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Natalie Gerene in 'Creature Fear' (2025)
Natalie Gerene in Creature Fear (2025)
Manny Gumina is making a Wisconsin-based horror film. Titled Creature Fear, it focuses on a musician and singer that get their lives unraveled by a diseased felon. It stars Natalie Gerene, Jarrod Langwinski and Billy Chengary. After winning awards at past film festivals, the film will have its Milwaukee premiere on October 1 at the Avalon Atmospheric and kick off their Shocktoberfest lineup.
Born and raised in Franklin, Wisconsin, Gumina’s filmmaking journey started around 20 years ago in middle school. According to Gumina, he and his friends used to make parody and sketch comedy videos on YouTube. Even though they had no serious filmmaking ambitions back then, this was part of the love of film that Gumina has had since childhood. Additionally, Gumina used to dress up like his favorite characters and interact with his grandfather’s enormous physical media collection.
“I think if I, you know, if we would have stuck with that, we probably would have gotten better and better and better,” said Gumina when reflecting on his time making videos with his friends. “I’m glad to be where I’m at right now.”
Creative Outlets
However, Gumina’s desire to direct came in 2020 via an obsession to write his own stories. Due to his entrepreneurial spirit, Gumina originally envisioned starting a brewery before the Covid pandemic hit. Since there was not a lot of on-premises socializing and Gumina could not convince investors to invest in something with an uncertain future, his creative outlet was channeled through writing.
Gumina managed to write a novel and six feature screenplays during that time. Two shorts titled Ash People and Beer Party were made in 2024 and 2023, respectively. Creature Fear was the sixth one and written with production in mind.
The setting of the film, Waushara County, was written with Wisconsinites in mind. Waushara is where the infamous Ed Gein committed his crimes. As Gumina continued writing, he discovered how much he wanted this to be his lifelong work.
Ed Gein Country
“Ed Gein would come up all the time because he committed his crimes in that county that we would hang out in,” said Gumina when discussing the story and inspiration behind the concept of the film. “You’re influenced by where you grew up, you know, in your region, right?”
When it comes to challenges and opportunities for regional filmmakers, Gumina brought up the reception that Creature Fear got at A Night of Horror International Film Festival in Eau Claire earlier this year. Gumina brought up how people in attendance cackled in response to characters acting or making jokes like people in their lives. This helped the film connect to the Wisconsin audience and was vital to Gumina’s point about thoroughly knowing what one writes about.
Beyond the past festival and upcoming Wisconsin screenings, the film will be available worldwide digitally on October 23 via Terror Films.
