CULTURE CLASH: 1958 Classic is Re-imagined with East LA Flair

Kathryn 'Kat' Castaneda in a Screen-capture from ATTACK OF THE 30 FOOT CHOLA.

The trailer for Kieron Estrada's Attack Of The 30 Foot Chola recently made its world premiere as part of HORRORphiles #5 - SANGRE and was well-recieved.

Based on Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman, one of the most memorable 1950s sci-fi b-movies of all time (and worst), Kieron's film keeps some of the old premise: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and mixes it with an ample dose of the new: the woman suffering the indignation of a womanizing husband this time around is not cast as a blue-blood aristocrat, but rather a brown-skinned CHOLA from El Barrio. NO, not the indigenous derby-hat-toting “Cholas” of Bolivia - but the East LA low-riding variety. Yes, like in Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca.

Stepping into Allison Hayes' giant stilettos is actress Kathryn 'Kat' Castaneda, who effectively conveys a sense of both her street cred and vulnerability - she can seemingly cut you and not show any remorse - and yet we find ourselves siding with her due to her current state: that of an expectant mother. This touch, not found in the original, provides us with another reason to root for the trampling of the uncaring father-to-be under her large Nike Cortez shoes (what else is a well-dressed Chola to wear?).

Kieron began working on the script in 2008 with writing partner Christina R. Garza, and production began in earnest in March 2009. The production was originally envisioned as a 5-month shoot, but given his busy schedule as on-demand location scout manager and commercial director, and the infrequent availability of his cast and crew, work crawled along for over a year. The film's modest budget (read 'no budget') also proved to be a speed bump, and Kieron had to navigate the fine line between getting the high production values he wanted with the fiscal realities at hand. Taking the knowledge he'd gained while working on his previous project, GB: 2525 (a sci-fi action film), Kieron set out to learn more about how to execute the complicated effects he'd envisioned for 30 Foot Chola. This led to a long period of learning to do the special effects in-house (as in a factory) by trail and error and making the necessary adjustments and refinements.

Attack Of The 30 Foot Chola was shot with a Panasonic HVX-200A with P2 cards, a Letus35 Nikon Adapter, and a cache of Nikon SLR lenses (35, 50, etc.). The film is a mixture of both live action, CGI and green-screen visual effects work. Several of the building elements destroyed in the production were also created as practical models built in the 6-1 scale.

As the trailer clearly shows, all the hard work, energy, and time invested paid off in the end.

"My father was a Mexican folkloric dancer, who exposed me to the Chola culture of East LA in the 1980s, and that experience stayed with me over the years. As a filmmaker looking to create characters that are larger than life and contain a storyline with a universal theme, those memories heavily influenced the making of this film." - Kieron Estrada

The trailer for the short film ATTACK OF THE 30 FOOT CHOLA.

Screen-captures from ATTACK OF THE 30 FOOT CHOLA.

LATIN HORROR will re-visit the filmmakers of Attack Of The 30 Foot Chola as the film progresses from post production and makes it way through the forthcoming film festival circuit as a "case study" via our ON THE HORRIZON feature, including another teaser trailer that currently is in the works. We will also provide a more in-depth look at the visual effects used in the making of the film.