In what’s supposed to be a “found footage” film of a group of western explorers expedition into the African Congo, comes the film The Dinosaur Project. Featuring the found films of the Cryptozoological Society, the “recovered” footage shows creatures thought to be extinct for over 65 million years. The explorers are on a mission to find a water creature surrounded by myth and legend, much like a “Lochness Monster” complex.
Featuring a set of virtually no name actors, the new trailer makes The Dinosaur Project look like Jurassic Park meets Apollo 18 or Cloverfield. Although there are currently only five credited actors on the film’s IMDB page, it’s the writer/director of the project that had me raise my eyebrows. Sid Bennett has been a writer, director, and producer on a number of projects including TV movies like Predator X and Mermaids: The Body Found, as well as TV Documentary Series like Prehistoric Park and Catastrophe.
Sensing a theme here? Yeah, me too. According to his personal website, Bennett is a “CGI specialist” and after having been “conceiving, writing and directing high quality, award-winning story-driven VFX fantasy dramas for TV over the last ten years,” he will turn his talents to the cinema.
After training at the Bournemouth Film & TV school, Bennett received an MA but previously taught Linguistics and Phonetics. Interestingly, he is an avid surfer, although his website notes he’s not particularly talented in the area. Bennett has also won several awards for his previous work, including his most recent achievement in 2007 of “Best Broadcast Series” as the writer/director for Prehistoric Park.
While I’m not generally a fan of the often shaky camera that comes with a “found footage” film, it will be interesting to see director Bennett’s debut in a full feature length film. I’m always one to give new directors a shot, I can only dream of one day making it to where they are. But my excitement for the film doesn’t deter from the cheesyness that appears in the trailer. In fact, for someone so well versed in the CGI field, I can’t say those are the special effects I was hoping for. Check out the trailer and let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
‘The Dinosaur Project’ Movie Trailer
