Writer-director Reese Eveneshen has teamed up with Uncork’d Entertainment on an action-packed new film titled Defective.

Ahead of the film's Feb. 13 release, Eveneshen spoke to Enstars about the movie, which is based on the country's first and only police state.

In the film, the Preservers of Peace are sent out to investigate and punish citizens (with instant execution) for their crimes — even their minor mistakes. Meanwhile, the film's lead character, Rhett Murphy, and his sister are seen attempting to make an escape from the mass hysteria plaguing their nation as they continue to witness the devastation prompted by the "defective" peacemakers.

Enstars: What was the inspiration behind Defective?
Reese Eveneshen: A few things for sure, one was a love of sci-fi movies. Specifically, ones that were made in that glory period of the 70’s to 80’s, when there was a lot less gloss and polish! Whether intentional or not, of course, it comes off that way now and I love it. Secondly was that the story was born out of desperation! I was trying to get another film off the ground, and it just wasn’t happening. I sat down one day and started writing something else, next thing I knew I was writing what would eventually become Defective. It started off as another script initially, but then it started veering towards science fiction. And here we are now!

Is this a scenario you believe could happen today’s world, or in the future?
I believe a version of it is happening already! Depending on where you travel in the world, you’ve already got heavily armed guards patrolling airports and streets. Earlier this year they announced these super fancy Urban Pacification Suits for homeland security, which have that robotic look! Granted we’re not at police state level insanity yet, but who knows. In the movie, it’s the same idea of extraordinarily armed guards, masked by a robotic look for a more anonymous appearance in public. We just crank the scenario up to eleven and take it to its extreme! When we start getting executed for not following a certain set of basic principles, then we’ll have this talk again.

What would be your personal plan of action, if so?
For my personal plan of action, please see Defective when it comes out on Feb. 13. I’m not sure what I would do! Outside of when I wrote the script, I tend not to overthink these kinds of scenarios. Like I mentioned, I feel like we’re already kind of living a version of this future. All we can do is all we can do. We have to keep living!

How would you describe the film’s main character, Rhett Murphy?
Rhett is the person nobody wants to be, but I feel he’s the more realistic version of how someone handles a situation like that. He knows he should do the right thing, he knows the state of the world isn’t right. But he ignores it. Even when it’s thrown in his face the best he can do is run away from it. However, when a personal element is directly connected to the events, that’s when it starts to matter. You could look at that as a metaphor for how some people tend to deal with things. It’s easy to be an observer and say “yes, we should do something”. But when it starts happening to you, and the gravity of the situation becomes reality, that’s when you kick into action.

How did you go about casting the role, if you were the one who did?
It was very easy to cast that role because I had worked with the actor, Colin Paradine, a few times before. We’d become quite close friends over the years. It’s tough trying to make a living in this industry, you really have to have each other's backs. When I started writing this movie, I immediately had Colin in mind for it. I knew that not only would he show up and work his ass off on the part, but he’d be there for all the other days when he wasn’t needed just to show his support. That goes a long way, especially when you’re working with such a small budget.

What do you hope viewers will take from the film?
I’m hoping people will have fun watching it. We’ve talked a little bit about the social implications of this type of movie, but ultimately that’s not my goal. This is sci-fi action film with a tiny bit of an edge to it! Grab a friend, grab a loved one, grab a couple of people, sit down and have a good time watching it. The cast and crew on this film worked incredibly hard under some very stressful circumstances. It took us about a year to shoot the entire film because we kept having to stop to raise more money! Not many people would stay on board for that, but they did and it certainly wasn’t because of the paycheck. And come check out our Defective-The Movie page on Facebook! We’ve had that page up since we started production, there are a ton of behind-the-scenes photos, videos, and all kinds of fun stuff.

Defective premieres on Feb. 13. Check out the trailer below:

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