I remember talking to Zane about this at Horrorhound Weekend a couple years back. He mentioned a project called Cryptids. So, here it is! I am excited! They are looking to raise $23,000 and you can help!
Cryptids-Feature Length Creature Horror Anthology
What is ‘CRYPTIDS’?
‘Cryptids’ is a horror anthology that takes place in a radio station on a show called “The Truth Serum” hosted by Major Harlan Dean. On tonight’s episode Harlan decides to tackle the topic of cryptozoology but as the phone lines light up and the calls come in, each caller’s stories become increasingly more bizarre and Harlan starts to question if real dangers are lurking outside the station.
The film is meant to bring back our favorite days of films and television shows like Creepshow, Monsters, Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt. Using as much practical FX with the monsters as we can and keeping the CGI to a minimum. You can expect to see such legends as Bigfoot, Loveland Frogman, Chupacubras, Beast of Bladenboro, Dover Demon and more!
The Origins
The idea of Cryptids began because Zane bought a book as a child at a school book fair called “Monsters You Never Heard Of” by Daniel Coen and it sparked a love of monster stories ever since. Growing up listening to Art Bell’s Coast to Coast he thought it seemed like a no brainer to tell a story about callers who call in to a radio show with their monster encounters and thus ‘Cryptids’ was born. In 2013, Zane started the project but his original team jumped ship after he shot his segment “Melon Heads”. After becoming friends with Zane on the set of ‘The Barn’ in 2016 I decided I would help him resurrect his project and help him take it to the finish line, we just didn’t realize it would be such a long line haha.
Staying true to Zane’s vision, we met and brought on board various indie filmmakers to direct segments in the film including: Brett DeJager of ‘Bonejangles’, Max Groah of ‘Bong of the Living Dead’, Johnny William Holt of ‘The Dooms Chapel Horror’ and Billy Pon of ‘Circus of the Dead’ plus our long time FX artist Robert Kuhn.
We still had 2 main segments left to film plus the wraparound radio show called “The Truth Serum with Major Harlan Dean”. We spent about 2 years looking for the perfect person to play Harlan Dean and luckily while working the convention circuit I met just the person I was looking for while in Lexington Kentucky at Scarefest 2018. After quite some time working out the details I was finally able to land Mr. Monster Vision/ The Last Drive-In himself…Joe Bob Briggs!
