“The Groundskeeper,” a Gothic Horror short film directed by Gabriel Hoover and edited by Asher Gideon, is a film that takes inspiration from George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” and Michele Soavi’s “Cemetery Man.”

The film follows Nick, a petty thief played by Brian Dzuban, who starts working at a graveyard with the sole intention of stealing a precious necklace from the recently-deceased Edith Parks, played by Stacia Paglieri. 

Nick is introduced to his mentor, Sean, “The Groundskeeper,” played by John Iwanonkiw, and is shown the ropes around Oakmont cemetery.

Nick steals the necklace, leading to the dead waking up and rising from their graves, and he and his mentor must put everything back to normal before it’s too late. 

“This is Brian’s first time acting in a film and John has been in many Point Park productions and an extra in many feature films,” Hoover said. 

Hoover also said the film’s story is about respecting life. 

Along with Hoover and Gideon, the film has an extensive crew of up to 30 people. 

“It takes a strong team of many talented people to organize a film like this,” Hoover said. “The team consisted of a lot of Point Park Alumni, some students from the Tom Savini School of Makeup and many first-time filmmakers as well.

“Everyone was in it 100% and I can’t be more thankful for that.”

The film also started fundraising on IndieGogo in the summer and raised around its budget of $10,000.

“We did great fundraising and we’re thankful for everyone who contributed,” Hoover said. 

Initial photography of the film is complete and is currently in the post-production process of being edited. 

“We shot for six full days throughout October and into November,” Hoover said. “We’ll spend the next few months getting the cut right and polishing up the sound and color.”

The production also underwent several minor issues on set.

“We shot in a remote field out in the middle of Somerset, so the nights got very cold,” Hoover said. “It rained on us twice and it was frequently at freezing temperatures, and on the coldest nights, all the gear would be covered in ice.” 

One of the other issues that the production faced was the night-time shooting. 

“Another difficult part of our set was that the film takes place almost entirely at night, [which] required us to shoot very late at night,” Hoover said. “Shoots are almost always 12 hours long, but unfortunately sometimes they go longer than that.

“We made it through, and we did an amazing job at the end of the day,” Hoover said. “I’m proud of my crew.”

“The Groundskeeper” will be shown at the P4 Film Showcase on April 24 at PNC Theater. 

“Come and see all the P4s, come and tell your friends and family,” Hoover said. “There’s nothing more rewarding than getting to show your film to an audience, so bring as many people as possible.”

For behind the scenes photos and promotional content for the film, follow “The Groundskeeper” on Instagram @groundskeeperfilm.