Interview With Kevin Wheatley, Director of Threshold of Hell

Exactly this time three years ago, the 29-year-old actor was starring in the ill-fated WB pilot "Joint Custody." Suffering from the onslaught of reality TV spin-offs, the show never made it past the focus groups.

"There was a lot of waiting backstage with 'Joint Custody,'" he recalls. "It was hard not to get frustrated with the amount of barriers between the artists and the product that was made."

Yes, the show could have made him a Hollywood contender. In hindsight, Wheatley says the fallen sitcom was a catalyst for bigger things to come.

"I started working on a script in my dressing room while I was on that show," he explains. "You have a lot of time just sitting around waiting to be called. And, as soon as it was over, I sort of hit the ground running with my film."

Enter "The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell." The film, recently picked up by National Lampoon and slotted for an October 2007 release, is a historical narrative about the wasteland the U.S. has become after it has been nuked. Cut to 20 years later in the year 2097 when the post-apocalyptic survivors have emerged from underground bunkers and are now deciding the political fate of the nation.

Having survived the film festival circuit virtually unscathed, "Threshold of Hell" initially had a bevy of critics-including Pensacola International Film Festival artistic director Tom Roush. Once the film commissioner was able to watch the completed film, he was smitten.

"It's really an art film in the way it's put together," explains Roush. "The way the graphics are done and how the art design tells the story is really incredible. And the acting ... it's obvious that Kevin Wheatley and his buddies in the movie are classically trained. The complete package is just incredible."

After attending a string of film festivals throughout the country-including the Los Angeles Film Festival and Toronto After Dark in Canada-Wheatley says industry insiders finally get what he's trying to do. Well, sorta.

"At first, people automatically thought it was a B-movie horror flick where a bunch of kids are cut up on the beach," he jokes. "Once they got past the initial misconceptions, they liked the film."

What sort of questions are people asking about the film? Because of the stream-of-stoner-consciousness flashbacks and the What-the-F plotline, the filmmaker says fans of "Threshold of Hell" are convinced the "History Channel"-style flick is an acid-induced hallucination.

"No, I wasn't stoned when I made this film," he laughs. "I spent the month camping out at my parent's house. I didn't do any drugs"

People are also interested in the visuals. Wheatley says the locally shot footage-with its surprisingly lush Pensacola Beach landscape-has become the rage among his entertainment industry friends who've seen the finished product.

"The film is called the 'Threshold of Hell' but the whole idea is that it's a magical oasis in this post-apocalyptic world," he explains. "After seeing the film, people ask all the time about the locations and where we shot because it's such a unique landscape."

Roush agrees that the film positively showcases Pensacola's natural resources.

"The scenery is beautiful," Roush emotes. "There's no way to make those beaches ugly. It's clearly the most art driven-and probably the highest quality-film that ever has been shot on that beach."

As far as the future of "Threshold," the filmmaker is in the process of hashing out two sequels to "Threshold of Hell," both set on Pensacola Beach. Wheatley is currently in discussions to shoot the films consecutively one month after the national release of the first film in October.

"The sequels will keep the same main characters and focuses on their struggles," he explains. "However, the threat gets bigger and involves literally the entire world closing in upon them."