The man character X, played by Dan Kimball Jr., stands in his full costume wielding a machete in his "kill room."

SHARE Matt Gonzalez (left) fixes a light behind the scenes as Jared Brock lays on the floor filming for a scene where a character bursts through a door. Many of the crew members had to do various jobs on set for the project. The crew talks between takes at Marcos Cuban Cafe. Pictured in the photo (from left to right) are John Mazzocca, Dan Kimball Jr. and Jordan Owens. Tony, as played by Fedor Steer, is the looming manager of the hardware store where the main character in Hunter X works. The main character X, played by Dan Kimball Jr., shares a pizza with his friend Eric, as played by David Rodgers.

By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News

In hindsight, there are a few things Jared Brock would have done differently for his first feature length film.

He might have used fewer characters or shortened the script. There are scenes now he would have shot and lit differently.

"I didn't go to film school," the 28-year-old graphic design artist said "This is my film school."

But now that the project, three years in the making, is finally finished, he's thrilled to share it. On Saturday, his horror film "Hunter X" will debut during a one-time showing at B & B Theaters in Naples Towne Center.

"I'm still working on it," Brock said in an interview Wednesday. "There are little tweaks I'm making."

Brock, who grew up in Tallahassee, earned his degree in graphic design from Florida State University. He was listening to a podcast a few years ago featuring an interview with director Rian Johnson who was talking about his 2012 science fiction film "Looper" starring Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt.

Johnson talked about how he first got into film, scraping together a few hundred bucks for his first project. Something clicked with Brock in that moment, he said. He knew he wanted to give movies a shot.

He got the idea for "Hunter X" after watching a commercial for a pocket-size hack saw that could cut through metal pipes. He started thinking about the kind of person that would carry a tool like that around with them. Brock wrote a script of about 120 pages about a vigilante serial killer then rallied a group of friends for the project.

"We didn't know what we were doing at all when we get started," said Matt Gonzalez, one of the film's producers and the guy in charge of sound engineering. "It was hard finding people who were willing to actually show up and work, and finding locations to do it. We'd hit people up and ask to use their apartment and they'd say, 'I don't really want a lot of people here filming.'"

A few businesses let the crew use their space, including Hawkeye Sign Company in East Naples where both Brock and Gonzalez work.

Together, the crew raised a little more than $3,000 through campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo then set to filming.

They spent about 22 days shooting, but spread those days out over the course of about 18 months to accommodate everyone's schedule.

Once it was shot, they started post-production, the most labor-intensive part.

At one point, Brock said he had to cut the length of the film through major edits.

"It was like, OK, this little indie slasher movie cannot be longer than 'Lord of the Rings,' " Brock said. "That's a problem."

The crew has plans to shop the film around to local festivals next. In the meantime, they've started their own production company called JAB Haus. They shoot weddings, commercials and music videos. Eventually, they'd love to see the hobby turn into something full-time.

For now, it's time to enjoy the culmination of the past three years of work.

"There's nobody saying you have to do this thing. You're always your biggest hurdle," Brock said. "It is simultaneously the most frustrating thing I've ever worked on and the best thing."

If you go:

Where: B& B Theaters in Naples Towne Centre

3855 U.S. 41 E., East Naples

When: Movie starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. Run time 1 hour, 53 minutes Tickets: $8 at the door