Underground Lizard People
| Underground Lizard People | |
|---|---|
 film poster | |
| Directed by | Jared Cohn |
| Written by |
|
| Screenplay by |
|
| Music by | Chris Pinkston |
| Cinematography | Mike Bauman |
| Edited by |
|
Production company |
Traplight Media |
| Distributed by | R-Squared Films |
Release dates | 2011 |
Running time | 56 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Underground Lizard People is a 2011 American horror thriller written and directed by Jared Cohn, produced by Traplight Media, distributed by R-Squared Films, as Cohn's second feature film.[1][2][3][4]
The film was inspired by news reports from 1934 which spoke toward a pre-historic race of lizard people dwelling in old tunnels beneath the city of Los Angeles. The article claimed that beneath its streets "lies another city remembered only in obscure Indian legends, an underground world built by a strange race that vanished five thousand years ago."[5][6][7]
Synopsis
Based on (alleged) actual eye witness accounts, a group of five New York film students wish to make a documentary. Led by director Jason Watts (Clint Byrne), camera-man Jack (Colin Walker, sound-girl Lynda (Lauren Klemp), ‘executive producer’Cheryl (Courtney Hammond), and Jason’s girlfriend Rachael (Caitlin Gold) explore the "The ‘Banning Tunnels", long-abandoned railway tunnels under Los Angeles, full of graffiti and homeless people, to discover the truth behind a series of mysterious disappearances claimed to be due to the urban legend of a race of cannibalistic lizard people living beneath the streets. After a series of run-ins with some of the tunnel's human inhabitants, including the childlike Roy and the mysterious Chip (Jarded Cohn), the group soon finds the truth to the stories by discovering a forgotten civilization of half human, half lizards. The young film crew soon come under attack by the creatures and find that they have themselves become lost in the maze of tunnels beneath the city.
Cast
- Caitlin Gold as Rachael
- Clint Byrne as Jason Watts
- Lauren Klemp as Lynda
- Colin Walker as Jack
- Ira Berkowitz as Whitehorn
- Jared Cohn as Chip
- Eric C. Bailey as D.O.D. Officer
- Courtney Hammond as Cheryl
- Hugo Dillon as Lizard #1
- Mike Baez as Lizard #3
- Ashley Blades as Spy
- Pierre Bonny as Lizard #2
- Brittany Falcone as Lizard Child #2
- Chloe Falcone as Lizard Child #3
- Matt Baxter Luceno as Matt
- Myles MacVane as as War secretary
- Christian Musto as Lizard Child #1
- Danielle Richard as Lizard Queen #1
- Leajato Amara Robinson as Agent Hurley
- Nicole Rosenberg as Emma
- Craig Scribner as Corporal Donnelly
- Ray Soltani as Tunnel Worker
- Mike Struck as Agent M.
- Ren Valentine as Lizard Queen #2
Reception
MJ Simpson gave the film a "B+" and offered that even with the film giving an impression of being a student project, it was worth watching. He complemented the directing and acting, and praised the film as being "atmospheric, creepy and slickly professional".[1] While the concept of delving into dark tunnels plot was not particularly original, the film offered "generally sympathetic, rounded, believable characters, even if what they’re up to is a bit dumb."[1] He found the film protagonist's lack of preparation unbelievable, as none seemed ready for subterranean urban exploration. He pointed out the ridiculousness of character Rachael "wearing pumps and a short, strapless dress", and how the character of Linda was shocked that the city's abandoned underground tunnels might contain rats, and that titular leader Jason had not briefed his film team beforehand and waited until the group was underground that he spoke toward legends of lizard people. Even with such flaws, Simpson wrote the "dialogue is good and the character conflict well-handled." He wrote that while the film [sic] "not The Descent, I’ll give you that, but it’s a lot, lot better than The Blair Shit Project, for example."[1]
Dread Central revealed that the director co-wrote the film's screenplay with Ed Erdalac, and that the film alleges to be a true story of a modern exploration of creatures living below the streets of Los Angeles, concluding "Underground Lizard People looks like a feature-length episode of Animal Planet’s Lost Tapes".[2]
io9 wrote of Underground Lizard People, "Any movie with a title like that is OK by me. Just lays everything out there for you, without trying to dress it up with fancy generic titles like Totally Dark or Stuff Beneath Us or Shadowy Things. And lizard people are automatically awesome - and so are underground civilizations."[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Simpson, MJ (21 March 2014). "(review) Underground Lizard People". MJ Simpson. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- 1 2 Barton, Steve (9 January 2011). "Trailer Exposes Underground Lizard People to the World". Dread Central. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- 1 2 Newitz, Annalee (January 19, 2011). "I'm always in the mood for a little vicious savagery with lizard people". io9. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
- ↑ Brians (10 January 2011). "Poster, Images And Trailer For The Underground Lizard People". Geek Tyrant. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- ↑ staff. "The Underground City Of The Lizard People". Weird US. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- ↑ Bosquet, Jean (9 January 1934). "Lizard People's catacomb city haunted" (2000 reptoids archive). The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ↑ Ballinger, Matt (23 January 2014). "Throwback Thursday: Did Lizard People live under L.A. 5,000 years ago?". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
External links
- Underground Lizard People at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website (archived December 12, 2013)
- {{Facebook}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.