Get ready for some camp in the direct-to-DVD release of the film Grizzly Park. While it’s not a hardcore horror film, the filmmakers behind it know exactly what it takes to have fun with a animal attack movie. Get a handful of ridiculously attractive young adults, bring them out in the woods and have them terrorized by a serial killer AND a grizzly bear. The producer of the film, Belle Avery - a former actress and now producer of such high caliber fare like Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - spoke with Bloody-Disgusting about how to keep your bear happy, and the next incarnation of the highly anticipated prehistoric shark film MEG! Read on for the skinny.
Avery is the producer of GRIZZLY PARK and had many things to say about keeping a giant bear happy.
"I have been close ton one, they are very big very smelly and very scary. And yes, I touched him, he is just so big! But he will do just about anything for a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The trainer would work with him with raw chicken, but when he is on a job he get the Colonials fried chicken. One of the reasons that we chose this bear was that he is not just a movie bear, he does a ton of live shows around children and is used to the noise and the smells."
In the film one of the victims has his face bitten off by the bear; the shot shows the actor with his head inside the bears mouth! No CG, no puppets, all real... it's quite a scary thing to see!
"That was all real when the bear bites the guys face. I had a chat with Tom Skull the director; we really didn’t want to do the bad CGI effects. While we wanted it to be campy and it certainly is, we knew it would be more convincing to establish the bear as a real creature."
With a first time director and a recognizable cast Avery told us about how the movie came to be and how Nick Nunziata (fellow web journalist over at www.chud.com) was involved.
"Nick Nunziata and I are working together on a film called MEG, and he is all into horror and knows all about it, and is an old friend. So I asked him to play with the GRIZZLY PARK script. GRIZZLY PARK is really a lot of fun, Nick brought so much to it,! I live in Virginia, and I met director Tom Skull at the VA film festival, I just wanted to make a film in these beautiful surroundings where I live. I thought it would be fun to do this with a first time director."
A few years back development exec Jeff Katz was championing a killer prehistoric shark film called MEG through New Line. We saw early designs and reported on it heavily, but then the Hollywood system backfired Katz left his position, New Line imploded and it all became unclear as to what was going to happen to the film. Avery tells us exactly where its at now.
"We have a new script out," Avery explains, "It went through its nightmares at New Line and all the various producers. Now it’s in the right hands, with Lloyd Levin, and Larry Gordon attached as producers and these are amazing guys, their track record with TOMB RAIDER and HELLBOY speaks for itself - they get movies made!" Avery continues, "The new script is quite wonderful, we have it out to an A-list director and we are waiting to hear back. I can’t tell you who it is, but let’s put it this way… it doesn’t get any better. The key to MEG is having a great script and our new script really reflects the book. There is no comparisons between the last script, night and day different, so many hands were involved in the last version, and the only thing that remained similar to the book, in my opinion, were the characters names, everything thing else was changed. One of the things about Steve Alton’s book is that it’s so much fun, and completely adaptable for the screen. There are things that we have never seen before. We stuck to the book, it’s a wonderful action packed and really fun script. The next step is getting the director. Jeff Katz is currently not involved, but that’s not to say that he won’t be in the future, we love Jeff!"
Avery also chatted about other projects that are in the works, including a new Loch Ness movie!
"Right now I am working on THE LOCH, based on another Steve Alton book, about the Loch Ness Monster and it’s going to be filmed in Scotland. The publishers have the rights and they are letting us move forward, I am in talks with a great director for it!"
Sorry but Grizzly Park was a fun film, and MEG... Well I have read the book and its great and yes it could be better than JAWS, it just depends how well the film is made. While I welcome a giant shark movie, it borders camp territory(Kind of like Grizzly Park). I am optimisitic that a MEG movie would be fun but also quite scary. Maybe.
Grizzly Park sounds sort of interesting. MEG sounds freaking awesome. The Loch sounds awesome as well. Too bad all three will probably try way too hard and end up sucking...
Steve Alton is a children's writer.
Steve ALTEN wrote Meg, Goliath, etc.
Sources should have the name of the writer correct.
No offense guys, but basic journalistic integrity should apply. Even to horror movie fan sites.
MEG isn't a great book, and is hardly on a par with JAWS. That said, if the director of the MEG film can do what Spielberg did with Benchley's novel (cut out the unnecessary subplots which distract from the action, and let the viewers' imagination play an equal - or greater - role than the special effects), it could be one hell of a fun, scary ride. THE LOCH is a tighter, better-written book than MEG or its sequels, and it would be great to finally see a theatrical Loch Ness movie that really delivers the goods!
bout time that we heard some news on MEG been waiting for awhile to hear new news about it ever since you guys first told us bout MEG. i hope this gets made.
I didn't expect much from GRIZZLY PARK but it was actually a lot of fun, very entertaining. Good cast/characters, too, namely Bebe, Candy and Scab.
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"I have been close ton one, they are very big very smelly and very scary. And yes, I touched him, he is just so big! But he will do just about anything for a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The trainer would work with him with raw chicken, but when he is on a job he get the Colonials fried chicken. One of the reasons that we chose this bear was that he is not just a movie bear, he does a ton of live shows around children and is used to the noise and the smells."
A few years back development exec Jeff Katz was championing a killer prehistoric shark film called MEG through New Line. We saw early designs and reported on it heavily, but then the Hollywood system backfired Katz left his position, New Line imploded and it all became unclear as to what was going to happen to the film. Avery tells us exactly where its at now.
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