Group think takes a gritty turn in director Steven Pierce’s action-driven horror film Herd, which recently wowed Fright Fest audiences before heading to theaters and digital release. The plot is rife with tension as individuals from vastly different walks of life intersect, forcing a desperate fight for survival.

The plot tracks Jamie (Ellen Adair of Bull) and her wife, Alex (Mitzi Akaha of Archive 81), at a major intersection in their lives. In an attempt to save their failing marriage, they embark on a canoe trip in rural Missouri, only to find themselves stranded after an accident. While making their way back to the nearest small town, they’re shocked to discover it has been taken over by a virus-infected, extreme right-wing militia, known as “Heps.” Suddenly, Jamie and Alex find themselves battling the Heps.

The film also stars Corbin Bernsen (The Resident, L.A. Law), Dana Snyder (Aqua Teen Hunger Force), Amanda Fuller (Last Man Standing), Jeremy Holm, and Timothy V. Murphy. Director Steven Pierce and actors Corbin Bernsen and Dana Snyder shared more about the hugely popular thriller in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.

Small Town, Big Problems
Framework Productions

Steven Pierce, who made a dent as an editor for Saturday Night Live, shares screenwriting credit for Herd with James Allerdyce. The duo craft an edgy tale that pits one couple against a maniacal group. When Alex (Akaha) breaks her leg during her canoe trip with wife Jamie, the couple desperately want to find safety and medical care. When a group leader, Big John Gruber (Holm), offers to take them to safety at his bunker, everything seems fine. The locals appear to be friendly. Then things turn dark and horrific. Jamie and Alex must flee.

“What’s funny is we started writing this script in January 2020, so then a bunch of stuff happened,” quipped director Steven Pierce. “But that sort of colored some aspects of this project across time. The film really was about ‘group think.’ There are two women who end up trapped between a zombie outbreak and warring militia groups. It’s about groups where people are fighting for survival, others are fighting for control.”

Leaping off the “group think” in small-town America model, Pierce said he had shopped the project around before The Last of Us came out and became a hit. “I so love that series,” he shared. “I always say we’re almost like an extended episode of The Last of Us. That’s what’s great about all horror films. They allow you to push the stakes up super high. So, we can take a normal thing such as how group think sometimes make good people ostracize other people for bad reasons. We can do that with zombies in our world — Heps — in this almost post-apocalyptic sort of scenario.”

More Than Lesbians Fighting Zombies
Framework Productions

Steven Pierce and James Allerdyce didn’t really set out to pen a LGBTQ-themed film, per se. It was more about crafting a compelling tale. In this case, the two lead characters happened to be a gay couple. Pierce explained:

“These are deep characters because the main lead [Jamie] is constantly trying to run away from trauma. The movie is physically sucking her back into her past. So, for them as characters, as a gay couple, just existing in this community isn’t safe. We were able to add layers of tension and dramatic structure onto it because it’s a genre film.”

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He’s quick to note that the film’s unique structural element allows the storyline to ramp up. Yes, the film features a queer couple in the leads, but it’s not about being gay. “Oftentimes whenever you see films that star a gay couple or a gay relationship, so much of it is focused on being a gay relationship. James and I wanted to focus on this just being a ‘relationship.’ That was very important, you know, not for ‘representation.’ The film also echoes my experience coming from small-town America and now having lived in cities my whole life where I don’t really fit in.”

He went on to say that he and James Allerdyce discussed having the lead characters be a straight couple. “The story could work that way and I think it would be a very valid story. A lot of the themes would still apply, but I think with a straight couple, you might run into feeling as if you’ve seen it before — a girl was abused by her father, boyfriend was abused, whatever. And you’d be less involved. You’d be less interested to say, ‘I’m going to invest in her journey.’”

The Actors Weigh In
Framework Productions

“Everything starts with the script and the character,” Corbin Bernsen said of why he decided to jump into Herd and his steely character Robert. “I read it and of course, you want to be a tour de force. So, it’s all about structure and architecture, and that appealed to me with Herd. I knew going in that I could make the most of this. I can chew up enough scenery in that first scene, which I love.”

Hard to forget that scene and best to experience it for yourself. For Dana Snyder, who lent his voice to several Adult Swim hits like The Venture Bros. and created the series Trip Tank, the film was a great opportunity to work alongside Pierce, whom he’s collaborated with before. In Herd, he plays Louie, a beleaguered soul caught in the middle of opposing groups.

“Steven and I had a long talk about the project,” he said. “It was during lockdown, and we discussed the entire process. It’s a very engaging script. It’s not your standard structure where you need to code in all these other whirly gigs and hoo-hahs. It’s not a Cirque du Soleil show with people coming out with whizzies. That’s what I liked about it.”

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Bernsen, who was nominated twice for an Emmy for his role in L.A. Law, has had a successful career as an actor and producer. When asked about why the film has struck a nerve with audiences, he said:

“So much of that has been on my mental radar these days. Obviously, the country is in turmoil. What’s really great about a good script like Herd is that you can recognize certain things. You could argue the zombie outbreak [here] is COVID. You could argue it’s HIV. At the end of the day, a good story is always about people, right? And how are these people dealing with this environment? And in this case, having the women be gay, it’s very current.”

“If you really look at this, and I hope I’m okay saying this, is that there’s not a ton of zombie stuff in this. It’s not overdone — every four scenes. It’s just enough to let you know it’s a horror film, and to also let you know the world that these girls are in. I watched Equalizer 3 the other night and it was f*cking terrific. It was another example of a beautifully structured film. Very simple. I like smart scripts. I like smart stories. Herd was all that for me.”

Herd is playing in theaters and available on demand. You can watch the trailer below: