HUNT HER, KILL HER (aka NIGHT SHIFT)

When Greg Swinson (pictured right) was eleven years old, he directed his first movie. A Rambo inspired short titled Scorpion: Day of Darkness, he used his eight year old brother as the Rambo-esque hero and his friends as the villains. His parents even jumped in on the action with his mom serving as the masked getaway driver and his dad as cameraman (who was also making sure the video camera was not misused).

Three neighborhoods away, Ryan Thiessen (pictured left) was doing the very same thing. Using equipment from his dad's technology classroom, he was directing a Bruce Lee inspired parody movie. In the end, it turned out to be nothing like an actual Bruce Lee movie since Ryan was not allowed to watch violent movies at that age.

A few years later, Swinson set out to make a movie based on the acclaimed video game Mortal Kombat. Once again using homemade costumes and his friends as cast, a mutual friend told Thiessen about the project and he wanted in. To show his commitment, he arrived on the first day with several signature weapons of the characters he had fabricated himself.

The two quickly realized their shared passion for moviemaking went well beyond creating realistic fight scenes, but to crafting interesting stories that challenged the expected storyline we so often see.