News
Return of the Orca from ‘JAWS’
Cape Cod Shark Biologist Greg Skomal has big plans to recreate the Orca, the vessel in Jaws that pursued the 25 foot, 3 ton great white off the coast of Amity Island.
With Discovery Channel’s Shark week closely upon us, this news can’t come at a better time! The highly anticipated week long ode to sharks begins August 9 and runs until August 16 and marks the 32nd anniversary for shark aficionados.
It was 45 years ago when audiences were introduced to one of the most successful and iconic movies in cinematic history directed by Steven Spielberg; Jaws.
The movie’s heroes pursue the man eating shark on a boat named the Orca. Ironically, the orca, also known as the killer whale, has recently been discovered to be the only natural enemy of the great white shark in the wild.
In a Hulu documentary entitled The Whale that Ate Jaws, specialists in the field examine the phenomenon that orcas will attack a great white just to eat their liver. The killer whales will not eat any other part of the long time feared fish. This behavior has been most notably been observed in waters off of South Africa.
Seeing the blood thirst for sharks incited by his book and subsequent movie, author Peter Benchley was soon hit with the guilt of these beautiful creatures being slaughtered in oceans across the world. Soon after he started a shark conservation to help education the public as well as protect these creatures of the deep. After his untimely death in 2006 his legacy entitled the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards have been instituted and carried on by his wife, Wendy Benchley and David Helvarg.
Almost five decades after the release of the horror movie that kept many out of the water, a goal of an indiegogo campaign is to recreate the Orca. However, while Captain Quint’s vessel was initially created and deployed to destroy sharks, this research team is recreating the iconic ship to observe and study marine life in the same waters off of Martha’s Vineyard where the movie was filmed.
However, the vessel will not be built from bare bones. Instead, the team found a Nova Scotia lobster ship named Lydia along the coast of Massachusetts, and it is this ship they will remodel for their project.
The original Orca has been lost for 30 years, and since that time a replica has not been produced. This new ship will be deemed Orca III, as there were two Orcas created for the filming of Jaws.
To assist in the remodeling of the lobster vessel, Jaws production designer Joes Alves has come aboard to refine the details and characteristics that made the original Orca so memorable. In many ways, this ship was a character within itself, and Alves will help bring it back to life. Alves will be providing art direction as well as design plans to replicate Orca III and make the final product as similar as possible to Orca and Orca II.
Martha’s Vineyard local boat builder Chris Crawford has joined the team to undertake the responsibility of physically recreating Lydia into the Orca III. Crawford origionally refitted the Orca for the 1975 film from a boat in 1974 in a mere four weeks! No small feat.
To help bring the Orca III to life, the team has set up an indiegogo page where they are aiming to collect a total of $150,000. As of the date of this article, August 4, 2020, the campaign has collected nearly $9,500.
To learn more about the project and indiegogo campaign click here. To learn more about the Return of the Orca be sure to check out their website!
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Editorial
7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch
The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.
The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.
We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.
Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?
Scream Live (2023)
Ghostface (2021)
Ghost Face (2023)
Don’t Scream (2022)
Scream: A Fan Film (2023)
The Scream (2023)
A Scream Fan Film (2023)
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Movies
Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month
Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.
Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.
According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.
Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.
Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.
Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.
While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.
According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”
The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.
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Movies
Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released
In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.
The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.
The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.
Here is the fresh trailer:
According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.
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