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Horror-loving Surrey director thrilled about local debut of ‘Culture Shock’ film

Gigi Saul Guerrero set to return to Rio Theatre for free-admission event
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Gigi Saul Guerrero. (Photo: Corey Malone Creative)

The night of Wednesday, Dec. 11 will be a special one for Surrey-based filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero.

Her debut feature film, a timely horror-thriller called Culture Shock, will have its Western Canadian premiere during a free-admission event at Vancouver’s Rio Theatre.

The 90-minute movie follows a young Mexican woman who, in pursuit of the so-called “American Dream,” crosses illegally into the United States, only to find herself in an American nightmare.

The 9:30 p.m. screening is “a very beautiful opportunity for Vancouver to see what a local filmmaker got to do in Hollywood,” Guerrero told the Now-Leader.

“The (Rio) has been a big part of my career where I have showcased all my short films and been part of many local film festivals,” she added.

The Dec. 11 event, hosted by Joel McCarthy, will include a Q&A with Guerrero. The free tickets can be reserved at riotheatretickets.ca.

The made-in-California Culture Shock, part of Blumhouse Productions’ Into the Dark series, debuted on the Hulu network on July 4.

“Turning a real-world crisis into a horror movie plot, Guerrero and her impeccable cast deliver a remarkable, fierce, and relevant episode,” raved one review on Rotten Tomatoes.

Born in Mexico and later schooled at White Rock’s Earl Marriott Secondary, Guerrero has made a career of scaring people with her movies and also as a longtime creator of Fright Nights, the Halloween-month attraction at the PNE.

• RELATED STORY, from 2018: PNE ‘Fright Nights’ are fun for Surrey-based director of horror films.

In 2013 she co-founded LuchaGore Productions as a vehicle for blood-spattered film projects that include the La Quinceañera series, El Gigante and Mexico Barbaro. She’s also an actor who does voice-over work, among other jobs in the entertainment industry.

Now signed to a film-and-TV deal with Blumhouse, Guerrero is set to direct a horror film inspired by the mythology of Santa Muerte, a personification of death in Mexican-American folk Catholicism.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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