The Millennium Bug Has Finally Arrived!

But don’t panic! We’re talking about the horror thriller by director Kenneth Cran and his brother James rather than the fanciful computer scare that led us into the new millennium. The Cran Brothers’ millennium bug isn’t a programming glitch and is very very big — near enough to Godzilla-big. It has lots of teeth. It rises from the depths as the millennium clocks in and sets about dealing with a bunch of the most violent and nastily inbred hillybilly lunatics ever to torment wandering innocents. The Crawfords make Leatherface’s clan look like viable genetic material!

The Millennium Bug (US-2010; dir Kenneth Cran)

Synopsis:

When the Haskin family seeks refuge from Y2K hysteria in the isolated forests of the Sierra Diablos mountains, madness and terror find them there. Abducted by a vicious hillbilly clan, the Haskins fight for survival, but neither they nor the hillbilly Crawfords can comprehend the monstrous nightmare about to erupt from the bowels of the earth.

The Millennium Bug, which from available stills looks a little like the mutant spawn of House of a 1000 Corpses and Tremors, stars Jon Briddell, Adam Brooks, Christine Haeberman, Trek Loneman, Ken MacFarlane, John Charles Meyer, Ian Pfister, Ginger Pullman, Ben Seton, Jessica Simons, Sandi Steinberg and Benjamin Watts as “The Bug” — (see the official website for more details).

Director Kenneth Cran had supplied Undead Backbrain with a monster-truck load of new stills like those above, to add to the ones previously released (see links below). You can see the latest in the Gallery at the end of this post. From all appearances, The Millennium Bug looks set to be a redneck-maniacs-vs-giant-monster classic!

Production Status Notes:

Ironically, during post-production, the schedule suffered a setback thanks to a bug in the main computer and an apparent meltdown. I guess, the mBug was getting its revenge. But the problem was speedily rectified, with little lasting damage. In fact there were benefits. Cran commented on the film’s Facebook page:

The month off because of the computer crash has allowed me to look at the cut with fresh eyes. I’m finding ways of improving the movie. Long live independent filmmaking!

Things were going well, particularly in regards to VFX:

Dustin “El Toasto Blanco” Yoder continues to dazzle us with his composites of full-sized actors into miniature sets. He didn’t even KNOW Shake until just a few months ago (it’s out of production now, and only available from some guy named Pixel Pete — he’s in the green Chevy Impala in the alley behind the bowling alley…… tell ’em Joe sent you. Cash only).

Then came the announcement:

The movie has been restored, editing is complete. Meeting and viewing of the workprint with Ugo the sound designer and Andrew the composer goes well. After 2.5 years, the movie will soon be out of my hands, and into theirs.

Currently, The Millennium Bug is getting an immaculate new soundscape and music score, while the Cran Bros. set about marketing matters, including the production of a trailer. The trailer is expected to be completed in about two weeks, or even less, and you will see it here, first, on Undead Backbrain. So keep a mutated eye out!

This is going to be big…

Sources: Kenneth Cran via Avery Guerra