Masuk Free Press

Masuk has a filmmaking scene that blooms every so often with new movies for people to watch. Over the past month, Masuk students William Clark and Daniel Fontana released a series of short films to YouTube, featuring other Masuk students, including Philip Silva and John Anzalone. Titled “Connecticut Killer,” these films follow Fontana as he attempts to track down the Connecticut Killer, who has taken the lives of many of Fontana’s friends. The picture was released in two parts, with a third on the way.  The second part received about 150 views in five days, while the first part has acquired 252 views since its release a month ago.

“Dan was going through his old videos on his phone, and he found an unfinished trailer for a movie, and we decided to make the movie,” Clark, an actor in the film, said. “[Filming] was good, but for the first one, it was just Dan and I, so the camerawork wasn’t as good.” 

Fontana elaborated on Connecticut Killer’s origins. “So I was chilling on my phone one day, [during the] summertime, and I found this trailer that me and my cousins made five years ago. I was like, I should make another one, that seems pretty cool. [The trailer] was called ‘Revenge’. I showed Will Clark in study hall months later, and we made ‘Connecticut Killer.’” 

Before this, Fontana published various other videos, such as him playing Minecraft, or a tutorial detailing how to cook a fish over a fire. “Connecticut Killer” is the first of its kind on the channel.

“We knew how [the movie] was going to end, and how it was going to start, but we had to fill in the gaps,” said Fontana. “With the second one, we had two more cast members. It was longer, so I created an outline of a script, with basic plot points. Not word for word, but an outline.”

He continued, “We wanted to go bigger with part two. Philip was talking to us in FLEX about [acting], and we said, this guy is hilarious, we’re friends with him, let’s bring him in.” 

Surprisingly, some actors were not even supposed to appear originally. “John Anzalone’s part in part two, he was the second option. The original cast member was Quinn Kapell, but he couldn’t make it,” said Fontana. 

Fontana’s directing was essential to the creation of the film, however there were definitely parts of the video that he enjoyed the most. 

“My favorite part of the movie is definitely the suit-up scene in part two,” he said. “It took a lot of time and effort to get the sound effects to sound good because we couldn’t just film it [with no sound effects]. I think it’s cool, in my opinion, because I made it, but I understand that from the outside perspective, it’s not that cool.”

And finally, film reception. As stated previously, the video has hundreds of hits already. Fontana gave his views as the film’s creator: 

“The original, I was shocked. I thought it was going to be a chill little movie, I didn’t think much of it, and it just blew up. And I was like, wow, people love this ‘Connecticut Killer.’ The idea comes to make a series, and then I do part two. Part two didn’t perform as well as the first one, but I’m thinking, part three, we’re going to make a comeback. I don’t think I’ll ever live up to what part one was, maybe part four, because that’s the finale. I think part three will have a decline, though.” 

He left some news for part three and the future of the ‘Connecticut Killer’ franchise. “I gotta keep it on the downlow, but we’re still in the early stages. I still have to cast members, and so on.”

To conclude, he left an inspiring message, saying, “Do what you love, follow your dreams, and good things will come.”

‘Connecticut Killer’ is not the first time students at Masuk created a film and uploaded it online, and it most likely will not be the last. However, it has created a following that captivated students across the school with its story. The future remains bright for the creators behind these films. 

For anyone interested in watching the film, it can be found on Daniel Fontana’s YouTube channel under his name.