Popular New Bedford Breakfast Spot Becomes the Backdrop for Horror Movie

New Bedford is yet again the backdrop for filmmakers.

This time, a crew dropped in for an evening of filming at Dillon's Restaurant on County Street.

As owner Andrew Dillon pointed out, Dillion's will celebrate its 29th anniversary next month, so all this attention has perfect timing.

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Filming in New Bedford an 'Incredible Experience'

Director Lila Woodridge, a Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School graduate, reached out to Dillon back in May.

From the looks of it, you would think this was a high-budget film, but it's actually been a passion project for years, and crowdfunded for the most part.

The name of the short film is "Interference." It's a horror piece set in the early 1980s that explores paranoia and identity.

The film was meant to be Woodridge's capstone project for college back in 2020 but the pandemic delayed that.

Now, the production is finally in full swing.

"Filming here has been an absolutely incredible experience and it’s been so fun to have all my friends from LA and NYC get to see my hometown," Woodridge said of producing the movie locally.

Woodridge went on to study film at New York's Adelphi University.

We couldn't be more proud to share this amazing glow-up.

New Bedford Popular Spot for Filming

Woodridge is in good company as a filmmaker working on the SouthCoast. Earlier this summer, New Bedford and Fairhaven formed the backdrop for "Finestkind," featuring Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones. A few years earlier, New Bedford and Fall River were among the shooting locations for "Jungleland," starring Charlie Hunnam. 

If you have ever been to Dillion's, you'd understand why it makes the perfect backdrop for an 80s-themed film.

"We only had to make a few small adjustments to de-modernize" for filming, Dillon said.

Filming took place overnight to minimize disruption to the popular breakfast and lunch spot as well as the surrounding community. It worked. Lisa White, a close neighbor of the restaurant, said, "I had no idea they were even here filming."

About 'Interference'

Here's what Woodridge had to say about her movie :

"‘Interference’ is a psychological horror film that tells the story of one teenage boy’s struggle with paranoia and identity amidst the start of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. The film is an exploration of the way media and identity are intertwined, a deep dive into social paranoia that parallels our modern world, and a love letter to the analog technology of the '80s."

Check out some pictures of the filming at Dillon's: