FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11-15-05

Michigan Filmmakers Set Indy Psycho-Thriller TRAP.
Writer/Director James Bonner makes his feature film debut with a story about husbands and wives…. killing each other.

Ann Arbor, MI, November 15, 2005 - Writer/director James Bonner, producer Diane Cheklich and their team of Michigan filmmakers have put the final touches on their low-budget feature length psychological thriller, TRAP. On a project like TRAP, those touches mean tweaking the editing of a fight scene on their Final Cut Pro system, fine-tuning the tricky, creepy soundtrack populated by local talent, and goosing the make-up special effects for a dismembered body part.

TRAP is the story of four spouses who become entangled in a dangerous game of manipulation, murder and redemption. For Jim Bonner, an Emmy award-winning short filmmaker, local lighting wizard and basement monster-maker, completion of TRAP is the fulfillment of a dream.

Written during his college years but shot on mini DV last summer, TRAP was the answer to Bonner’s quest to “make a strong dramatic situation out of the fewest possible tools.” TRAP plays out in a near-vacuum, featuring only four characters and two locations. This containment of both the dramatic and production process allowed extremities to be explored and risks taken, giving birth to increasingly devious, even surreal images and performances.

TRAP’s cast and crew were drawn exclusively from the rich pool of Michigan talent, a fact the filmmakers are extremely proud of. “Our film community is not huge, but it has a lot of heart,” says producer Cheklich. With its position in the top five markets for commercial production, Detroit has all the support services a budding filmmaker could want. Bonner’s own deep ties to the Michigan film community resulted in huge added value for TRAP in the form of free labor, free equipment and all manner of trades, favors and good wishes. The result is the essence of independent filmmaking: this born filmmaker with a terrifically diverse skillset inspired great passion in his over-worked, blood-splattered cast and crew to deliver a painful, transcendental film about husbands and wives… killing each other.