On Wednesday I posted a small article about the tragic story of 23-year-old Jamie Belty, a crew member on film maker, Tyler Meyer's, film, "The Legend of Grassman", who was assaulted by an ex-boyfriend with a hammer.
The e-mail that I was forwarded, by a mutual friend, Avery Guerra, was a few weeks old (not the fault of Avery, it ended up in his 'spam' folder by accident), so the information on Jamie's condition was not up to date.
I am now happy to report that things are looking up for Jamie and she will recover.
Tyler Meyer sent me this message yesterday, via Facebook, that I think everyone will be very happy to read:
"I'm happy to say that in the few weeks since I sent that email out, her condition has improved dramatically. I spent time with her at the hospital on Sunday. Her jaw is wired shut, so she communicates by writing. But we sat around and talked and joked like normal. She denied it, but I'm pretty sure I even caught a couple smiles."
"She's still got a lot of healing to do, and she'll has a long road of rehab & reconstructive surgeries to endure, but we're all blown away by how fast she's progressing."
Amen.
Tyler also wanted me to tell everyone that Jamie and her family truly felt blessed by all of the prayers and donations that they had received.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Tyler Meyer / Avery Guerra
I was just forwarded a very sad e-mail from "The Legend of Grassman" director, Tyler Meyer. According to the film maker, one of his volunteers on the film, 23-year-old Jamie Belty, was attacked this past weekend in her apartment by an ex-boyfriend with a hammer. Reportedly the young woman is in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital.
According to Meyer, "She (Belty) suffered a good deal of head trauma and has a lot of rehabilitation ahead of her."
Several of the victims friends and family have set up a website so that people can read about what happened and donate to help her family pay her medical expenses.
All of our prayers go out to Jamie Belty, her family and close friends.
What a terrible tragedy.
Tyler Meyer also sent along this update on how the filming of "The Legend of Grassman" is proceeding.
"Since November, we've been editing, looping, shooting cut-ins, and trying to convince people to work with us on our shoot this May. That last thing is the hardest part when you have no money and you tell people you're making a Bigfoot movie. You need actors and crew and locations, and about 75% of the people you talk to think you're nuts. But the trailer we put together with last Fall's footage has helped us out in that area, as has the enthusiastic press we've received so far. So, we've been able to get that percentage down to 50%. From a producing angle, things are starting to come together. And now that the leaves have returned, we're about to resume principal photography."
Look for an update on Jamie Belty, and "The Legend of Grassman" very soon.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Tyler Meyer / Avery Guerra
I know that I have really beaten the fact that there are a plethora of Bigfoot movies being made out there right now into the ground, so I'm not going to force you to mill over the ever growing list yet again.
That being said, I am going to make note of one of these films that I touched on in a prior article called "The Legend of Grassman."
Now, I know that your head may be swimming from trying to keep all of these films straight, and I wouldn't want to pile another one on you, but this one looks pretty damn good, so I think that it deserves mention.
Tyler and Dennis Meyer began work on the film back in 2008 after they had just completed work on the script for a 19th century vampire film called, "Consumed". The pair debated for some time whether to try and tackle the project for their first foray into feature films, but ultimately decided to try something with a smaller budget.
The eager film makers set to developing a script based on a local, Ohio, legend about the 'Grassman', a hairy relative of Bigfoot that was first sighted by white settlers in the mid 1800s.
Being veterans of both the movie and television business really helped the pair in preparation for taking on such an iconic monster as Bigfoot. Knowing that they would have to 'get it right' if they wanted any success with the film, the Meyer brothers did their home work.
Director, Tyler Meyer, explains, "When it came to Bigfoot, which has been done to death in movies, we took our inspiration from our childhoods. We were kids in the 70’s and grew up on stuff like 'The Legend of Boggy Creek' and 'In Search Of…' That stuff was freaky. And it was absolutely real to us. And that’s what we decided to try and capture with our film, the 'real' Bigfoot. We watched a lot of 70’s Bigfoot films, horror films, documentaries, mockumentaries and also immersed ourselves in Bigfoot folklore.".
Dennis also did a lot of research on animal behavior to add a realism and authenticity to what otherwise would be a two-dimensional monster caricature.
The result is that this will be the Bigfoot film we wanted to see since we were kids sitting around watching Leonard Nimoy and wondering if he needed corrective surgery to fix the points on his ears. "
Once the film making duo felt that they had researched enough to make a believable Bigfoot, they moved on to pin-pointing just what they wanted the basis of their film to be.
Meyer adds, "The film is kind of a mixture of a 1930’s jungle adventure, a 1980’s slasher movie, and a 1970’s Bigfoot documentary. The films that have influenced us on this project come from all different eras and genres, but early on Dennis and I focused on Jaws as the type of movie we wanted to emulate. Our prior horror efforts, including Consumed are dark, grim tales, which we enjoy, but didn't feel that tone was what we wanted in a Bigfoot film. We agreed that Jaws had a good balance or horror, comedy, and adventure which we are attempting to capture. "
Not wanting to pour too much money into their first effort, the Meyer brothers discovered an innovative, yet effective, way to shoot a quality HD film, on a shoe-string budget.
Last fall, armed with a Panasonic DMC-GH1 camera, which is actually a still photography camera that shoots HD video, and a relatively unknown cast, the pair took to the woods near Lebanon, Ohio to begin filming.
Harsh winter conditions forced the filming to halt, but the Meyer brothers are gearing up at present to complete work on the production later this spring.
If all goes according to plan, "The Legend of Grassman" will be ready for the film festival circuit by September. After that the Meyers will be looking for a distribution deal.
Hopefully "The Legend of Grassman" will be successful enough to pave the way for the film makers 'dream' project, the 19th century vampire film, "Consumed".
From what I have seen from the film, it should do just that.
Here are two trailers for "The Legend of Grassman" plus a bundle of shots from the location filming:
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Avery Guerra / Twitch / Undead Backbrain
Over the past week or so, I have had quite a few items come through my in box that I have wanted to touch on, but there wasn't enough information available on each of them to warrant individual articles. So, I decided to 'mash em' together rather than let them slip past me.
More photos from "King Crabs Attack!"
This one may be only about seven minutes long, but it looks pretty damn cool.
If you recall, I first mentioned this one back in September of last year. To Make a long story short, Grégoire Sivan created a little retro movie trailer for a school project that was pretty well received so he decided to expand it into a short film.
Here is the plot:
Trouville-sur-Mer, a Lower Normandy resort, is an uneventful place. However, Basile, of the Coast Guard, has witnessed many strange events. Are they simple coincidence? Not for Basile. King Crab Attack!
From the trailer I was able to put together that the film is about a bunch of giant king crabs that invade a coastal French town and are thwarted by a scientist who grows to giant size to combat them, and impress his blond girl-friend.
These new photos make the film look very much like an homage to the giant creature films of the 50s and 60s.
Which I always love.
Look for this one on the European film festival circuit.
Revenge of the Zebra Miniskirt Police
It looks like all you really have to do these days to generate some Internet buzz is dress up some Asian girls in next to nothing.
Little is known about Nishiumi Kenichiro's "Revenge of the Zebra Miniskirt Police", except that it is going to be a direct to video release......and it stars three hot Japanese girls.
No, really, that just about it. No plot, no nothing. Even the names of the three sexy "Miniskirt Police" haven't been released.
There is a rumor that I read about how the three actresses got their chance to be in the film by winning some contest, but I can't back that up.
I guess a sexy photo of three Japanese girls is all the publicity that is needed.
Got the film mentioned here didn't it?
The Legend of Grassman
Surprised that I have yet another Bigfoot movie to talk about?
You shouldn't be! Just about everyone is making one these days.
This time around, it's Tyler and Dennis Meyer filming the 'harry horror' for their Monkey Limited production company.
The film is called "The Legend of Grassman" and, like most of these new generation of Bigfoot films, it centers around a group of researchers who trek out into the woods to search for a local legend and find more than they bargained for.
The trailer for the film looks pretty good.
Check it out:
If there just weren't so many films like it being produced right now, it would probably be getting more press.
The Meyer brothers have a production blog about their film, that if you took the time to read through it, may provide you more information about the film, than I was able to find out.
Written By: Ken Hulsey
See Also: A Call Out To All Fans To Help THE LEGEND OF GRASSMAN Crew Member After Assualt
