A teen school boy discovers a hidden, magical world right beneath his nose in Charlie Human's cult South African novel Apocalypse Now Now and if that brings a certain bespectacled boy wizard to mind, well, let's just say that South Africa is significantly less genteel than is jolly old England. Human's novel - and, yes, that is his actual, real name - is far more John Dies At The End than Harry Potter as it sends its protagonist careening through a frequently bizarre and often profane world ... a world so deeply fucked up that it's best hope of salvation is a teenage sociopath.
Snarky, monster-porn-dealing teen, Baxter Zevcenko, might be a serial killer. His girlfriend, Esme, is missing, and he’s the prime suspect. To clear his name, he’ll turn to Cape Town’s grizzliest, drunkest bounty hunter, Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin. Little does he know that Ronin is a supernatural bounty-hunter, and that he’s about to be dragged headlong into a deep, dark Cape Town underbelly full of monsters and myth, shadowy government forces, bloodthirsty crow-men and a conspiracy across time and space.
I first came across Human's first novel totally by chance at an airport book shop in Cape Town. I was, admittedly, sucked in by the cover art and quickly discovered a very special brand of madness. Very quickly joined by Cape Town based director Michael Matthews (Five Fingers For Marseilles) and District Nine writer Terri Tatchell along with a team of talented producer / compatriots (Sean Drummond, Dylan Voogt, Nicolas Sorbara, Lon Molnar, Christina Piovesan, Jonathan Bronfman) we've been working ever since to wrestle this beast on to screen. The full feature is a ways off yet but to whet the appetite Matthews has helmed a seven minute proof of concept due to premiere on Short of the Week on August 29th and, hey! If you want a taste of that, we've got one right here!
Take a look at the Apocalypse Now Now teaser below and let us know what you think!