Against the odds

Last time CityLife checked in on the Yuzzi Brothers, aka Thomas Vosicky and Ken Lamug, it was 2006, and the filmmaking duo looked forward to premiering its 45-minute debut, Bounce, at the Palms. The story behind the making of Bounce, about a too-smart strip-club bouncer, was compelling. Vosicky had blown out his knee a week before production, shooting the film from the vantage of a wheelchair. Meanwhile, with only a $2,500 budget, the act of securing things like, say, a police car required ingenuity (the filmmakers settled for a Caprice Classic from Budget). Luckily, ingenuity is something Vosicky and Lamug have in spades.

Then the Yuzzi Bros. went ahead and made the mistake of shooting a full-length feature.

This time, the result, Vegasland, is an even darker (and, at 107 minutes, longer) take on Vegas. The story centers on Eddie, a professional gambler kidnapped by a crazed cop for a night-long pursuit of a meth head named Worm. Turns out Worm has a videotape of an illegal bareknuckled bout. The tape may include footage of a murder, and Eddie, who happened to be hitting a bong while watching the tape earlier, can't recall what, if anything, he saw.

Compared to their 2006 effort, the Yuzzi Brothers' Vegasland exudes authority in both cinematography and editing. The actors aren't bad either, many of them returning to work in front of the same camera that launched their careers in 2006. The acting is particularly impressive, considering the film was shot between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.

"Vegas has a different and sometimes rougher face than during the day, for sure," says Vosicky during a recent interview.

In addition to late hours, there were setbacks, including spinal surgery on the actor playing Decker, the psycho law-enforcement officer.

"He's a real professional actor," says Lamug of the actor. "We tried our best to complete his scenes, but at the last minute key actors weren't able to make it for a two-day shoot. The entire production had to be pushed back until Decker recovered."

The crew almost didn't recover when it came time to shoot the "scorpion scene." The team's effects supervisor had entered the desert with a black light and captured two wild scorpions. On set, they discovered the scorpions had fought in their container and killed each other. A new scorpion was purchased at a pet store.

"A couple of times 'Fred' was able to climb out of our scorpion pan," says Lamug. "Everyone would freeze. None of us had scorpion insurance."

Finally, the nightmare of all nightmares: The production suffered a storage break-in, and the Yuzzi Bros. had to re-purchase equipment to continue shooting.

On the bright side, there was the experience of filming inside the legendary Tocco's Boxing Gym. Even brighter, the Yuzzi Bros. are already working on a new film.

"We're looking for major investors for our comedy," says Vosicky. "We're hoping to have Seth Rogan star opposite Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson."

Just don't tell them about the scorpion.