First Look at “Amphibious 3D”

We’ve met Amphibious before, though it was a brief meeting and you may not recall it. It’s a giant monster film made by genre veteran Brian Yuzna, who rose from the demise of Fantastic Factory to film under the auspices of firstly Halcyon Entertainment, then his own company Komodo Films, having been absent from the cinema as director since the not-overly-successful ghost flick Beneath Still Waters (2005). Previous directorial efforts, however, represent a major contribution to the Horror Film canon, and include the very weird Society (1989), the Re-Animator sequel Bride of Re-Animator (1990), the excellent Return of the Living Dead III (1993), and the just okay second Re-Animator sequel Beyond Re-Animator (2003). Since then, he has given us a series of diminishing returns in Faust: Love of the Damned (2000), the robo-dog film Rottweiler (2004) and the aforementioned Beneath Still Waters, though as “Creative Producer” on Paco Plaza’s Romasanta (2004) he had some input into one of the best, and least-known, werewolf movies of all time.

Now this:

Amphibious 3D (Indonesia-2010; dir. Brian Yuzna)

Synopsis:

Marine biologist, Skylar Shane [Janna Fassaert], hires an expat charter boat captain, Jack Bowman [Michael Paré], to help her find prehistoric life form samples in the north Sumatran Sea. During the expedition, they run into some of Jack’s ‘friends’, a gang of smugglers headquartered on a fishing platform in the middle of the sea. Tamal, an orphan sold into servitude on the fishing platform by his uncle, a ‘Dukun’ [sorcerer and master of black magic] shaman, begs Skylar to take him away. She empathizes with the boy, who reminds her of her lost daughter, Rebecca, and is determined to help him, not knowing what lurks beneath the dark inky water, waiting to surface. Once Tamal arrives on the scene, mysterious things begin to happen, until one by one the smugglers are killed by a terrifying creature from the deep. In the middle of an eerie, violent storm, the animus inside Tamal grows stronger, calling for the ancient creature of his nightmares. Now Skylar and Jack must battle the terror – once locked deep in the abyss by an old civilization, as it is now about to resurface… (Celcius website)

The film is currently in post-production, was shot in Stereoscopic 3D, polarized for TH release in Real D / Dolby 3D and will also be available in anaglyph and interactive polarized shutter for video release. It is being distributed by Celcius Entertainment, with an announced release date of May 2010.

First images for the film:

More few more images are included in the Gallery below.

Production images:

Above: Director Yuzna (third from left) and crew

UK company Inition 3D Productions’ Melbourne company was in Jakarta during August, “providing on set 3D production expertise” for Amphibious 3D. 3D filming equipment was provided by Widescreen Media. Personally, I have little interest in 3D as my eyes just don’t see it properly and the image tends to look blurred and murky, at least on DVD — even with the increased clarity of Blu-Ray. But then again I haven’t been exposed to the latest advances in polarising lenses, so maybe they work okay theatrically.

Nevertheless, I’m liking the sound of this film so far and look forward to seeing it, preferably in 2D.

For reference, here is the previous poster:

Previous Backbrain article.

• Sources: Celsius Entertainment website; Xomba; Inition 3D Productions. Via Avery.

Gallery: