by James Fletcher
One of the more intense horror films this year, The Retaliators is an inventive twist on the revenge thriller that leans into several sub-genre tropes, revelling in the unexpected to deliver a visceral spectacle of carnage.
Initially the film’s producer and leading man, Michael Lombardi, best known for his recurring role on TV show Rescue Me, found himself in the unique position of stepping up as co-director, thanks in part to the chaotic effects of the COVID pandemic.
“It was so hard, man. COVID cost production a lot of money,” laments Lombardi, reflecting on the strained production. “Early on, when this hit, those COVID tests were really expensive. And we had to get a lot of them. We were in Nevada, and the lab was in LA. I think it was costing around $500 a test. We had a runner who had to keep going back and forth for a special kind of test. Blood tests we can do on set, but the Screen Actors’ Guild had special protocols we needed to stick by.
“Initially, The Retaliators was a collaboration between the two primary directors, Bridget Smith and Samuel Gonzalez Jr. Bridget was very, very strong in story. That was her main thing. I had done a film with her before [Sno Babies], and so we brought her in for the story part of the movie, where there’s a lot of scenes that make a slow burn, that highbrow side of horror…
“And then Samuel Gonzalez is a super hyper-stylized director. He brings really inventive shots. He’ll shoot up through the bottom of a glass into your eyeball where we’ll see the silhouette of a machete.
“I thought the collaboration of those two was really nice. Then I sat in the editing room with Randy Bricker, a phenomenal editor and a collaborator of mine. He was an apprentice on The Firm with Tom Cruise. Then he was on I Am Legend. He was part of the Halloween franchise and I thought, ‘what a great guy to bring in because he has experience in both horror and story’.
“He and I started going through what was shot, and we knew that we didn’t get it all because of COVID. So, I sat down with Randy, and I storyboarded everything out of what we needed to get.
“I directed all those scenes. But don’t forget I was on set every single day. I’m producer on the film, and I’ve been an actor for a long time. I knew how to get right in the middle of this collaboration and get these scenes that I knew were very important to the story, to really establish some of the characters early on, and then again in the third act.”
Lombardi also wanted to blend film with his other creative passion, music. Hard rock to be precise, as a cursory sample of the film’s soundtrack quickly establishes.
“You want to know what’s crazy? I’m a pretty transparent dude, so I’ll tell you what happened. I loved this script! I’ve always loved horror, and I love music,” elaborates Lombardi with an infectious enthusiasm.
“I had a record deal back in mid 2000s, and I used to write with these great brothers, Darren and Jeff Allen Geare, who had a band as well. They were amazing songwriters. We ended up reconnecting at one point and I was like, ‘hey, what have you guys been up to?’ And they’re like, ‘writing screenplays’. And I said, ‘send them to me’. One of them was The Retaliators.
“The script had a lot of things that reminded me of the eighties. Those were my influences. I loved the winks to those great films of the late eighties and the nineties, Lost Boys, The Crow, Judgment Night, Breakfast Club, and all those great bangers that had awesome soundtracks.
“I brought the script to Allen Kovac, the Better Noise Music founder and CEO. He has around 40 bands including Motley Crue, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills, Papa Roach, Escape The Fate, Tommy Lee, on and on. Back in the day, he had Meatloaf and the Bee Gees. He’s a legendary music manager.
“That’s where the music element came in. I brought Allen the script originally and he said, ‘Let’s do this’. He had a vision, and a marketing plan, and a style, and wanting to bring musicians and actors, and film and music together, which obviously has been done in the past, but in a different way with this.
“But what we wanted to accomplish was making a movie first. I didn’t want to suck the blood of these musicians and be like ‘hey, let’s make this just for your core audience’. Or ‘we have eight cameos in here, with all this music’. So even though we put these musicians in the film, it was in a very non gratuitous manner. It was about the story first.
“I was able to speak with them all about their parts. Before they got to the set, we carefully placed where they were going to be. And they’re all great. If you weren’t a fan of Five Finger Death Punch or Papa Roach, you just hopefully think they were actors if you were there for the film first, and then maybe do a little research and be like, ‘oh my God, those guys!’ And then hopefully it’s more of a symbiotic thing.”
As we reach the final moments of our chat with Lombardi, the candid creative gives us another reason why The Retaliators was meant to be.
“I connected to that role right off the bat,” he explains, referring to his role as the grief-stricken Preacher. “The crazy part is that the film’s inspired by a true story.
“The writers’ younger sister was brutally attacked. So, it’s about this concept of revenge, retaliation, the primal instinct. The family went through a lot.
“She’s very outspoken about this, which is why I can talk about it. The film isn’t about her particular story, but it poses that question: if you had a minute alone with the person who hurt or killed your loved one, would you take it? As a form of therapy, the brothers started writing this story based on that concept. They thought, ‘imagine if there was a service where we can get this guy and have this one minute alone with him’. That premise became our story, and the origin of that is based on her story.
“Most people know I was in a television show called Rescue Me. It’s about New York City firefighters post 9-11. Denis Leary was the star, and I was one of the series regulars.
“The writers’ sister was in firefighter school when this happened to her. This is how serendipitous it is that I end up being the lead. She didn’t even know that I was up for the part or even involved.
“Rescue Me was one of her favourite television shows because she became a ‘probie’, a probationary firefighter, and she loved my character on the show. It was a funny show, but it also showed these guys as flawed human beings. And even though their job makes them heroes, they all have these issues. She could relate to it because she was dealing with her own PTSD and different things. The show helped her heal. And then I end up being the lead in the movie that’s inspired by her, which is really crazy.
“But what’s really beautiful is that she’s now – all these years later from when this happened to her – one of very few female firefighter captains in America. She’s become a captain! It’s a beautiful story.
“And I always wanted to play this role, not for those reasons, but maybe it was meant to be. It’s really wild. Again, me writing with these brothers years ago, having a musical background, and me connecting with Allen Kovac in this musical aspect, and then being the lead in this movie based on her experience after playing a firefighter, while she is one. It’s crazy.”
The Retaliators soundtrack and film is available now on Digital
