend to act in the film, did almost everything else including the editing, musical score and special effects. Only the Conways and Folger have seen the entire film, though all have seen parts.

"I was here every night. I watched the actors do all their bits," Sheila Conway said. "Michael's ability to edit and add music ... I had no idea."

"I was blown away," Rivera said. "I didn't know how good it was going to be, then I was like 'Damn.'"

"Terrarium" debuts Wednesday at the Paradise 6 Theatre, 3330 E. Tropicana Ave., with shows at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. Admission is $5.


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