Tucson filmmaker releasing holiday flick with a vampire twist

The latest film by Tucson filmmaker Peter Leon will have its world premiere Tuesday, Dec. 1, just in time for the holidays.

But while “The Last Kiss” takes place at a Christmas party for a bunch of friends in a cozy cabin on a snowy mountain, don’t expect any Hallmark Channel warm-and-fuzzies.

“The Last Kiss” is what Leon likes to call a horror-comedy — lots of blood and gore mixed with absurdist comedy.

“In Tucson, you tell people you’re working on a vampire Christmas horror movie, and people are genuinely interested,” said the 36-year-old Tucson native and amateur bodybuilder.

“The Last Kiss” is a story about a group of friends who get together for a holiday party on Mount Lemmon. Holiday cheer is mixed with ghost stories and a few Festivus-style grievances when one of the friends tells the scary tale of the Summerhaven Vampires that come out once every 100 years.

Yep, this is that once-every-100-years night.

The film, which Leon and his cast of friends made last winter before the COVID-19 pandemic set in, will be shown at Century 20 El Con.

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The audience will be limited to about 170 with social distancing protocols that cut the theater’s capacity by at least half, Leon said.

This is Leon’s eighth full-length feature film and his first vampire flick since he started making movies when he was a kid.

“My friend got a camcorder when he was 8 years old, and we made our own movies, and I still kept doing it ever since,” said Leon, who admitted his early movies were not exactly blockbusters. But his last three or four films were pretty good, he said.

Leon’s actors are his friends, and everyone volunteers, to keep costs down. And although he has entered some of his films in festivals, he has mostly made movies for himself.

“It’s a passion really. It’s not necessarily a financial goal,” he said, adding that he has invested thousands in equipment over the years from cameras to lighting and sound equipment. “That’s the main drive behind me doing these films because it’s generally just about me. If nobody showed up at the theater, I would still be making them for myself.”

Leon cowrote “The Last Kiss” with J. Patrick Ohlde, who also acts in the movie. Leon and Ohlde have worked on a couple of Leon’s films.