John Rosman’s debut feature film, “New Life,” a sci-fi horror film, is rooted in Oregon.

Filmed in locations including Portland, Vernonia, Troutdale, Estacada, Enterprise and Joseph, the film manages to capture and harness Eastern Oregon’s beauty and eeriness.

The film opens with a young woman splattered in blood with a black eye, clearly on the run. The woman, Jess (Hayley Erin), we learn, is escaping north toward the Canadian border, fleeing something insidious.

We don’t know what she’s running from, but we do know who is pursuing her: a relentless and meticulous fixer, Elsa (Sonya Walger), who is facing a terminal disease herself. As Jess scrambles through hiding spots in the Pacific Northwest, the film eventually reveals a major, horrifying twist with Eastern Oregon as the striking backdrop.

Rosman’s decision to film in Oregon is no coincidence: He spent around a decade of his life here.

Rosman first moved to the Beaver State from outside Detroit to attend college at the University of Oregon in Eugene. This choice was bolstered, at least in part, by Rosman’s interest in Oregon author Ken Kesey.

“When I was getting ready to go to Oregon, I read ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’ by Tom Wolfe about Ken Kesey,” Rosman said. “I was really excited by that aspect of Oregon as well.”

Rosman went on to read Kesey’s Oregon-based novels, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Sometimes a Great Notion.”

Rosman’s time as a producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Corvallis and Portland gave him a solid grasp of Oregon’s diverse landscapes. He traveled all over the state, reporting and producing stories ranging from wildfire management to Bigfoot. Producing short-form documentaries, music videos, and corporate videos honed his skills and inspired his vision for “New Life’s” filming locations.

“That’s kind of where Eastern Oregon really came to focus,” he said. “Filming in the Wallowas as this really picturesque place that is really under-tapped for how amazing it is.”

‘Well, come on inside’

In the winter of 2022, while scouting locations in Joseph, Rosman and his crew came across a farmhouse with an old barn and a wide-open field with the snow-covered Wallowa Mountains sweeping high above. It seemed like a perfect location to film, so Rosman walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

Donna Dawson, whose family has owned the property for three generations, answered. Rosman introduced himself, explaining he was an independent filmmaker, loved her field and wanted to talk with her.

“And she looked at me,” he said. “She’s like, ‘Well, come on inside,’ as if she’d been expecting me, and then just fed me coffee.”

Donna and her son, Joe Dawson, a local real estate agent, live on the farm, which has cattle, as well as alfalfa, wheat and timothy grass. The Dawsons were generous to Rosman. Once he explained the project, Donna simply asked him how many days he would need for filming.

They offered their all-terrain vehicle for the crew to use and helped Rosman work with the city to solidify filming locations. When it came time to film on their property, Joe and Donna let the film crew set up their base area in their spare office in the house.

“I was surprised at how many people are really involved,” Joe Dawson said, and was happy he and his mother could help out. “I thought it was unique and … it was all very positive and we just wanted to be supportive of their project.”

Filming took place in March 2022. As some of the cast and crew drove from Portland to Joseph, they were impressed with the landscape. They drove through the Columbia Gorge, over Mount Hood and into the high desert.

“Then you start to see the Wallowas climb up,” Rosman said, “and it’s a really beautiful dramatic shift.”

Sonya Walger, the supporting lead actress, was especially impressed, Rosman mentioned, saying that experience gave the cast a sense of place in Oregon.

In the film, Eastern Oregon represents Washington, near the Canadian border, where Jess is attempting to flee to her “new life.” A chase between the two main characters was filmed in downtown Enterprise, and the dramatic climax scene was shot in the barn and open field on the Dawsons’ property.

In Joseph, the cast and crew stayed at the Jennings Hotel and a few other locations. Rosman said kindness and generosity were everywhere, and the community embraced the filming.

“People were totally excited,” he said. “They would pull over and ask us what we’re doing, stop and talk. That kind of community support and hospitality is so important when you’re making an independent film. It becomes something that becomes bigger than the project itself.”

Citing other Oregon filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant and Kelly Reichardt as strong influences, Rosman said he enjoyed filming the wintry side of Oregon.

“Most times you see Oregon on screen, it’s going to be this beautiful green lush space,” he said. But since “New Life” was filmed in March, Rosman took advantage of the wintry, cold tones to enhance the suspense of the film.

In March, “the sky is gunmetal gray and even the greens feel a little washed out,” Rosman said, but “I think a big part of living in Oregon is you have to kind of suffer through a lot of these months that are wet and cold and not great to get these beautiful summers or gorgeous winters.”

Rosman lives in Los Angeles now, but he said his connections to Oregon will always run deep.

“I went to school in Oregon, I have family in Oregon, I worked in Oregon,” he said. “I have such a big community out there of people who love me and support me and I love and support.”

He also said he would most certainly film in Eastern Oregon again.

“I really did love filming there,” he said. “It was gorgeous. … All the people I met, all the people I worked with were so incredible and the cast and crew were equally moved by it.”

“New Life” is available for rental online through various sites. It is not yet on streaming services.

Did You Know?

“New Life” isn’t the only science fiction story to take advantage of the Wallowa Mountains.

In Ernest Cline’s sci-fi novels “Ready Player One” and “Ready Player Two,” the Wallowas are the location of a full-size replica of Rivendell, an Elven settlement from “The Lord of the Rings.”

One of the supporting characters in the “Ready Player” novels, tech billionaire Ogden Morrow, builds the Rivendell replica for his wife, Kira, a “Lord of the Rings” fan.

The first novel takes place in 2045, but some online commentators took issue with the Wallowas reference, arguing there’s no location in the mountains that would be suitable for such a project.