I Didn’t Come Here To Die – An AmeriCorps Inspired Horror Movie

“I Didn’t Come Here To Die” are words you never wanted to here when you signed up to serve in AmeriCorps, especially if you signed up to do disaster relief with AmeriCorps NCCC or FEMA Corps! Sometimes projects can relocate you to unfamiliar places and the set up of these sites almost writes itself as a horror flick.

Well, we met an NCCC Alum who has filmed and put together a horror flick that explores what might happen if your AmeriCorps service really turned out to be a killer.

Meet Bradley Sullivan, the brains (mmm brains…) behind the latest AmeriCorps inspired horror flick – “I Didn’t Come Here To Die”:

• Tell us about who you are and what you’re doing now.

Bradley Sullivan. I served in AmeriCorps NCCC at the Atlantic Region in Perry Point, MD in 2005 (Class XI). I’m currently in Wisconsin, working as a cameraman and editor for a couple of outdoor television shows that air on NBC Sports and The Sportsman Channel. I also have a horror movie I wrote and directed called I DIDN’T COME HERE TO DIE that bears a passing resemblance to a certain organization full of green and gray-clad members. It’ll be playing in some theaters across the country in October, and will be available on DVD and VOD come January 2013.

• Why did you serve in AmeriCorps?

Meet Bradley Sullivan.

I was 19 and had just dropped out of a film school I was unhappy with. My one filmmaking friend just moved away, and I was feeling a bit lost in the world. Out of the blue, I got a call from a high school acquaintance. He was back home during a summer break from AmeriCorps NCCC, and had heard I was around. So all that week, we’d go play disc golf, and he’d tell me about all these awesome things he was doing, places he was traveling, and people he was meeting. He made it sound like he’d found a golden ticket for the Wonka factory, and it seemed like It’d be stupid of me not to do it. So while I initially joined for the selfish reason of it sounding “fun”, I think I came out the other end a bit more selfless from my service.

• How do you think AmeriCorps prepared you for where you’re at today?

I got more out of AmeriCorps than I had ever expected. It’s truly the best thing I think I could have ever done with my life. I mean, it gave me the basis for my first feature-film. I met my best friend to this day in NCCC. I gained a love of camping and the outdoors. It stirred a desire to travel, and experience different cultures, food, etc. It taught me how to do “Man Things”. It also taught me that “Man Things” aren’t just for men, as most of the girls were stronger and could work with tools better than me. I’ve never felt as much joy, or gained as much fulfilling experience as those times in NCCC helping serve others. I think we’d be a much more enlightened society if every 18 to 24-year-old served for at least a year.

• Tell us more about how you came up with the idea for the film.

The team members doing “Man Things” could lead to trouble!

The running joke in NCCC is that it would make the greatest reality TV show. Well, I’m a bit of a hypochondriac with an overactive imagination, and had never really worked with power tools or spent much time in the woods before. So the movie just kind of wrote itself. It’s pretty much just my brain playing out the “worst-case scenario” for a project we had out in the middle of nowhere in Vermont.

Of course, nothing even remotely close to the film happened to my team. The nearest thing to a horror movie that transpired was a pretty wicked MRSA infection I got while on our very first project. Now that stuff is scary!

• What do you hope alums, especially ones who served in NCCC, will get out of watching the film?

The Team

I think they’ll get a lot of laughs out of it (even when it’s gruesome). I mean, there’s a few funny moments in the movie already, but alums will probably recognize every scene as an exaggeration of the people and situations they experienced while serving. It’s a fun, entertaining thing to show your friends and family and say “Hey, this is like that AmeriCorps-thing I did, but without all the dying.”

• What does a Lifetime of Service mean to you?

I know that it means to give of yourself to helping better the world around you and your fellow man, but have I lived up to that potential as much as I should have? No, probably not, but my time in NCCC has instilled a sense of service and sacrifice that I’m continually trying to measure up to.

• One word that sums up your AmeriCorps experience.

Radtastic!?

• What cities will the movie be screened and how can Alums purchase tickets?

Here’s the locations, dates and times for where the film will be playing:

• Thursday, October 11
  • 7:30pm in Philadelphia, PA at Landmark Ritz Five
  • 7:30pm in Austin, TX at Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
  • 7:30pm in Beverly Hills, CA at Laemmle Music Hall 3
  • 10:00pm in Portland, OR at Living Room Theater

• Tuesday, October 16
  • 10:00pm in Atlanta, GA at Plaza Theatre
  • 10:00pm in Columbus, OH at Drexel Theater

• Thursday, October 18
  • 10:00pm in Seattle, WA at SIFF Film Center

• Monday, October 22
  • New York, NY at Landmark Sunshine Theater

• Wednesday, October 24
  • 10:00pm in Ann Arbor, MI at The Michigan Theater

Tickets can be purchased here or links and more info can be found on their website. Make sure to like the movie’s Facebook page and view the trailer below: