Horror Short TEDDY BEARS PICNIC Introduced Insane/Iconic Villain Played by Laurence Harvey
Josh Millican
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A brutal horror short just hit YouTube following a successful international run. Teddy Bears Picnic, directed by Thomas Hodge, screened from the UK to Mexico, Korea to Australia–and even Transilvania! Festivals included Sitges, Frightfest, Tiff, Telluride Horror Show, and Morbido. The film introduces an insane and instantly-iconic new villain played by Laurence Harvey (The Human Centipede Parts 2 & 3). Give it a spin embedded at the top of the article!
If you’re thinking Teddy Bears Picnic would make for an amazing feature, Hodge agrees. “I have been working on the feature version,” the filmmaker tells me, “but due to the current situation with COVID-19, I felt it would be best to put this out now. It really is one of my most personal art projects I have ever made and, hopefully, it is something that people will enjoy and take them away for a few minutes.”
Teddy Bears Picnic also stars Abby Miller (Justified, The Sinner, Aquarius, and Home Before Dark) and Lorelei Winterfrost (a truly incredible child actor).
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Director’s Statement:
“Originally intended to be a proof of concept, the Teddy Bears Picnic short is based on a larger feature film concept but works as a simple self-contained story, intended as a quick 5-minute hit (like the short behind Lights Out) to introduce a taste of the visual style, characters, and tone of the Teddy Bears Picnic world.
“It was a year-long trip in terms of production on the short and was a very personal and hands-on project throughout. I had to don many new creative hats to produce, direct, art-direct, etc. I spent months making props, spending a summer collecting hundreds of teddy bears (which were being thrown out from charity shops) to hand-make these strange rotting teddy bears in the back garden. I’m sure the neighbours thought I had gone crazy!
“Then building creepy woodlands and creating original costumes, as well as there being a BIG technical learning curve and having zero experience prior. I also had the invaluable input of an amazing DP James Fox and the help/support of my co-producer Natalie Dorn. An incredible musical score was provided by Sophie Gaplin, and sound design was by Todd Freeman (Cell Count & Love Sick), along with my co-writer Russell Norris.
“Why Teddy Bears Picnic? Well, I wanted to create a new folk horror/urban myth story. I based the concept loosely around the 1907 melody “Teddy Bears Picnic” which became a popular children’s song, but I always felt it had these sinister undertones with lines like ‘If you go down to the woods today, you better not go alone‘ and ‘It’s safer to stay at home‘… So I wondered what was this children’s song was really talking about? Who were the bears? How did they get there? So this is my dark imaging of that as a nightmarish fable that twists the concept of childhood innocence.”
What do you think of Teddy Bears Picnic? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
