ADI Kickstarts Amazing All-Practical Creature Feature – Harbinger Down
Steve Barton
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We horror fans are a vocal bunch and justifiably critical of modern genre movies. Yet, when something truly worthwhile comes around, many of us don’t step up to show our support. Well, here is your real chance to make a difference.
When it comes to modern movies, nothing ruffles our feathers more than CGI. It’s a good tool that has had a negative impact on today’s horror films, and at no time have we felt that sting more than in the 2011 version of The Thing – you know, that prequel to the greatest practical FX movie of all time where they covered everything up with unrealistic computer work. After unleashing a truly heartbreaking video showing all their cut practical effects footage, Amalgamated Dynamics’ Alec Gillis decided to take matters into his own hands by writing and directing an all-practical monster movie extravaganza called Harbinger Down. And it looks incredible.
Of course, Hollywood won’t fund an original old-school monster movie so the folks at ADI have launched an uber-slick Kickstarter campaign to see the movie realized. I know, I know… we’re all sick of Kickstarter. But if crowd-funding exists for a reason, this is it. Read on…
In the spirit of sci-fi/horror classics Alien and The Thing, Harbinger Down is a tense, claustrophobic full-length creature film that will feature only practical animatronic and makeup effects.
Synopsis:
A group of grad students have booked passage on the fishing trawler Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on a pod of Orcas in the Bering Sea. When the ship’s crew dredges up a recently thawed piece of old Soviet space wreckage, things get downright deadly. It seems that the Russians experimented with tardigrades, tiny resilient animals able to withstand the extremes of space radiation. The creatures survived, but not without mutation.
Now the crew is exposed to aggressively mutating organisms. And after being locked in ice for three decades, the creatures aren’t about to give up the warmth of human companionship.
Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., are among the most talented and passionate FX men working today, and with Harbinger Down they hope to send a message to Hollywood that there is no substitute for good ol’ fashioned practical creatures. And they’re taking their approach one step further by hiring the best vets in the business to create models, miniatures and stop-motion techniques to create an experience that feels 100% authentic. How awesome is that?!?
As of this writing, there are only 7 days left in the campaign and the project is only at 50%. But horror fans can make all the difference. It’s time for us to put up or shut up. Zach Braff raised $3 million to cover his next self-indulgent drama… and if ADI can’t get a modest $350,000 to fund an epic creature movie, then we might as well throw in the towel. Head on over to the Kickstarter page and pledge now… or forever be subjected to pixel boogeymen.
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