Lights, Action, Freehold!

Freehold has many faces. It can look like a quaint little town with a main street quietly lit by old fashion street lamps. It can take on the appearance of a wealthy community with 15 room houses and a three-car garage. Then, of course, there is the farmland that gives the aura of the Midwest, with acres and acres of lush growth.

Because of the various personalities that Freehold can assume, it has been the quiet scene of many of the movies we have loved. Although you might not have recognized the location at the time, look again.

The last bloody scene of Friday the 13th was actually filmed in Turkey Swamp Park. In the 1980 version, if you remember, Alice is pulled under the water. The policeman drives down the hill. The audience is left with an uneasy feeling that will probably be made more uncomfortable when you think that Freddy was in our own backyard.

In 2002, Lordi Films, an independent film company that has received a multitude of awards and honors, produced a film called Jersey Heat. This movie about gangsters, FBI agents and the people next door has a lot of twists. The movie was filmed all around New Jersey, including Freehold. Mike Lordi premiered the film in Freehold to add to the authenticity. 

In the 2005 version of War of the Worlds, our planet is in dire straits as we are being invaded by “alien tripod fighting machines.”  This may not have been one of Spielberg’s best. The characters played by Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning are trying to escape to safety as they see the world destroyed around them. An airplane crashes into a house in, of course, Freehold, New Jersey.

The 2009 film Improbable, Hidden in Simple Beauty was written by Pedro Urrata. Most of the movie was filmed in the Dominican Republic, however parts of the film take place in New York and New Jersey. It involves three bankers and a money-laundering scheme. The first clip in the previews is of a beautiful Freehold house where one of the bankers is supposed to live. Shots of Freehold were spliced into the movie to create the setting.

Another independent film, Never Among Friends, about life, love friendship and betrayal actually stars area residents Natalie Durante, of Marlboro, and Kevin Interdonato, of Howell. It was, again, filmed in Freehold. The movie debuted at the Clearview Cinema in Red Bank.

Freehold is a timeless location for filmmakers and has been for the last 35 years. My suggestion is that we create a film festival. I can see it now, "The Freehold Film Festival"; after all we have a theater that can show multiple movies and a parking lot that can accommodate the throngs.