A krackoon is back, terrorizing the people of Locust Point and Throggs Neck.
But it’s only on film.
The sequel to “Krackoon,” a prize-winning horror film shot locally in 2009, recently wrapped up filming.
The original film is about a crack addicted raccoon that attacks people in an east Bronx town – and accidently unravels a shady land deal organized by a corrupt mayor.
Krackoon 2, being produced by writer-director Jerry Landi and Bronx-based Amuck Duck Productions, draws a sharp contrast to the original film by casting a group of professional, though mostly Bronx-based, actors in leading roles.
The original film garnered national attention, winning Best Cult Feature at a Los Angles screening of the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
In a New York screening of the same festival, the film won Best Horror Film.
“The film looks drastically different from the first one,” said Landi. “I think the script is better, and I have professional actors on this one. In the first film, we basically pulled actors from people in the neighborhood.”
Horror-film actor and model Cindy Guyer is the big name in the new film, said Landi, but audiences can expect to see other familiar faces from television and movies including Samantha Tuffarelli, Sal Amore, Bob Connelly, and others.
“The second film was also low-budget, so we really couldn’t get a lot of big name stars,” said Landi. “Our big name in this movie is Cindy Guyer. We also got a lot of local professional actors and paid them to work on the film.”
The plot of the film picks up where the previous one left off, he said, with the crane-shot scene filmed at the Locust Point Civic Association’s Tierney Avenue clubhouse. There, bodies from the previous night’s rampage by the krackoon are being examined by authorities. The film follows on-going attacks by the krackoon on some innocent and some not-so-innocent vicitms. By the end of the film, the krackoon has two offspring.
The look of the film, now in post-production, should be highly polished visually.
“We shot it in high definition, using Cannon 7D cameras,” said Landi. The first movie was filmed on 35mm videotape and then transferred to a computer where it was edited.
“The result is that the film looks so much better than the last one, and the special effects are also much better,” he said.
While he doesn’t want to reveal too much about the new movie, Landi said he was espcially grateful to Dr. Emilio Biagotti, who let Amuck Duck use his offices at 3101 E. Tremont Avenue to film on weekends when it was closed.
Fans of the original movie should stay tuned on the future release of the film, said Landi. He is preparing the film for a screening at a California film festival in December, and is exploring options to have Krackoon 2 released on DVD and Video on Demand.
Patrick Rocchio can be reach via e-mail at procchio@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3393
