Alumni take show on the road to promote thriller film

By: Courtney Roberts and Arlinda Arriaga

Posted: 4/11/08

NT alumni and filmmakers Gabriel Barboza and Jose Sauceda have taken their film "Green Eyed Monster" on tour around the country from New York to Los Angeles.

The low-budget film was released February 2007 and is a supernatural thriller based on Hispanic folklore.

Sauceda, assistant director of the film, said the film is more than just a movie.

"I think many people can relate, especially because the movie has a lot of superstition," Sauceda said. "Every family and culture has heard of some type of mysteries when they were kids."

In the movie, a group of friends is drawn to an abandoned ranch to seek out the mystery of a hidden treasure buried by a crazy uncle. The film retells the story of an old Southern Texas legend.

The money changes the attitudes of the characters, and their greed grows and slowly consumes them throughout the course of the film.

Barboza, the director, writer and producer of the film, said kids disappearing, strange apparitions and bewitched locations add a more supernatural element to the thriller.

"There is more of a Hispanic folklore aspect to it because Hispanics are very superstitious people," said Barboza. "They believe someone has buried money somewhere."

Barboza explained that the inspiration originated from his own personal story of his great-grandmother hiding Spanish money in a wall.

"There was always a reason of why the money can't be found," he said. "A lot of the belief is in witchcraft where women can do harm to you by spells. They also believed in lechuzas, or women who can turn into birds at night."

The film was shot in a small, rural town close to Cleburne with only two trailers to house the cast and crew for two weeks.

"Living on set, there was a big sense of family and getting the project done," Sauceda said. "The place was really haunted."

The movie provides more than a feature film, because it also has a $10,000 contest for viewers in it.

Financed by Barboza and by auctioning ad space on the large mobile billboard truck used on tour, the contest has three puzzles, each with its own monetary value.

"I kept the contest a secret from all the actors and the crew until the premiere because I didn't want them thinking too much about it or questioning it," Barboza said. "When I set out to write the film, I wanted audience participation, so I embedded clues into the storyline."

According to the Web site, www.greeneyedmonstermovie.com, the clues can come in any form during the entire film: something you see or hear, some action performed, the way it's put together or even the way the story falls apart.

The idea is sometimes called an armchair treasure hunt.

"It's a skill-based contest where anyone willing to take the time and watch the movie repeatedly will get the clues and win the money," Barboza said. "A lot of people can have fun watching it, but then this contest will allow others to enjoy it on a different level."

In the past few months, the filmmakers have been on tour to promote the movie through screenings in Queens, N.Y., and New Jersey.

They have recently completed their regional tour through Texas, including a debut screening at the Dobie Theater in Austin, and will continue to head west with stops in New Mexico and Arizona before their final destination, Los Angeles, Calif., for Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors convention.

"The best part is meeting all the local people and filmmakers everywhere, in addition to continuing the blog online and driving the truck around," Sauceda said. "I mean we got to stop at the Quikstop where Kevin Smith shot 'Clerks.' That was pretty cool."

Both Barboza and Sauceda agree that the most important thing at this point is to keep promoting the movie by getting more people involved and informed about the film.

"We want people to follow this adventure with us," Sauceda said. "With the age of the Internet and advanced technology, it's different to drive around and meet people face-to-face instead of sitting at home."