JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — August 31, 2026 — The end of the world in HOLLER does not arrive as a roaring spectacle. It settles over the backroads, fields, aging buildings and river country of rural Illinois, leaving two damaged people to decide whether survival means anything if they have to face it alone.
That deliberately intimate approach defines the independent feature now entering its final production stretch. Written and directed by Devin Smock and Samuel David through Jacksonville-based Subterranean Sound & Vision, HOLLER is a post-apocalyptic horror-western built around regional landscapes, practical filmmaking and the uneasy relationship between its central survivors.
Years after the dead have overrun the country, Ray Holley has withdrawn into isolation, whiskey and routine. His closest companion is Cotton Candy, a stuffed bear carried like a remnant of an earlier life.
When Ray meets Sydney, a pregnant young woman trying to reach her family, he reluctantly agrees to guide her across a rural Midwest populated by the undead, desperate survivors and the wreckage of a world that no longer follows familiar rules.
The filmmakers describe the project as a “character-driven Midwest apocalypse film about what survives after the world ends.”
Their clearest statement of purpose is even simpler: “The dead exist in the world, but the story belongs to the living.”
A Midwest Apocalypse Built Around Character
That distinction separates HOLLER from a conventional action-driven zombie movie.
Smock and David are using the apocalypse to explore grief, guilt, faith, regret and the frightening possibility of caring about another person after loss has made isolation feel safer.
The western influence comes through in the stripped-down moral uncertainty and long stretches of open country. The Gothic element lives in the decay and history hanging over both the people and the landscape.
Approximately 60 percent of principal photography has been completed.
The production filmed from May 30 through June 16, followed by additional work on August 10, 11 and 12.
Locations have included the Ray Norbut State Fish and Wildlife Area, the Kampsville area and the McCully Heritage Project near Kampsville, with the Illinois River country serving as a central part of the film’s visual identity.
Ten principal-photography days remain.
According to the filmmakers, the unfinished material covers much of the back half of the story, several additional pieces from earlier sections and the introduction of the film’s primary antagonist.
The official teaser currently online was assembled entirely from footage already photographed for the feature, not from a separate proof-of-concept shoot.
Kickstarter Campaign Passes Its Goal
To finance that final production block, the team launched HOLLER: A Midwestern Gothic Horror-Western on Kickstarter.
The campaign set a base goal of $6,000 to cover $4,500 for cast and crew and $1,500 for lodging.
As of the morning of August 31, the campaign showed $6,200 pledged by 34 backers, passing its minimum goal with 53 days remaining.
Funding is scheduled to close October 23 at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Additional support would strengthen the final shoot and help move the feature into post-production.
The campaign identifies meals, transportation, rentals and production support as the next priorities, followed by sound editing, mixing, color grading, accessibility materials, festival deliverables and marketing as funding increases.
This is the production’s second crowdfunding effort.
A 2025 Kickstarter raised $5,355, while private investors later contributed approximately $15,000.
That support allowed the team to assemble its cast and crew and complete the footage now visible in the new trailer.
The filmmakers said the current campaign became necessary after the original budget and schedule proved insufficient and a significant casting change added time and expense.
Illinois Is Part of the Story
Small-scale production has shaped the movie rather than merely limiting it.
HOLLER is being built around places the filmmakers know and resources their community can provide.
Local businesses, property owners, artists, friends and family have contributed food, locations, materials and long hours.
The result is a regional horror film that does not ask Illinois to impersonate somewhere else.
Smock and David are targeting completion in time for a 2027 festival run.
No distribution agreement is currently in place. The immediate plan is to finish the film, take it through festivals and pursue distribution from there.
For Ghost Signal Radio, the signal is not simply that another zombie movie is coming.
It is that a small Illinois crew is using the bones of familiar apocalypse horror to tell a story rooted in a specific place — one where the empty roads, river bluffs and forgotten buildings are not scenery, but part of what survived.