Continuing our 15th Anniversary of "Mark of the Wolf", it's time to look back at the third --and final -- episode to debut during MOTW's inaugural year, "The Garage", which debuted on December 5, 2008.
Back in 2007, when I was still relatively new to the filmmaking game, I was checking out several werewolf related films online. One film that caught my attention was a low budget effort from England, "Dense Fear". After seeing it on YouTube, I left a comment for the film's writer/director (and star) Tony Gardner. Tony was kind to respond back and not soon after, me and him would become friends, one that continues to this day.
Knowing he's had experience with making a werewolf film, and at the time, was in the process of making a sequel, I told him about my webseries idea and asked if he'd be interested in contributing. He said yes and started going to work.
Prior to putting together the episode, Tony was kind enough to contribute to two promotional trailers for the WebSeries, including one that debuted a day before the premiere of "Conundrum", MOTW's first episode. I was fortunate that work on his Dense Fear sequel had hit a snag, giving him more time to put together the story. By July 2008, Tony had a script done and began production on the episode.
After three months of filming off and on, Tony updated me on the episode's progress, including some early stills of the cast in action. And he also gave me the first look of what the werewolf would look like in the film. I was blown away. Seeing the photo told me that this episode was going to be a game changer for the WebSeries.
On December 5th, the third episode would have its world premiere on YouTube.
Now this episode would hit several milestones in the history of MOTW. First, it was the longest episode of the Series, clocking in at nearly 27 minutes. To this day, it still holds the record time wise. Second, it was the first episode to actually show a full on werewolf transformation sequence (thanks, in some part, to some leftover effects from Tony's previous works). It would also be the first to actually show the brutality and carnage of the werewolf in action. There were several gory, bloody scenes involving the wolf and his victim, and Tony and his cast and crew did not hold back showing it off.
I was very impressed with the finished product and liked how Tony and the cast all interacted with the story, especially John Davidson, who played the young werewolf. Tony himself also had a part in the episode, playing the older brother of John's character.
Since its initial airing, Tony has gone on to finish work on his sequel, "Dense Fear 2: Bloodline", which included an amazing transformation scene that has had over two million views on YouTube. His company, Iron Angel Film Productions, has also went on to make several short films and music videos over the years. Today, Tony is currently working on a remake of his original "Dense Fear" film. And we have tossed about the possibility of a sequel to "The Garage", with a story idea that I wrote. But it's still in the development stages.
Looking back on "The Garage", after all these years, I firmly believe that this was the episode that put the MOTW WebSeries on the map. With its unique story, the work from the cast and crew, the incredible makeup work and the intensely brutal attack scenes, this set the tone that would be soon used in future episodes. It also got a lot of buzz on YouTube and got a few more people interested in doing a story for MOTW. It would also establish a pipeline between myself and several other actors, writers and directors from across the pond that continues to this day. We'll talk more about that in a future post.
So here's to 15 years of "The Garage", and a huge thanks to Tony Gardner and his team for making such an impact in the first full year of the MOTW Universe. I hope to have Tony talk about his time working on this in a future "Making Its Mark" entry on this blog.