Daughter, Dad Debut Homemade Horror Film
Dave McDermott never thought of himself as a film producer, director, and actor, but the Castro Valley resident just debuted a film at the Chabot Theater this past weekend after his 10-year-old daughter challenged him to be one.
“I won an iPad in a cooking competition about three years ago,” McDermott told the Forum. “We never used it for anything other than karaoke. I mentioned this to my daughter Isabella just before Christmas 2021. She then said, ‘We should make a movie,’ and I replied, ‘Challenge accepted.’”
What came next was, “The Cleaver Man,” a 16-minute horror and comedy film starring the father-daughter duo. McDermott plays three different characters. His daughter, who attends Proctor Elementary, plays the main character. The plot centers on a serial mass murderer going around the Bay Area on a killing spree.
“The action really begins when he comes to our door… and then we get him,” McDermott says. “It starts with Nerf guns and ends with a chainsaw. There’s no official movie rating on this, but I would say it’s PG-rated and ends with lots of blood and gore at the very end. There are some twists and turns that no one saw coming.”
McDermott adds that the style is very slapstick and campy, reminiscent of the low-budget horror movies of the 80s and 90s.
“We both wrote the script and she helped me make the blood,” McDermott said. “I went to Safeway for six bottles of corn syrup and three or four things of red food coloring. Then I went to Pete’s ACE Hardware to get something to help spray the blood all over the place. The clerks all thought it was neat that we were making a movie.”
In some cases, McDermott and his daughter had to be creative to get just the right shots. Oftentimes, they used cardboard and tape to get the right angle. The amazing part of the production is that no one in the family knew it was happening until the primer.
“The movie was kept a complete secret from everyone,” McDermott says. “We would only film and edit while my wife was away working. Towards the end, I would send her out to go grocery shopping or ask her to get her nails done so that I could get it finished.”
The final edit was done on Monday, May 16 The movie had its premiere showing at the Chabot Theater on that Thursday, May 19.
“It was a huge hit, and we did just like Hollywood—paparazzi and all—to give my daughter and family a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we will all cherish forever,” McDermott said.
He adds that while there are no future projects in the works, the audience had a good time and suggested the movie-making duo start filming a sequel.