Sandy Collera Developing a new Film Project - SHALLOW WATER - and you can help!

Fan favorite Batman: Dead End and Hunter Prey director Sandy Collera is developing a great sounding new monster movie project called Shallow Water, and he's giving the fans an opportunity to get in on the action. For those of you who have enjoyed the work of Sandy Collera over the years, then this sounds like a project you can get excited about. 

The film is set in Baja Mexico around the Sea of Cortez, and the story follows group of adventurers who set out on a journey to find a mystical place known as Lago de Sangre... the Lake of Blood. Of course things go horribly wrong when a prehistoric creature starts to hunt them down taking the group out one by one. 

Collera is giving his fans a chance to be a part of this film production. He is working with Kickstarter.com to raise the funds for his film project. His goal is to get $250,000 pledged by September 3rd 2011. For as little as $10 you can help fund his new film project. 

Like many of you I've been a fan of Collera's since 2003 with his Batman: Dead End. The guy is a talented filmmaker, and this is a film project I would love to see get made. 

Here's a more detailed synopsis of the film:

Nestled deep in the most uncharted part of the Sea of Cortez in Baja Mexico sits a tiny Island you will not find on any map. On this Island is a volcanic crater that forms a lagoon. During certain times of the year, when the tides and moon are just right, massive schools of fish in a crazy feeding frenzy, will chase churning bait balls into this shallow lagoon which is better known as Lago de Sangre... the Lake of Blood.

“Shallow Water” follows a small group of hardcore fishermen and adventurers who are trying to find this mystical place -- hoping to observe this freakish occurrence and get a chance at catching a world record size fish.

Their journey begins when they cross the border into Mexico -- eventually winding up in a tiny pueblo where, at the local watering hole, a retired gringo who is now living down there, turns them on to a grizzled old Mexican man that can take them out to the Island and show them this magical lagoon.

However, once they team up with a pair of fellow explorers and find the Lago de Sangre, they also discover something they don’t expect... They realize very quickly that they’re not alone. One by one, members of the expedition seem to mysteriously disappear…

Tension builds within the group, eventually pitting them against each other. Meanwhile, a prehistoric creature lurks around them in the shallow waters, carrying out its primordial instincts to feed...

Collera put together a little video message where he talks about the film, and shows off some of the initial designs for it, so it's definitely worth checking out. 

Here's a message from Collera talking about the project and the inspiration behind it, 

I’ve always been a traveler -- an explorer. Like my childhood hero of film fiction, Indiana Jones, I’ve always been drawn to faraway places off the beaten path -- a jungle in the middle of nowhere or a deserted island out to sea. I’ve been on diving, fishing, and surf expeditions to Sumatra, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Thailand, Southern Europe and all over Mexico.  One of the thoughts I’ve had repeatedly on these trips was: “There could be some kind of undiscovered species out here, possibly even something not of this earth... I mean, I am literally so far from any real civilization, quite possibly in a place where no human has ever set foot before. Who would know if some undiscovered creature existed here and for how long?"

I’ve spent many a sleepless night -- awake in my hammock or sleeping bag -- hearing inhuman, odd sounds all around me -- thinking to myself: “What in the world is that, is it going to come any closer, and if it does, what will it do to me?” This idea has always sparked my imagination and has recently inspired me to write “Shallow Water”. It’s the perfect storm, so to speak, of my creativity, love for genre films, the ocean, and adventure.

For most of our lives, my friends and I have chased very much the same dreams that the group of travelers in “Shallow Water” are after -- the perfect wave, the 1,000 pound marlin, or endless schools of wahoo or tuna in crystal blue, 80 degree water where you can see forever...

It’s that spirit of discovery that brings all the characters in the film together to do something they all share a passion for. However, once they find the mythical place they’re looking for, they also find something they don’t expect.

The supernatural element is also the perfect opportunity to explore my passion and creativity in the creature design and development process, where along with my exceptionally talented crew, I will craft an iconic, believable, organic and truly frightening creature that will be the visual centerpiece of this unique and compelling film.

Like my last film “Hunter Prey”, it is my intention with this project to harken back stylistically to the old-school genre films of the 70’s and 80’s -- the very movies that inspired me as a kid to become a director -- classics like “Halloween”, “Alien” and John Carpenter’s “The Thing”...  Films that relied more on the ingenuity and creativity of the filmmakers, as opposed to marketing hooks, shock value, or excessive CG effects.

Join me and my incredibly talented cast and crew as we embark on this unforgettable adventure by pledging to support our film and be a part of something exciting, creative, scary, and fun!

You can learn much more about "Shallow Water" by visiting the movie's website at www.shallowwaterthemovie.com