Port Harry. 1958. A sleepy little fishing town with a population of 1,000. Home to good, wholesome hardworking Americans with good, wholesome kids. But when a freak natural phenomenon results in strange sightings, odd deaths, and unexplained disappearances, that sleepy little fishing town is woken up. Now, Dr. Dana Stanley, a scientist from the big city, partnered with local Sheriff, Jack Dohickey, is on the case with the military at the ready to scratch their trigger fingers. Their only lead? A teenage girl named Bonnie Corman. A high school senior who so far is the only living person to make contact with, and survive an attack by the strangest and most destructive force the world has ever known. Together, with a little luck, or maybe a lot of luck, they'll have a chance to defeat The Snot That Ate Port Harry.
PRODUCTION
The Snot That Ate Port Harry is a 92 minute animated sci-fi monster comedy that parodies classic 1950s monster movies and pulp sci-fi comic books. Written, directed and animated by myself. Yup. I did it again.
Growing up I always knew that certain meals would be eaten on the couch in front of a movie. And for several years if I were to ask what movie we were going to watch when I saw one of said meals being prepared, my dad, in classic sarcastic dad-joke mode, would answer with “The Snot That Ate Port Moody.” Who knew he was planting the seeds for an actual movie to one day rear its slimy head.
My first film, The Case of the Midnight Murderer was a whirlwind of a project that started basically on a whim, and all things considered it came together relatively fast. That movie was a love letter to film noir detective stories of the 1940s, and as it was coming together it occurred to me that a similar treatment applied to 50s era monster fair would be a lot of fun. Unlike Midnight Murderer, I set out early on to see this film through to completion. Looking at what I had learned during the making of my first film, as well as the feedback from others, and my own critical thoughts on it, I was convinced that I could make a second film just as fast, if not possibly faster, and that it would surely be bigger and better than the first go around. Needless to say…I was very wrong.
The Snot That Ate Port Harry(I changed Moody to Harry to keep the setting fictional), was a significantly more technically ambitious film, and the final 20 minutes, with all of its explosions, running crowds and traditionally animated Snot antics took as long to complete as the entirety of Midnight Murderer. Luckily, the rest of the film was much more efficient to animate by comparison, but it was still a 2 year process to get all the footage together, followed by over a year of post production difficulties. There was a weird rendering issue that caused a major setback. I had recruited help for post-sound work from people who encountered their own barrage of technical and personal setbacks, and had a score composed by an up and coming musician who had to evacuate for a hurricane of all things!
I wasn’t 100% exactly the same person I was when I’d started the film as I was by the time I’d finished it, and while there is a lot of fun to be had in this goofy comedy adventure that I look back on fondly, I also see soooooo many things I would do differently. This film taught me the importance of team work and collaboration and why I never want to do another film entirely on my own again. Hopefully this won’t be my last, but it will be the last time I stretch myself so thin trying to do so much on my own.
