A thrilling journey: '8 Found Dead' director brings film back to Albuquerque for screening

Sep. 9—Travis Greene embraces the new chapters in his life.

The former Albuquerque resident and filmmaker's latest project, "8 Found Dead," is making its way through the festival circuit and picking up some awards.

At the 2022 Screamfest LA, Greene picked up best director and the film won best picture.

"It's been a journey," Greene says. "There were lots of emotions with the film. Now, audiences are getting to see it."

The film will screen at the Guild Cinema in Nob Hill at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. It is also being distributed on DVD and on-demand.

"8 Found Dead" tells the story of two couples as they head to a secluded desert hideaway for a weekend of relaxation and, unbeknownst to their friends, uneasy revelations.

When they arrive, each couple is met by the same eccentric couple, claiming to have booked the rental on the same day at the same time.

As two local police officers are drawn into the evening's strange and unpredictable events, depravity and derangement begin to consume everyone at the house.

What begins as miscommunication soon descends in mayhem and bloody murder.

"What we were lacking in production value, we made up in the writing," Greene says. "We made a mysterious and curious script. It makes an audience think they know what is going to happen. I was thinking about it all in reverse."

Greene says the film takes the usual "keep the bad guys out" premise and flips it.

"This film starts with the bad guys in the house," he says. " 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' was a big inspiration for this film."

The genesis of the film began in July 2020. Greene and his now ex-wife had sold their house and made some money off of the sale.

"That's when it hit me," he says. "I was 38 at the time and thought about what I was going to do. I didn't want to move into my ex-in-law's house. I wanted to take my portion and float around. I always wanted to live in the desert."

Greene settled in Twentynine Palms, California.

"It was untouched and it's a real deal desert," he says. "The ranch was booked for two months. I was truly alone, and nothing was more terrifying that hearing everything at night. That's when the idea began to grow."

Greene enlisted Jonathan Buchanan as a writer and producer. Then former Las Cruces resident Ryan Valdez joined as the director of photography and producer.

The cast includes Alisha Soper, William Gabriel Grier, Eddy Acosta, Aly Trasher, Tim Simek, Laura Buckles, Rosanne Limeres, Patrick Joseph Rieger, Jenny Tran and Nancy Linehan Charles.

Buchanan and Greene would meet at a coffee shop and write the script and come up with ideas.

The pair had worked together in music previously and found that their creative process works well together.

"Recording an album is very similar to making a film," Green says. "You need to have someone keeping track of everything. This was kind of a pipe dream and we found a cast and crew that could make it happen. We filmed quickly and usually slept on set."

Greene says the production shot 53 pages in nine days.

"I couldn't have done this without the crew," he says. "Having it out to the world gives me a new set of emotions because it started from nothing. It will be great to be back in Albuquerque to show it to my second home."

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