Home-grown, home-shown

Actor Damon Vitale, in a scene from “The Big Hammock.” [Submitted photo]

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Posted July 15, 2025 | By Susan Smiley-Height, [email protected]

Swamps. Mysteries. Bigfoot.

The locally produced film “The Big Hammock” explores all of those and it will have a special free screening at the Ocala Drive-in on July 29.

On that Tuesday, the gates will open at 7 p.m., there will be a live podcast at 8 p.m. and the movie will start at 9 p.m. The event will mark the 14^th anniversary of John Watzke reopening the iconic venue.

Watzke said Travis Cecil, the owner of SFN Productions, contacted him about possibly showing the film.

“After talking to him, I realized that we were very close to the 14^th anniversary of me running the drive-in. It’s all local talent, filmed in Ocala, so I decided it might be a good idea to do a free showing that night, kind of a customer appreciation thing, and let everybody see a local film here at a local landmark,” Watzke said.

The “Gazette” did a Q&A with Cecil, who also was the colorist for the film, to learn more about the people involved.

Who are the other key people in this project?  Cyrious Films owner Malcolm Cyr, director and editor; Cl Visuals owner Colin Lutterloah, executive producer; Chaz Webb, producer; and location scout Zac Sherer.

How did this movie come about? Malcolm Cyr had an idea and a working outline of what the film could be. Planning took place mid-2023, after the outline was created. He contacted longtime friend and writer Jake Cannet. Jake took Malcolm’s outline and drafted a workable script that took numerous re-writes to lock in while the shooting script production started to take place in August of 2023. It consisted of seven months of table reads.

Malcolm had a vision of what it would take to create the world in which The Big Hammock lived. Malcolm then recruited every friend he had. Going into this film, Malcolm had to train each friend to become an on-screen actor. Shooting would take place one year after the script and training was completed. After that, Malcolm would spend the next year filming and editing what would become his first feature film and later become “The Big Hammock.”

In a nutshell, what is it about? After a string of animal mutilations in The Big Hammock, Game Warden Wayne is thrust into the shocking world of Bigfoot speculation. Meanwhile, a famous podcast crew ventures into The Big Hammock to finally get footage of the elusive creature. Things take a turn for the worst when they stumble upon something they should’ve never seen. Take an intense journey into a Central Florida swamp and discover a world full of twists you weren’t expecting.

Who are the actors? Malcolm Cyr, Jake Cannet, Zac Sherer, Damon Vitale, Chris Unger, Sarah Cannet, William Comber, Brandon Mobley, Melanie Harrah, Chaz Webb, Charlie Webb, Rene Webb, Izek Pace, John Lapaille, Jessie Jernigan, Drew Eubanks, Sebastian Qualls, Juan Gonzalez, Trish Fash, Argenis Rivera, Courtney Cannet and Darren Vitale.

Where was it filmed? Ocala, Ocklawaha, Anthony and Indian Lake.

How long is it? 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Where has it been shown? The Epic Theater in Ocala sold out 300 seats in the XL room; the Twin City Opera House in McConnelsville, Ohio; and now the Ocala Drive-in.

Watzke said the drive-in “has been here since 1948. It closed for a few years in the early 2000s and then I reopened it on July 29, 2011.”

“Back in the heyday, there were over 6,000 of us in the country. We’re now under 300. In 2011, there were nine in Florida and now were down to four. We’re part of a dying breed,” he said.

“But we’re part of American history. I tell people all the time, the walk-in theater is a movie, the drive-in is a memory. You talk to somebody about a movie and if they saw it at a walk-in theater they will tell you, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that movie it was good.’ If they saw it at a drive-in, they’ll tell you which one, what kind of vehicle they were driving, who was with them, the whole story,” he noted.

Watzke said one reason the Ocala Drive-in remains viable is that is an affordable option for family entertainment.

“And a lot of people come for my menu,” the native of New Orleans added in his signature drawl.

“We have a complete section of the menu dedicated to New Orleans (N’awlins, as he says it). I have a catfish platter, a seafood platter, Po Boys and a Muffuletta, which is the signature sandwich of New Orleans. I have all my breads shipped in from a bakery out of New Orleans,” he noted.

Normally, when guests visit the drive-in, they are asked to purchase a $10 food voucher per vehicle to help support the business. For the showing on the 29^th, that will be waived, “but we do ask that people not bring in outside food and that they do visit our concession stand, which makes things like this special event possible,” Watzke said.

To learn more about the film, go to thebighammock.com

For information about the theatre, go to ocaladrivein.info