Submitted Photos by Nancy J. Parisi Special Makeup Effects Artist Kate Sharun of Buffalo (pictured in the foreground) creates a ghostly effect on actress Willow Anwar, who stars in “Widow’s Point” alongside her father, actor Craig Sheffer.

Soon, Western New York residents will see a familiar sight on the silverscreen, as the Dunkirk Lighthouse is the setting for Fredonia-native Gregory Lamberson’s newest movie, “Widow’s Point.” However, the recognizable lighthouse may not be the only familiar aspect of the movie, as many Western New York residents are part of the cast and crew. There’s a reason why the Buffalo area is becoming an increasingly popular filming location, and it has as much to do with the unique scenery as it does with the host of talented individuals who call it home.

Setting the scene

“Widow’s Point,” a horror movie, is based on the novella of the same name by father-son writing team, Richard and Billy Chizmar. In “Widow’s Point,” writer Thomas Livingston, who is played by actor Craig Sheffer, decides to stay in a haunted lighthouse to promote his next book. Things take a turn for the worse when Thomas encounters sinister forces in this H.P. Lovecraft-inspired story.

Lamberson’s movie is considered by the industry an “ultra low budget feature,” as it is being filmed for under $250,000. The benefit for Lamberson is that the Screen Actors Guild allows filmmakers with this budget to cast union actors like Sheffer, whose previous credits include “Nightbreed,” “A River Runs Through It” and “Battledogs,” alongside non-union actors who bring a range of experience and talent to the film. Indeed, many of the cast and crew have cut their teeth on an impressive range of films in the Buffalo area, but “Widow’s Point” brought many to Dunkirk for the very first time.

KateLynn Newberry

Actress KateLynn Newberry grew up in Buffalo, but has lived in Ohio for the past 10 years. “I moved to Ohio to work on music, but fell into acting! A lot of my training has been in Ohio, and I’ve done about 50 movies at this point.” Newberry had been looking forward to working with Lamberson for some time. “I have followed Greg for awhile because I knew he was a filmmaker local to Buffalo, and I knew that he was someone I wanted to be working with because I had seen his work previously,” she explained.

In “Widow’s Point,” Newberry plays one of the main roles opposite Sheffer, despite the fact that she had originally submitted for a different character in the movie.

“I was actually asked to read for another character than who I planned, and it worked out. They ended up casting me for the role of Rosa. Rosa is Thomas’ publicist, who is out here doing PR for him and making sure his publicity stunt is going well. She’s in contact with the owner of the publication company, and they’re involved with Thomas as he is writing his new story and getting inspired to write his next story.”

The Dunkirk Lighthouse has been a highlight for Newberry.

“I grew up about 35 miles away from here, and I had friends from Dunkirk. At some point, I’m sure I’ve been here before,” she smiled. “I really love this location. I think that’s one of my favorite parts.”

After “Widow’s Point,” Newberry is heading to Michigan to act in a movie-musical called “Moondance,” and after that, the movie “Straightjacket.”

Dominic Luongo

Actor Dominic Luongo is also a Buffalo-area native who has enjoyed his first experience at the Dunkirk Lighthouse.

“Actually, I just moved to Buffalo from Angola. This would have been a much closer drive for me had I not moved a month before shooting,” he laughed.

Luongo also plays a main role opposite Sheffer in the movie. “Andre is the ‘tech guy,'” Luongo explained. “He basically has Simon Pegg’s job in the ‘Mission Impossible’ movies. Andre sets up all the cameras for Thomas — the GoPro, the wireless mics — and then he leaves. But something goes wrong with the equipment and Andre has to come back. He’s just really bad at his job. I guess that makes my role the plucky comic relief.”

Art imitates life, it seems, for Luongo.

“With Andre, I’m basically playing myself because this is what I do in real life.”

In addition to owning Queen City Escape Room, Luongo owns a full-service video production company, Struck Down Entertainment, that makes films and online videos. Luongo has also acted in several Buffalo-area commercials and movies.

“This is my first role working with Greg,” Luongo said. “He had seen me in another movie, ‘Game Changers,’ that played at his film festival. He liked what I did there and asked if I could bring that to ‘Widow’s Point.'”

John Renna

Actor John Renna was born and raised in Buffalo and now calls Cheektowaga home.

“Acting is what I’ve always liked. I do special effects, I’m a filmmaker, and I write and direct because I have a real love of movies and acting,” Renna explained. He has been working with Lamberson since 2008, when Renna played the mayor of Slime City and worked as production manager in Lamberson’s “Slime City Massacre.”

When it came to “Widow’s Point,” Renna was a natural fit. “It wasn’t really an audition process per se. Greg wrote the part with me in mind — the part is original to the story, but he kind of new from the beginning that O’Leary was the part for me.”

The movie takes place during four different decades, and Renna’s character is part of the 1930s section of the timeline. “There is a family that lives in the lighthouse, and I am their uncle. I come to the house to play cards with my brother-in-law and some of the guys, when I run into one of the ghosts.”

Renna has acted in several big-budget movies filmed in the Buffalo and Rochester areas, including “Dick Johnson & Tommygun vs. the Cannibal Cop,” “Tomorrowland” and “Crown Vic.” He has seen first-hand what a boon to the local economy that movie making can be.

“A lot of people have been kind of down on the film incentives from different political points of view. But what they don’t realize is that all the money has to be spent in the area in order to qualify for the tax incentive — it’s a huge economy boost … There have been 40 of us that have rolled into Dunkirk over the past few weeks. We’re all getting our gas here, we’re stopping for snacks, Tim Horton’s. There’s at least 10 or 15 of us that are having our third meal or breakfast here in town. And when ‘the big guys’ roll into town for a Hollywood-budget movie, they drop a couple of million dollars in the area. Food, rentals, hotel stays, it’s really helping the area and bringing in money.”

Kaelin Lamberson

Actress Kaelin Lamberson is one of the youngest members of the cast and has a special connection to “Widow’s Point.” Not only is her father, Gregory Lamberson, the director, but her mother, Tamar, is one of the movie’s producers. Like Renna’s character, Kaelin’s character, Delaney, is part of the 1930s timeline and is O’Leary’s niece. Kaelin is looking forward to starting seventh grade in Cheektowaga in a couple of weeks. She has appeared in several of her father’s movie, but cites Delaney as her favorite role to date.

Although she enjoys acting, Kaelin said, “It’s more of a hobby for me. I like it, but I’m really focused on singing.” In addition to maintaining a 98.53 grade point average, Kaelin is also an all-county flutist and a movie buff.

“I’m more of an old horror movie fan because they’re not too scary. My favorite horror movie, maybe is ‘The Thing.’ But in general, I like fantasy movies. ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ is one of my favorites.”

Kaelin admits that memorizing the lines is a bit challenging, but one of her go-to memorization techniques involves making her lines into songs. She’s learned a lot on the set of “Widow’s Point,” and gleaned some wisdom from other cast members. “One of the actresses, Josie, she said you have to become the character, and you have to make everything seem natural. Don’t overdo it.”

Perhaps most memorable for Kaelin has been interacting with some of the ghosts she’s encountered at the lighthouse.

“When it was nighttime, I was a little afraid. Dave, the lighthouse tour guide, gave me this energy tracker. There’s this one ghost — I suspect she is a woman. I put the tracker on one of the main actors, Craig (Sheffer), and I put it on his bicep and it kept beeping. Then I put it on his cheek, and it was beeping there too.”

Behind the scenes

The youngest member of the crew is Hope Muehlbauer, who just graduated from Niagara Falls High School and is production assistant for “Widow’s Point.”

“I met Greg when I was 13 or 14,” she explained. “I made a short film called ‘Zombie Kids’ when I was in middle school, and it showed at his Buffalo Film Festival.”

Muehlbauer began making films at a very young age, as she saved up for her first camera when she was 12. All of that hard work has certainly paid off, as she debuted her first feature film, ‘I Dare You to Open Your Eyes,’ at North Park Theatre in Buffalo last month.

Speaking of “Widow’s Point,” “This is my first actual job on a film set. It’s been great so far. There’s a lot of moving equipment around, making sure people stay quiet on set. Here, there’s a lot of outside shooting, and we keep the cast and crew in good hands.”

Special Makeup Effects Artist Kate Sharun, also from Buffalo, is working with Lamberson for the first time. “I love it! It’s my dream job,” she said of working on “Widow’s Point.” “It’s fun because I like Greg’s style. The ghost makeups are not too extreme, but they do get a little demonic as the script goes on. We get to do a blood effect, which I’m really nervous and excited about.” Sharun is also involved in practical effects for the movie, and is looking forward to doing stop-motion effects, as well.

While many big budget movies have art departments of 20 or more people, “Widow’s Point” has an art department of two. Production Designer Frank Coppola and his son, Art Director Lincoln Coppola, together built an entire set on the certified sound stage in Buffalo where some of the filming took place. The Buffalo-based pair was also responsible for setting the scene at the lighthouse and a house in Clarence, where many interior scenes were filmed. “It’s been a huge job,” explained Frank. “A lot of nights, we’ve been up almost the whole night building the set and getting everything where it needs to be.”

Next steps

The cast and crew of “Widow’s Point” finished up in Dunkirk this week; the entire movie shoot took place over the course of three five-day weeks, which is the shortest schedule Lamberson has ever had. Next comes the editing process. “I’m saying we’ll be finished in February, which means March,” Lamberson chuckled. “The first thing we’ll probably do is put out some feelers for distributors. Very often, a distributor does not want you to have had a premiere or even a cast and crew screening yet…They’d want to bill it as the ‘world premiere,’ and from their point of view, even if you’d had a cast and crew screening, it’s not a world premiere. But we will probably hire a producer’s rep to represent the film and figure that out for us.”

Fans can look forward to seeing a glimpse of the movie soon.

“The trick to selling a movie like this, besides having a name like Sheffer, is having a really kick-ass trailer. And we have so many attention-grabbing, flashy shots that we’re going to have a really vicious trailer. I can’t wait.”

To follow the movie as it makes its way from film to screen, follow “Widow’s Point The Movie” on Facebook and stay tuned for the world premiere coming in 2019.

Submitted Photos by Nancy J. Parisi
Special Makeup Effects Artist Kate Sharun of Buffalo (pictured in the foreground) creates a ghostly effect on actress Willow Anwar, who stars in “Widow’s Point” alongside her father, actor Craig Sheffer.

Submitted Photos by Nancy J. Parisi
Fredonia-native Gregory Lamberson recently filmed his latest movie at the Dunkirk Lighthouse. His wife, Tamar, is one of the producers and their daughter, Kaelin, plays the role of Delaney in the 1930s portion of the movie.