Private Project

2025: Steel City Warriors

A slice-of-life anthology focusing on the inhabitants of Steel City, a wasteland cesspool in the year 2025: stoner-punk Musty Draco ventures into the unknown in pursuit of outrageous fortune and a better life; lawman Trapper Steve hunts the violent fugitive, Hatchet MacReady.

  • Luke Meneok
    Director
    Blackbags, The Ojibway Switchback, Banana Seat Bloodbath, High Tea, Alley Trash
  • Luke Meneok
    Writer
  • Luke Meneok
    Producer
  • Minnie Brimstone-Kingsley
    Key Cast
    "Musty Draco"
  • Jan Wagner
    Key Cast
    "Trapper Steve"
  • David Kolenski
    Key Cast
    "Hatchet MacReady"
    Blackbags, High Tea, Massacre At Femur Creek
  • Michael Adam
    Key Cast
    "Rathole Plug"
    Blackbags, Banana Seat Bloodbath
  • Michael Fausti
    Key Cast
    "The Narrator"
    Video Shop Tales of Terror, Mosaic, Burnt Flowers
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Action, Drama
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 19, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    100 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - McMaster University
  • WeirdFest
    (online)
    Canada
    August 31, 2024
  • Wasteland Film Festival
    California City, California
    United States
    September 26, 2024
    U.S. Premiere
  • Son of Terrible Fest
    Toronto, Ontario
    Canada
    October 8, 2024
    Canadian Premiere
  • Hamilton Film Festival
    Hamilton, Ontario
    Canada
    October 24, 2024
    Hamilton Premiere
  • Cannabis Culture Film Festival
    Camden, New Jersey
    United States
    November 9, 2024
    New Jersey Premiere
  • Reel Fest
    Columbia, Missouri
    United States
    March 1, 2025
    Missouri Premiere
Director Biography - Luke Meneok

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Luke Meneok is a former audio/visual technician and stagehand, with a combined Hons. B.A. in Multimedia and Theatre & Film from McMaster University. During undergrad, he devised, produced, and designed multimedia for numerous small stage productions. A lifelong cinephile, his true passion lies in film and he has produced content under the Video McNasties banner since 2010. He has also assisted with a bevy of independent shorts and features both in front of and behind the camera, and is a regular collaborator with John Migliore of Survival Zombie Films (Exorcism of the Dead, Creature from Cannibal Creek, Ouija Shark 2).

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Director Statement

2025: Steel City Warriors is a long-lost proof-of-concept short film which was put on the back burner and forgotten about until now. It is a riff on dystopian sci-fi films like Escape from New York, as well as the post-apocalyptic wasteland movies which followed in the wake of the Mad Max franchise.

When this project was conceived during the early 2010's, parts of my hometown, Hamilton, Ontario (aka Steel City) very much resembled a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In recent years, the city has been undergoing a process of gentrification, which has seen many low-income residents displaced from their homes due to a lack of affordable housing. The situation has become increasingly reflective of a dystopian narrative, and this seemed like the perfect time to revisit and release this project.

The second vignette was produced and submitted as an assignment while I was enrolled in the Multimedia program at McMaster University. There is use of abstract imagery as well as data bending for special visual effects and aesthetics. The audio for this segment features use of surface transducers, contact mics, induction coils and EMF recording. Additive sound synthesis with pure frequencies was also incorporated, as well as white noise.