Escape from Tomorrow (2013)

In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.

Director:

 Randy Moore

Writer:

 Randy Moore

Stars:

 Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez 

A labyrinthine descent into the grotesque extremes of a Disneyfied society, "Escape From Tomorrow" is surreal for many reasons and wholly original because of them. It's also a daring attempt to literally assail Disney World from the inside out. The loosely constructed, starkly black-and-white directorial debut of Randy Moore, which follows a family on their twisted final day of vacation in Disney World, takes place throughout the theme park behemoth and appears to have come together without an iota of permission. Moore portrays Disney World as the ultimate horror show -- and gets the point across in nearly every scene. Beyond the issue of whether or not it has the legal right to exist, however, "Escape from Tomorrow" displays a fascinating ingenuity in its appropriation of the Disney brand. Seeming everyman Jim White (Roy Abramson) awakens at the start of the story to learn that he has lost his job for inexplicable reasons

Going to Disneyland as a child, I heard there were cameras in the bushes. My mom's best friend, a California native, said she had considered working there in her youth and heard that employees who didn't cooperate with the "Disney way" were immediately terminated. This knowledge (or hearsay) helped dissuade me years later from applying to the Disney College Program.

So when I heard that writer-director Randy Moore had shot his debut Escape From Tomorrow at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, without requesting permission, I became intrigued: If there really are cameras in the parks bushes, why would Disney executives allow a film to be created on their soil that has such blatant disregard for the company's image?

There are no cameras in the park's bushes ... or is that what Disney wants us to think?

Escape From Tomorrow is the film that shouldn't exist. Shot entirely on location in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, director Randy Mooreand director of photography Lucas Lee Graham filmed Escape From Tomorrow guerilla-style, without permission from anyone at Disney. This surrealist tale follows a father who, on the last day of his family's Disney World vacation, finds out he lost his job, and the theme park begins to lose its luster - even become threatening.

We spoke with Randy and Lucas at this year's Fantastic Fest, and they told us about almost getting caught, how they prepped for a shoot like this, and torturing their child actors by not allowing them on the rides.