After mysteriously awakening in a barren alien landscape, a self-serving prisoner must conquer a series of grueling trials in order to reunite with his lost love.

Director’s Vision for ‘Checkpoint’

My cinematographer, Matt Noonan, and I were taking a walk where we’d eventually end up shooting this film. At that time, we had no idea what kind of movie we wanted to make but once we were on the ground our imaginations opened up and we started yelling ideas at one another. It took me back to making movies as a kid, when we would just set out on an adventure, camera in tow, and see what developed. We were only scouting locations at this stage, but I got that feeling again – the excitement and the drive to just make something and share it with an audience. It’s a wonderfully fulfilling feeling that I don’t get doing anything else.

We threw a bunch of sci-fi, horror, and video game influences into a blender and out came what we hope is an entertaining romp through one man’s personal hell. Aside from the feisty acid-spitting worms, giant laser beams, and exploding body parts, this film’s backbone is about overcoming personal struggles. Our main character gets so wrapped up in making “progress” and exploiting a situation that he completely overlooks his faults and therefore suffers for it. But there’s always room for redemption, as long as we’re willing to face ourselves. Sometimes it just takes a feisty acid-spitting worm to put us in our place.