If you're an avid Cinema Blend reader, then you know Perri Nemiroff, a contributor whose passion for movies and horror in particular long fueled our coverage. Well, when she's not writing about movies, she's making them. And she's shared with us the above exclusive image of her upcoming horror feature Child Eater.
Child Eater began as a short film that wowed crowds at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, New York City Horror, Mile High Horror and South by Southwest. Its premise was short and scary. One night, while babysitting a kid terrified by the local legend of an eye-ball chomping bogeyman, teen Helen is forced to fight for her life when this child eater turns out to be real. You can watch the full 14-minute short below:
CHILD EATER from Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen on Vimeo.
The short film's raucous reception by audiences inspired its writer/director Erlingur Thoroddsen and producer Perri Nemiroff to reteam and expand Child Eater's story to a feature-length horror thriller. Their bogey man's background grew more complex and creepier. He became Robert Bowery, the once beloved owner of a popular zoo, who was driven mad when blindness crept in and killed his business. As revenge, he lashed out at the town that abandoned him by hunting down children and stealing (and yes, eating!) their eyes. The sprawled lady up top is Ginger, a survivor of this initial onslaught who has become obsessed with revenge.
As you can see, years have passed. But the scares are fresh for little Lucas who lives just down the road from the abandoned game farm. Cait Bliss reprises her role as Helen, who the film has likewise granted a more complex and compelling background than the confines of the short allowed.
Child Eater recently wrapped production. And I had the good fortune of visiting its set in Catskills, New York. We'll give you a full report as the film nears a release date. But for now, we wanted to share some of the teaser images Nemiroff has revealed on her detailed and tantalizing production blog for Shock Till You Drop.
In the first image, you can see Helen (Cait Bliss) cradling Lucas (Colin Critchley) in a long, dark, and branch-cluttered hallway. I can tell you from personal experience, that is a genuinely unsettling set. I stumbled down it in the dark myself, blatantly ignoring everything I ever should have learned from horror movies. This is part of an actual dilapidated game farm's old, abandoned rhino house. Set below ground level, this hall was bizarrely cold--like 20 degrees colder than it was outside--dank, and the production team covered it with branches and nests that gave me flashbacks to the finale of True Detective.
In our last teaser image, the only glimpse of Robert Bowery the production has so far unveiled. And let me assure you as someone who saw him in action, this is just the tip of a terrifying new villain.
For more glimpses of Child Eater and Nemiroff's experience in producing her first feature film, check out the latest episode of she and I's podcast with /Film's Angie Han, Popcorn and Prosecco.
Keep an eye out for Child Eater in 2015.
