'Final Act' horror film begins shooting in Scranton, featuring historic landmarks

A new horror thriller film is in the works in Scranton, featuring a mix of rising stars and familiar faces.

'Final Act' concerns paranormal investigators looking into the dark past of a historic theater who find themselves stalked by a mysterious, masked pickaxe killer.

Filming for 'Final Act' is currently underway and the production crew is making great use of the region's many historic landmarks such as the Ritz Theater, Brooks Coal Mine, Electric City Trolley Museum, and several other locations in Scranton and Carbondale.

The cast includes Avaryana Rose, Hannah Fierman, Douglas Tait, as well as Vincent M. Ward, who is best known for his role of Oscar from 'The Walking Dead'.

In 'Final Act', Ward portrays George, a janitor at the theatre.

Ward says he's excited to be a part of this cast of talented actors and encourages people to support the artists who work on this film.

"It's an honor being here in Scranton, Pennsylvania, working with some talented young people. Make sure you go out and support it, especially these young writers and these seasoned producers," said Ward.

In addition to the main cast, Scranton’s own “Chef Von” (Ryan Von Smith) of Gordon Ramsay’s 'Next Level Chef' will make a cameo.

'Final Act' is a co-production between Rob Adkirson of Babe Entertainment (Miami, Florida), Robert Savakinus of Cannon Fire Productions (Northeastern PA.), and Jeff Miller of Millman Productions (Los Angeles, California).

'Final Act's director, Michael Su is working from a screenplay by Avaryana Rose, Tristan Green, and Brandon Slagle.

This is Miller's second production and Adkirson's third production in Northeastern PA.

Both producers are excited to be back working in Pennsylvania and have been overjoyed by the amount of support they have seen from the NEPA community.

Adkirson explains that the act supporting local indie films is important due to the fact that the film industry is an expensive game to play.

By viewing the hard work many artists on the project have accomplished, that helps them continue to produce work with great value.

"The support you guys give here in PA really helps us as filmmakers to be able to make productions. It really helps out in the indie film market," said Adkirson.

Miller says he really admires the unique history and architecture as well as the arts culture of Scranton.

Miller further adds that because the Ritz Theater was built in 1906, its early 20th century design and many narrow corridors make it the perfect setting for this production.

"I'm from Los Angeles, but coming out to Pennsylvania, I love the locations here. It's just a wealth of great locations that we don't get much in Los Angeles and other places I filmed," said Miller.

While filming only lasts a couple of weeks, postproduction editing and marketing will take almost a whole year before the film premieres.