Eric S. Brown. / Special to the Citizen-Times
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The search for Sasquatch is over.
Canton’s own Bigfoot will soon be spotted on the big screen.
Production of the film adaptation of “Bigfoot War,” a horror-apocalypse book series by Eric S. Brown, of Canton, will begin at the end of July in Texas, according to Brown.
Origin Releasing, a Dallas-based company, purchased the rights to the book first published in 2010 and plans to release the film in 2014.
“Growing up in the rural South, Bigfoot terrified me,” said Brown, a Sylva native best known for his zombie fiction, such as “Season of Rot.”
He pursued the legend of Sasquatch — a large, hairy humanoid creature reputed to live in wilderness areas — as a way to, well, revive his creativity after eight years of writing about the undead.
“This is a personal book and a complete divergence from what was out there (in the market),” Brown said. “I didn’t expect the series to be turned into a movie, but I wanted to write the book like it was a movie. There is a very cinema feel to it, it (reads) like a big popcorn action flick.”
In “Bigfoot War,” a fictional 800-person town in Haywood County struggles to survive a massive Sasquatch attack.
“It is a zombie formula,” Brown said.
“But the monsters are meaner, stronger, faster (than zombies). They will rip you in half — they are big, strong guys who could tear a car in half.”
Lyle Blackburn is a fan of Brown’s, as well as an author, cryptid researcher and staff writer for the horror magazine, “Rue Morgue.”
“One of the best aspects of Brown’s “Bigfoot War”books is that he doesn’t hold back,” Blackburn said. “The usual horror-themed approach to Bigfoot is to have a maligned creature or two lash out at some hikers who wander too far into the forest.
“But in this case, we have a whole species of powerful creatures unleashing the full force of their anger on any human who happens to stand in their way,” Blackburn said. “It’s like the ultimate ‘nature fights back’ scenario in which an animal with extraordinary brute strength has enough intelligence to make them a worthy foe for mankind.”
For Blackburn, the story works on a couple of levels, “ not only as an entertaining and over-the-top horror story, but as a harsh reminder that we should take better care of the animals we share the planet with.
“Sure, we can’t prove Sasquatches are real, but then again we can’t prove they’re not.
“We certainly don’t want to find out the hard way,” he said.
The movie adaptation is altering some of Brown’s story. He did not write the script but does have an advisory role in the film.
The film is set in Texas instead of Haywood County, for one.
And instead of focusing on the sheriff, the story centers on an Iraqi veteran whose Bigfoot feud sparked the invasion.
“When I first read ‘Bigfoot War,’ I thought to myself ‘this would make a great horror film,’” Blackburn said.
“There’s been plenty of Sasquatch horror films in the past, but never one like ‘Bigfoot War,’” he added. “The take-no-prisoners approach will lend itself to some exciting visuals that can complement the tight storyline of the book. And the fact that the creatures are so intelligent and amazing, it almost makes you root for them.”