Abruptio
Abruptio is an upcoming American puppet-animated horror film written, edited and directed by Evan Marlowe. Produced by Barry Finlayson, Kerry Marlowe, Martin White and Susan Finlayson, the film stars James Marsters, Christopher McDonald, Hana Mae Lee, Robert Englund, Jordan Peele[2][3] and Sid Haig in his final film before his death on September 21, 2019.[4][5][6] Abruptio is set to be released in late 2021, via an undisclosed streaming service.[7]
Abruptio | |
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Teaser poster | |
Directed by | Evan Marlowe |
Produced by |
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Written by | Evan Marlowe |
Starring | |
Music by |
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Cinematography | Evan Marlowe |
Edited by | Evan Marlowe |
Production company |
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 109 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Premise
Les Hackel (James Marsters) is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.[2]
— Evan Marlowe
Cast
- James Marsters as Les Hackel, Danny's best friend
- Christopher McDonald as Police Chief Richter
- Hana Mae Lee as Chelsea
- Robert Englund[8] as Mr. Salk
- Jordan Peele[9] as Danny, Les Hackel's best friend[10][11]
- Sid Haig[12][13][14] as Sal
- Ross King as Lloyd, Les Hackel's boss[15]
- Rich Fulcher as Dummkopf
- Carole Ruggier as Doreen Hackel
- Patrick Cavanaugh as Dennis
- Susan Finlayson as Allison
Production
Filming
Filming started in Los Angeles on May 23, 2015 and wrapped on December 2, 2017.[16][17][18][19] In December 2017, several actors were confirmed to have recorded lines, including James Marsters, Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Jordan Peele, Hana Mae Lee and Christopher McDonald.[20] In a June 2020 interview, the film's director Evan Marlowe revealed that with "six years in, we're still not quite halfway done filming. We plan to pick up where we left off in the coming months."[15]
Post-production
On September 23, 2019, the film's crew relayed their feelings towards the tragic death of co-star Sid Haig, while confirming they will finish post-production on Abruptio soon, for a projected release sometime in 2020.[21][22][23] In April 2020, Marlowe revealed information about the film's production:
Abruptio is a puppet movie. We resolved (for some insane reason) to use only realistic lifelike hand puppets in actual settings, just like any other movie. No CGI backgrounds or actors wearing prosthetic makeup. This sort of thing has never been done. The Dark Crystal comes close, though there, the designers weren’t bound by the confines of reality. We’ve had a few incredibly skilled people helping out. Jeff Farley has been our lead puppet fabricator. Again, this kind of work isn’t common, so some amount of trial and error has been needed to find the balance of aesthetic, durability and function. Meaning, the heads need to look great on camera, hold up well under shooting environments that are often hostile, and let the puppeteer emote without too much effort. When it comes to the actual shoot, our puppeteer Danny Montooth lip syncs with each line, played on loop on my magical iPad until all the aspects (lighting, camera movement, mouth motion, eye line) are just right. Once I’ve got the footage, I edit it up and then our visual effects guy John Sellings smooths out any problems. When a scene is done, it gets color-corrected and graded, and then the sound and score are added. I’d estimate a good 30% of the film is ready to go. We were set to shoot another 30% this year when the coronavirus shut down production. Who knows what the immediate future of film production will be, not only for major studio work but small-scale (read: zero crew) productions like ours? We hope we can rev back up this year.[20]
In August 2020, production resumed, with coronavirus safety protocols in place, including limited crew members.[24] The film will wrap production in early 2021.[7]
Release
Abruptio is set to be released in late 2021, via an undisclosed streaming service.[7]
References
- "'Abruptio' Info". The Times of India. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- Barkan, Jonathan (June 9, 2016). "Jordan Peele Joins Puppet Horror Film 'Abruptio'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
- "Jordan Peele joins the cast of puppet horror 'Abruptio'". Film Industry Network. June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
- "'Jackie Brown' and 'House of 1000 Corpses' star Sid Haig has died". Yahoo Sports. Verizon Media. September 23, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- Roffmanon, Michael (September 7, 2019). "'The Devil's Rejects' star Sid Haig hospitalized in ICU". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- Oller, Jacob (September 23, 2019). "Sid Haig, Rob Zombie's Captain Spaulding and Horror Icon, Dies at 80". Syfy Wire. NBCUniversal. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- "What?!? Who's this freaky little dude?". October 3, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- Gallagher, Brian (January 20, 2016). "Freddy Krueger Is Hosting El Rey's Valentine's Day Horror Marathon". MovieWeb. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- Ivie, Devon (February 27, 2019). "And Now, Every Jordan Peele Project Currently in Development". Vulture. Vox Media. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- Hamman, Cody (June 10, 2016). "Jordan Peele Joins Robert Englund, Sid Haig in Puppet Film 'Abruptio'". JoBlo.com. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- Squires, John (June 10, 2016). "Jordan Peele Joins Robert Englund and Sid Haig in 'Abruptio'". Dread Central. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- Aguilar, Matthew (September 6, 2019). "Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell Star Sid Haig Moved to ICU". Comicbook.com. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- Pountain, David (October 5, 2019). "Rob Zombie Says Sid Haig Knew 3 From Hell Would Be His Last Movie". We Got This Covered. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- Joseph, Matt (December 25, 2019). "3 From Hell Wasn't Actually Sid Haig's Last Movie". We Got This Covered. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- "Meet Lloyd". June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- Squires, John (June 19, 2015). "Sid Haig Voicing Lifelike Puppet In Boldly Original Movie 'Abruptio'". Dread Central. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- Abruptio News
- Jones, Tamika (August 24, 2014). "Indie Spotlight". Daily Dead. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
- McNeely, Kelli Marchman (June 21, 2015). "'Abruptio', A New Kind Of Horror Movie". Horror Fuel. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- "Puppetus Interruptus". April 16, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- "Abruptio - Farewell to Sid Haig". Facebook. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- "Abruptio Posts". Facebook. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- Deerwester, Jayme (September 23, 2019). "Sid Haig, star of 'House of 1000 Corpses,' 'Devil's Rejects,' dies at 80". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- "Filmmaking in the Time of Covid". August 14, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.