May 6, 2010

Trey Howell Is Doing A Chupacabra Movie The Old-Fashioned Way In THE NEST

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Trey Howell

Oh thank God, a crypto horror movie that isn’t about Bigfoot….

If there is one monster that could topple Sasquatch as the crypto horror movie king, it could be the Chupacabra, and frankly, I’m surprised that more movies about the legendary, “Goat Sucker”, aren’t being made?

Well, luckily, film maker Trey Howell has decided to deviate from the big Bigfoot movie craze and take on a Chupacabra horror in his upcoming film, “The Nest”, which is set to start filming in North Carolina this summer.

Howell is looking to make a movie that is more in line with the classic monster films of decades gone by, but with a modern flair.

Maybe I should let him explain.

Howell notes, “The Nest is your classic creature feature, reborn from the black lagoon, with a modern pop-culture cryptid, the Chupacabra.”

“Somewhere between Goonies, Paranormal Activity, and The Alien Trilogy exists this unique hybrid of horror, adventure, and science fiction in the multiverse of cinematic potentiality.”

“We plan on blending and interlacing cinéma vérité elements of recent films like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity with more locked and clean cinematic stylings to achieve an over all visual aesthetic closer to Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, rather than The Blair Witch Project.”

That seems like a lot of cinema genres all rolled into one.

Howell also intends to feature old-school effects in his film, that is to shy away from CGI for standard, hand-made, make-up and creature effects.

“We want to make sure with this project that our creatures are tangible entities in the film because computer generated creatures will never be as scary as the gruesome prosthetic monsters of 1970’s and 1980’s horror films. ”

“Taking the Reptilian/Alien/Vampire/Monkey descriptions of the Chupacabra as our main inspiration, our concept and makeup FX artists have carved out a unique vision for the creature. ”

“We first contacted our concept artist in the United Kingdom, Steve Boulter, who produced some initial creature designs. ”

“Then, sent the artwork to our Makeup FX artist handling the creature creation, Ben Hardie. He is a graduate of The Douglas Education Center in Monessen, Pennsylvania, where he attended horror legend Tom Savini’s Makeup Effects program.”

With that I agree with Howell, I never felt that computer generated effects have had the same impact as actual ‘real’ props, make-up effects, and models.

It is refreshing to here of a modern film maker taking this, rather, ‘classic’, approach to making a monster movie.

Here is the plot:

In a sleepy beach town, several friends, down on their luck and facing eviction, meet a stranger claiming to hold a map to legendary local treasure. It had been lost at sea when a ship carrying Mayan relics capsized in a storm off the coast of the Carolinas in 1718.

Now, all they have to do to resolve their financial woes forever is get to the island and locate the booty.

However, they soon find the island is a breeding ground for the mythical alien creatures known as Chupacabras, and that their existence on the island is irrevocably tied to the treasure they’ve come to claim.

The story reaches its climax, with a twist ending no one will see coming….

Presently Howell is busy working on putting together a teaser trailer for “The Nest”, which the film maker promises we will get to see very soon.

Here are some early production drawings:

Filed under Chupacabras, Cinema News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Monster Island News, Movie Monsters, Pop Culture