Grandview Heights resident Hope Madden completes creative sprint with first novel, movie
Hope Madden didn't stop after her first novel, "Roost," was published in March.
Instead, the Grandview Heights resident sprinted right into another new creative endeavor.
Madden spent 12 days in May shooting "Obstacle Corpse," her first feature-length movie, which was shot in the Columbus area.
"I feel like I've run an obstacle course myself," she said.
Both the book and the movie fall within the horror genre.
"I've always loved scary stories," Madden said. "To me, scary books and movies are just fun. Some people want to look away from being scared, but not me."
During the scary part is when she keeps her eyes wide open, Madden said.
"Roost" is a story about twin sisters from rural Ohio, in a town not so different from Tiffin, where Madden and her real-life twin sister, Joy, grew up.
She was inspired by the "satanic panic" that gripped many people in her hometown during the 1980s and '90s, she said.
"There was a lot of talk about satanic cults and covens and when I was growing up in my small town, some people blamed some of the bad things that happened on that," Madden said.
Bad things seem to happen to people in "Roost" whenever the twins' birthday falls on an Easter Sunday, she said.
"There's an awful lot I took from my own life in the book," Madden said. "I mean, I have a twin sister and our names are Hope and Joy.
"But it's not autobiographical," she said with a laugh.
And the horror isn't that scary, Madden said.
"It's more atmospheric, like Flannery O'Connor or Shirley Jackson (writers in the mid-1900s)."
"Obstacle Corpse" offers a mix of chills and laughs, she said.
"It's sort of a cross between 'Battle Royale' and 'Caddyshack,'" said Madden, who was writer and director of the film.
A young woman believes she's ready to strike out on her own, but her father has his doubts. He challenges her to take part in an obstacle course race.
What the woman doesn't know, but other competitors do, is that one of the obstacles is to kill another competitor.
After the solitary experience of writing a novel, Madden said she enjoyed the collaborative process of making a movie.
The camaraderie that developed among the crew made the long and hectic days of getting more than 100 scenes shot in less than two weeks a creative pleasure, Madden said.
Jason Tostevin served as co-producer of "Obstacle Course" with Madden's husband, George Wolf.
"Anytime a independent film gets done to completion, it's a miraculous thing," said Tostevin, who has been involved in the making of a dozen or so short indie film as a producer or director.
"A lot of people start to make an indie movie who never see it through," he said. "Hope brought an amazing set of skills to carry this project to its end. She was so well-prepared, especially for her first feature-length film."
"Obstacle Corpse" will bring a scare to its audience, but it's also a lot of fun, just like Madden, Tostevin said.
"Hope is really funny. She's got such a dry and witty sense of humor," he said. "She has a perspective as a woman and as a grown-up that shines through in the movie.
"I'm really hoping this isn't going to be her last film, because she has a unique voice."
Madden has worked professionally for more than 20 years as a film critic, including writing for The Other Paper and Columbus Monthly.
She and Wolf review movies as MaddWolf. The couple co-host the podcasts The Screening Room and Fright Club and host a monthly horror movie film series at the Gateway Film Center. They also appear each Friday on Good Day Columbus.
"I literally see and review hundreds of movies every year," Madden said. "What I really wanted to try to achieve with 'Obstacle Corpse' was to create something that I had never seen before.
"I just wanted to make something that didn't follow the obvious pattern, something surprising. I think we were able to do that."
"Roost" was published by Off Limits Press and is available at Amazon.
With filming completed, Madden said she is looking for a distributor for "Obstacle Corpse."
The movie will be screened later this year as part of Gateway Film Center's Nightmares Film Festival, although because she and Wolf serve as judges for the festival, the movie will not be in competition, Madden said.
@ThisWeekAfroman
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Grandview Heights resident Hope Madden completes creative sprint with first novel, movie
