Batman Fan Film – City of Scars

The Joker has escaped from Arkham Asylum and kidnapped a young boy and his parents. Batman immediately goes to work on the case leaving no stone unturned, questioning fellow inmates and informants on the street. Will Batman find the family in time or will the boy wind up an orphan like Batman himself?

Sounds like the beginnings of a great plot for the next Christopher Nolan Batman film, right? Actually, it’s the premise of a new fan-film released over the weekend called “City of Scars.”

Fan-films have never been easier to create now that everyone has access to some type of video camera (even if it’s their cell phone) and a place to upload it. Shot with high-definition cameras and a budget of just over $27,000, “City of Scars” is obviously not your average fan-film. In fact, you could say it’s something Robin would have made with his weekly allowance.

“City of Scars” is brought to us by Aaron Schoenke and his father Sean, who founded Bat in the Sun Productions in 2001. Shooting took 21 days over 16 months to complete.

You may be saying to yourself, “$27,000 is a lot to blow on something you’ll never see a return from.” Using DC Comics characters is allowed after all, but only if you aren’t making a profit on it. Luckily the Schoenkes had most of what they needed, including actors, contributed at no cost to them.

And it’s paid off in one way already, as “City of Scars” has over 135,000 views on Daily Motion where it premiered last Friday.

All the writing, directing and producing of the film were done by the Schoenkes but the story would have been nothing without the right actors.

Batman is played by Kevin Porter, a working actor in Hollywood who had a small role in Daredevil. He’s been the Dark Knight for Schoenke in several other fan-films, and remains just as convincing. Paul Molnar once again takes on the role of the Joker as well. Molnar not only acts but works in make-up and special effects in the industry. And finally, Madelynn Rae inhabits fan favorite Harley Quinn, something the big leagues have never shown us in live-action.

Scarface, René Montoya and Crispus Allen all play a part in the 30-minute fan-film and if you blink you might miss or mistake Zsasz and Black Canary.

We’ve got a while to wait for the next Nolan film, I suggest you get your fix with the equally gritty “City of Scars.”

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