Produced by Film i Öst, Paar Productions and Hammarström Agency comes Fear of the Woods, a mix of Jaws, The Edge and the 1980s anime Silver Fang. No CGI here, the new horror film features 100% practical effects.
Alaska 1993, A snowstorm has trapped the small mountain town. Now it’s up to a group of rebellious teenagers to save their town, which doesn’t believe in monsters.
Check out the brisk new trailer for Fear of the Woods below:
The trailer showcases the limited lighting that the production had to endure, as well as adding a practical effect of such enormous proportions that it’s a wonder Fear of the Woods got made at all.
When it comes to the world of killer bear movies there are really only a handful (if that) that are worthwhile. Most famously the Anthony Hopkins/Alec Baldwin thriller The Edge but this movie feels more akin to one of our favorites here at GB, and that is, of course, Grizzly. The fun Jaws-riffing is almost always a good time and if this animatronic bear can deliver even a fraction of what this trailer promises, you can bet Fear of the Woods will be worth checking out.
In an interview with Dread Central, director Titus Paar (whose previous film The Perfect Weapon, starring Steven Seagal, was recently #1 on Netflix) elaborated on the use of the animatronic monstrosity they created for the movie:
“The Bear is made without CGI and all in-camera using old-school camera techniques and the very skilled studio, Fixas.se, that created the five-meters tall animatronic bear. The dream was to go back to old school creature horror with story and characters so interesting that the bear could be taken out of the film and still be good.
“We hope to bring back the charm of doing it the old way but with modern techniques and themes, I think the audience wants something that feels real again, true movie magic without CGI. That bear was actually there with us in the freezing snow.”
The film stars Vernon Wells, Ralf Beck, and Christian Arnold. Wells, is probably best known to ’80s film fans as the homicidal biker Wez in The Road Warrior, as well as basically reprising that role in John Hughes’ Weird Science. At 74, the veteran Australian actor did all his own stunts, saying: “I’m a fucking ’80s action star. I don’t need a stuntman!” It was a difficult shoot with two-meter deep snow, arctic temperatures, and only six hours of daylight.
Check out a poster for the horror flick as well:
There isn’t a release date for Fear of the Woods just yet but you can keep an eye on the film’s progress via its Facebook page.
Source: Dread Central, Film i Öst, Paar Productions
and Hammarström Agency