Exclusive: Tentacles Are a Sign of Corruption

A few days ago I was talking about tentacles as a sign of Lovecraft’s Old Ones. Today we have new indie film where the tentacles aren’t so much Out There as In Here. And clearly they can make you very sick.

This image is a piece of artwork for the film The Corrupted (written and directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman), in which a group of attractive 20-somethings get mixed up in a series of bizarre and frightening happenings while holidaying in an idyllic lakeside cabin. Yes, tentacled creatures that possess folk and make them act in a very anti-social manner are involved. Something similar always happens during these kind of peaceful getaways — yet travel agencies never think to mention it in the brochures!

The film, made by Spooktree/ImWithHobo studios, premiered in May last year and played to great success at the Edmonton and Calgary International Film Festivals.

The creatures clearly prefer to inhabit beautiful young women. Understandable really.

Tease Synopsis:

A young man, Jeremy, is sitting on a beach strumming his guitar slowly. He is a recovering junkie and is enjoying some time off at a lakeside cabin. After playing mournful music on his acoustic guitar for a few minutes, he sees a strange woman walking slowly down the beach toward him. She whispers in his ear that she ‘wants to show him something’….

Teaser Trailer:

Full Trailer:

Co-director John Klappstein talked of the hardships involved, which, apart from the usual, featured director of photography Kalon McClarty getting struck by lightning during rehearsals on site.

Like any indie movie, to bolster a smaller budget we needed three things: free stuff, free time, and lots of ingenuity. We had to cold-call, cajole, and canoodle in order to get what we needed. Thankfully, something Jason [Thompson, the producer] was very proficient at.

But in the midst of that antagonistic weather, Klappstein embraced the wonder of indie filmmaking with gusto:

… there we were: sheltering from an electrical storm in a donated cabin on donated land, with an underpaid crew doling out shots of vodka, illuminating scared actors with donated lights. After all that sacrifice and hardship, I knew that if a lightning strike couldn’t stop us, then nothing could. We completed the shoot over a hellish 15 days.

By the end of it, we were a bunch of scrambled eggs. But no matter how dire the circumstances, the Corrupted team found a way. This must be the mentality of the film. If you can’t solve a problem with money, use ingenuity. If no one will give you money (see: government grants), then go do it anyway. If you have to, cut out scenes, or simplify special FX. Limited time and resources guarantee compromise. So embrace that from the start: aim high and ruthlessly trim until you have the best movie you can make.

This decade is the first time Hollywood quality visuals are in the hands of the micro budget. I for one am excited to see the resulting, new world of indie movies. I hope that The Corrupted is a step in that direction. (Source: Seemagazine)