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What Dwells Beneath with Kris Bell
134 Plays1 year ago
tonight we are joined by the grand Duke of spook Kris bell, We talk about his up coming film and paranormal experiences he has had
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Transcript
00:00:29
Speaker
Hey
Introduction to Chris Bell and his work
00:00:30
Speaker
guys, welcome back to another edition of AFK discussions that your boy Jason Phil is off tonight. But guys, we've got a big show tonight. So first off, check out fattac.com for all your tactical needs. If you're a big dude, they got you covered. If you're a small dude, they got you covered also. um Also check us out wherever you do social media, wherever you listen to podcasts, we are there. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, all of them. But guys, um tonight I would like to welcome Chris Bell. He is a filmmaker. He is a horror fanatic. He runs cons. he He does a little bit of everything. And so how's it going, man? It is going awesome, Jason. Thank you so much for having me on the show tonight, man. I'm excited. Yeah, man. I'm glad to have you on, dude. I watched your film. It was really good. I was really entertained. And let's just get right into it, man. um Yes. So tell everyone a little bit about you, a little bit about what you do, and just all the goodness.
Overview of 'What Dwells Beneath'
00:01:29
Speaker
Absolutely. So I am Chris Bell, ah better known around Knoxville as my moniker, the Grand Duke of spook. I am the monster of ceremonies for the creepy con Halloween and horror convention that's coming up in August. It's just a couple of months away, August 2 to the fourth. Come hang out with me at creepy con. It's gonna be a huge show this year. And as of recent, ah yes, a newly debut maker. I've always loved making smaller short films, you know, in the 10 to 15 to five to two minute range for the past few years, for years and years since high school and things like that. ah But I finally took a crack at.
00:02:09
Speaker
a micro feature. So the film came out to be about 35 minutes long, but it is called What Dwells Beneath. It is a kind of cosmic horror creature feature that follows a team of urban explorers that stumble upon an abandoned tourist cave that homes an ancient evil that should have never been disturbed. yeah dude it was really good um i like into liking it back to a bunch of um horror films i really enjoy um i got some like evil dead vibes um like we were talking earlier i was like some of the like music kind of reminds me of beetle juice and you know it's
00:02:54
Speaker
It's got its
Filming Challenges in Caves
00:02:55
Speaker
moments, too, of like a little bit of a comedy, like really dry comedy, which I really enjoyed. um but and isn't This is not a spoiler, but I love the the cave jelly. so Yes, you know. that but yeah the A lot of the dialogue, too, is that cave. So we filmed in an actual cave. So the the environment itself is very harsh. But my fiance and I had actually toured this cave. We'd been around this cave. ah four or five times already and had taken groups of friends with us and stuff. So a lot of the dialogue in the movie is just dialogue that me and my friends had carried on in real life checking out. Yeah. That's awesome.
00:03:37
Speaker
Um so what got you into um the filmmaking or I mean what did something like inspire you like older films um just you know definitely uh definitely older films like uh a lot of the universal monster movies are things that I grew up on big time uh Abbott and Costello and the Marx Brothers were huge uh in my life even as a child I loved old black and white stuff like that and I really kind of got into it, like I said, at a younger age. I've always wanted to do some form of entertainment. I've done theater. I was an independent professional wrestler for three or four years. there awesome And um really the convention circuit, I started doing a standup comedy probably eight or nine years ago now. And doing that, I loved the live performance aspect of it. And it got me into like,
00:04:35
Speaker
hosting and doing things like that and ah that kind of lended itself to me getting into horror conventions which horror has always been something that I've loved it's it's been something that's been a part of me for a very long time and It's always just been kind of intimidating to take a crack at because you want these things to be perfect. You want it to be, you know, this huge, big, perfect thing. And you you kind of talk yourself out ever starting because there's a million reasons why it's not going to be perfect. So yeah finally taking a crack at something I love. And, you know, my first little attempt at giving my love letter kind of back to the horror community and to create your features. my My favorite
Reflections on Film Production
00:05:17
Speaker
genre of horror.
00:05:18
Speaker
So I like to think that that we did we did a pretty good job. With with the amount of time we fill in the budget we had, it was ah I'm very pleased with it. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great. um So speaking of like the creature features, what would you say like your all-time favorite monster is? Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead really. Pumpkinhead, I absolutely love Pumpkinhead. I love how like a lot of monsters are very mindless and I don't know, Pumpkinhead has a real sense of humor. He's especially the first one. I wasn't so much big on the sequels, anything that came after where Tom Woodruff Jr. was the Pumpkinhead pilot puppeteer. I wasn't really a big fan of but
00:06:08
Speaker
the very first pumpkin head i think is one yeah one of my absolute favorite monsters that's awesome so i would say um i know it's kind of a one and done but man It always and it scared the crap out of me when I was a kid too. So that's another plus. But um American werewolf in London. yes Oh my gosh, dude. that That's probably my favorite monster of all time. It's such a good werewolf transformation. Oh my gosh. Yes. why Still one of the best ones to date. like
00:06:44
Speaker
I absolutely love that transformation and practical effects. It's all practical. That's a big thing for me is practical effects. I think CGI has its place to enhance and make things certain cool ways, but you just can't get away from a guy in a foam latex suit. Yeah, so i'm ah i a huge werewolf fan like Gosh, ah they terrified me as a kid And now i'm just like fascinated by it and like the lore and everything and there's like, you know Lore in north america like the dog man phenomenon. Oh, yeah i'm i'm all about that um, but dude, it's
00:07:21
Speaker
like going back to that movie making werewolf in london and i mean it just had some bizarre scenes in it it was just so awesome like a dream sequence with the nazi werewolves yes just crazy like yeah they and and just that the weird turn like I don't want to say campy because that almost makes it sound bad or something. But I love when horror movies lean into their campiness and they don't take themselves too seriously. And they really, if you're going to lean into it, go and berserk with it. Be completely ridiculous and absurd. Yeah.
00:07:56
Speaker
That's another, I mean, like, like I mentioned, um, evil dad, but yes, that's another series that just, you know, the first one, you know, uh, when it was a, you know, a film project, uh, or a, like a, a project for, um, his cinema class. Um, and, uh, fucking the nothing of the director's name. I feel like an idiot right now. but I'm very ADD. So sometimes my mind goes goes a blank. Um, Sam Ramey. Yes. So, yeah. So. it this the first one when i was a kid because i watched it also when i was young um and then i watched the second one and i was like what is going on what what's up with this deer on the wall like laughing what is going on and dude those movies are still are just
00:08:46
Speaker
ah love them so much that's no i agree i want a percent there are and like is it not to give too much away about mine but there are a few scenes that i really wanted to be bloodier and gorrier But the cave literally kept drinking any amount of blood that we spilled on the ground. i Really? It would just disappear and be soaked into the dirt like we have paid tribute to the cave. OK. That's that's awesome. um go So what like. I know you you said you had some trouble filming. um You went back to do some pickup shots and like.
00:09:29
Speaker
everything
Access Issues Post-Filming
00:09:30
Speaker
is closed out, you can't get back in. um So have you heard has has anyone reached out to you or did you try to reach out to anyone to go and film? I can't remember what we talked about on and off air. Yeah, no mixing stuff. But so you anyways, guys, if I didn't, we didn't talk about it on air. He filmed at a ah cave and the closed location. um They go back to do the last shots like pickup shots and You can't get in because it's blocked. So um only if you want to go into that a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So um With this being a ah Location like it was we were literally out in the middle of nowhere at this very real abandoned forest cave um And at the time there were no there was really no one to get a hold of to actually ask about filming there it was just there were no signs anywhere that said you know no trespassing anything like that people would bring their kids down there just to go walk through the cave a lot of people didn't go very far back uh not like us the cave itself probably goes back a little over a mile um so at like the furthest point back that we were filming it was 25 to 30 minute walk back to the mouth of the cave
00:10:44
Speaker
um So with all that going on, it was, you know, go, go, go, go, go. It was very demanding, very, um we were filming for 14 hour days, most days for three days straight inside of this cave. And it was very taxing on, it was a small crew moving, doing basically everything. So um when we did have to come back and get these pickup shots of just some of the cave reveals and things like that, um Unfortunately, the neighbors in the area had called so much about teenagers and stuff going down there and vandalizing the place that someone had come and welded a plate over the mouth of the gate that said no trespassing on it.
00:11:29
Speaker
so uh you know it kind of sucked but if you notice one of the cave reveal shots that we get and you'll know this but and the people that see the movie you'll know this it starts with this kind of right above the bottom of that gate and it goes up and it shows how cascading down all the vines are and everything we had to get that shot like that because just below that was the giant metal plate that said no trespassing so the mouth of the gate looked completely different Yeah, yeah. That's very interesting.
00:12:01
Speaker
um Now I know there's there's some caves in in the Knoxville area that I was like, man, you know, I know the cave that would be awesome to film in. you um And I know one that they do events there and stuff, and it's a it's in, I think it's called, cher is it Cherokee Cave? Yeah, the Cherokee Caverns. Yeah, I don't know. Have you ever talked to those guys? They're very good friends of mine, them and the showrunners out there. Yeah, I love Cherokee Caverns. There's some great people.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, I went to I think trick-or-treating there a couple of times so Yeah, they have some really cool events out there Like I highly encourage everybody to check out there because that's one you can go in that's not an abandoned one That is an open tourist cave that you can go on tours through the cave Yeah, so very cool there. I highly recommend that Yeah um also, I mean the thing about the no trespassing because I've my co-host, Phil, he does some ah you know exploration videos of abandoned places, and um I'm like, gosh, you know I would love to do that, hu but I do not want to get arrested. Exactly. You got to be very... Yeah. Once they put up that no trespassing sign, that's the big thing. You go in now... Exactly. It's you're done for, you know. Yeah. Now there's this posted sign that says you can't do that. And that's yeah you have to be because I'm a big fan of the urban exploration stuff, too. My my fiance is a huge fan of like old places and old houses and things like that. So she's actually the one that found the cave. And when we initially went, we thought it was going to be just some little like ah you go and look at the mouth of this cave and it's really cool. And you leave. I had no idea how expansive this place was.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it seems pretty large. It's it is huge. yeah And it's like I said, you're we were underground for hours and hours and hours at a time. No daylight. No, you're you're in weird oxygen levels and it'll really mess with you down there. Like, yeah, it was an intense shoot. in Now, where I grew up, um there's a couple of caves that were accessible. um One, I think that now they have, I think they blew up the entrance to it, so people can't go in. But it was over in like the Claxton area. But we used to go up there here all the time and it was... It was awesome. Like we would go camp out there. Um, there was a house that had like a little parking area and they would, you know, they would let people go up there, but I think someone may have been hurt or something and they had to, you know, close it up. That's all it takes. Yeah. It had a name, but I can't remember the name of it. I know there's another one called rock cut, I think. And it's like in the Powell area.
00:14:49
Speaker
but it's one that you kind of have to have to squeeze in and kind of go down. yeah I never win that one. I don't like tight spaces. So see that was something even in our casting call when I was when I was putting out of casting auditions and stuff. I had to let people know this was going to be a very strenuous role. You had to be OK with dark places. You had to be OK with tight spaces, whole, you know, all that stuff because the darkness that's inside of a cave is a few of the cast kept calling it advanced darkness because there's just literally no light anywhere from any point. And it's I don't know. It'll really mess you up. It's very disorienting.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, definitely, definitely. I have been in a situation where, you know, we we're in there, we turn off all the lights, it just... There's no describing it it if you had to experience it, you know. Exactly. And a lot of times all you had was a headlamp, a few headlamps, and like a crew of people, luffing equipment to the next location. And it I couldn't have done it without the crew that I had, that's for sure. My AD, Tyler Broadway, and ah one of the executive producers and my sound person, Brian Macho,
00:16:08
Speaker
uh absolutely fantastic people and i like they went on so many location scouts with me they helped me light the the cave they helped me do so many things uh tyler you know someone that i could really trust behind the camera whenever i was on screen doing things so very cohesive team and something like i said i couldn't do it without those guys That's awesome because, you know, that's, I mean, because I, um, so my, my full time job is, um, I work in marketing and I'm a senior multimedia. Okay.
00:16:44
Speaker
Designers, so I do film, I do um photography, I do graphic design. Yeah. So I know how important it is to have someone there that can, you know, knows lights and, you know, can know, know sound to help with the sound and just, I mean, all the little intricacies. I mean, you got to have a good crew in order to get a good production. So yeah. because I tell people you know that we were having 14 hour shoots and they're like holy crap I'm like but the amount of stuff that we filmed in three days uh in those 14 hour days was you know incredible you know I applaud everyone on that shoot because it was not easy on a single person there
00:17:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I mean, just on and you know knowing from doing it, I mean, just lugging equipment sucks. It really does. And people, I think, assume that we had, you know, all these production assistants, all these stage hands and stuff that could run around. We had you know the the four four or five main people that we had, and then you know some of the crew would grab, some of the cast would grab stuff, and he like it was a very much an all-hands-on-deck kind of shoot. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.
00:18:01
Speaker
So man, um I'm really, really itching to know because we kind of talked about this also. um What got you into horror? And if you have had any experiences of like the supernatural and paranormal um in your life?
Inspiration from Childhood Horror Films
00:18:15
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. So there. There are a couple of experiences that I like to talk about, a few actually, and one of which um is not paranormal. But the the location, i get I hear it get talked about a lot, and so I kind of like to shed light on it whenever I can too. um But one of the big things that got me really into horror was, honestly,
00:18:46
Speaker
wasn't exactly a paranormal experience. One of the things that really got me into horror was my mom used to let me watch ah a lot of horror movies when I was a kid. ah They thought it was hilarious to watch me get scared. The little thing, the Leprechaun used to terrify me. That was a whole big thing. so The greatest movie of all time, Leprechaun 2. legan So then as far as paranormal experiences go, um, I've, I've had a few, um, silly ones. A lot of times I've had the same one kind of twice in two different places where it's the middle of the night and I get up and I'm walking down the hall to someone's bathroom or something. And I bump into what I think is like their parent or something. And I'll say in the next morning, like, Hey, sorry, I ran into you last night. What are you talking about?
00:19:34
Speaker
So just say, okay, that I very much know I bumped into a person there. um I like using divination dowsing rods quite a bit. That's a really fun kind of little tool to use when we go into some of these ah locations that there are spirits or activity or things like that. It's an easy way to communicate and and kind of a a low energy on their part way to be able to communicate, which is a lot of fun. And I've I've gotten some really good readings from places um around the area. But the place that really I hear about a lot, I don't know if you're familiar with the Red Ash Cemetery.
00:20:18
Speaker
I am not. and Okay. So I'll see it pop up. o I'll see that place and the sense of our tunnel, the sense of our tunnel pops up all the time on these ah like ghost forums and stuff like that. And that place is just a dirty drainage ditch. No, really. The people are like, oh, you can drive through it. And if you stop it, you can't drive through it. It's yeah. Don't go there. It's a don't listen to the stories. Even if you walk through the pipe, you don't hear anybody screaming and crying. It's all bull crap. Don't do that.
00:20:51
Speaker
Also, the Red Ash Cemetery. Stop going there. Leave that place alone. It is not haunted. It is just very heavily guarded by the few locals that live there whose family are buried on that hill. no i mean yeah that's I mean, that's that when people do that, you know? See, we went and did an investigation back in the day and had this recorder out and we're asking, you know, is there anybody wants to talk to us? Anybody wants to say anything? And when we were going back and listening to the footage, we heard this whisper. And we were like, when we were standing back by these bushes near this like statue. And I was like, oh, that's got to be a ghost. That must be it. Like, let's crank up the data. And so we were listening to it real close.
00:21:37
Speaker
And the voice says, I'll take the one on the right. And I listened to it a few times and then realized that it was not a ghost. We had picked up two people having a conversation in the bush behind us about if we had started vandalizing anything, who was going to tick? And the reason I know that I started putting things together, we were walking through the graveyard and I would hear at this certain point, you would hear like rustling in the leaves in the woods and stuff. And I kept thinking, ats and it's an animal out there.
00:22:11
Speaker
There were literally people in the woods that were following us just outside of eyesight, watching what we were doing to make sure we weren't gonna start vandalizing the place. That is infinitely scarier to me than any ghost will ever be. Yeah, definitely, definitely. So don't go there. stay though yeah There's so many stories about Red Ash and a goat man. and a but Just stay away from there. See I haven't heard about the goat man a red ash. I know that in Kentucky there's legends of the goat man, but yeah, so that's that's interesting well tend for everybody stay the hell away from there um Man I thought for second there I thought you're gonna say Elkmont because that's I don't know if you know about Elkmont that's I've been there and it it's I have
00:23:04
Speaker
had some pretty heavy experiences there yes i've heard about it i've never gotten to go there myself but i have heard about that one yeah to where um Like we walked into a cabin and it was, I mean, you know, there's no, there's no, um, insulation or anything. These are old cabinets and it was like deathly quiet. You walk in and it's silent. It's, it was so weird. Like, yeah, you hear things in old houses yeah still, like, yeah. And then, uh, we heard like we were in another cabin and we heard walking on the porch of another, of the one behind it.
00:23:44
Speaker
and there was no one there, um but the probably, well, there's there's another experience of, yeah we went with a paranormal group. Okay. They had one of the music boxes that are motion activated. Yeah. So we had that in a room and also, um, some lights are most motion activated and a rim pod. ahho Okay. And like everything went off. Like the music box, the rim pod, the lights. So, I mean, you know, if one goes off, it could be a flute, but when everything it's like, that it yeah.
00:24:20
Speaker
that was that was pretty weird um but the strangest thing so i was I was never like one to believe in spirit boxes are the speaking of which ah here just left um And we went and we had my co-host, before he was my co-host, he came down here to visit and we kind of met up because he had been on our show already. Yeah. And he does a lot of ghost hunting stuff. He does a lot of stuff in the Bridgewater Triangle. Okay. I don't know if you know that place. It's where the Conjuring House is in Bridgewater Triangle. Yes, yes, yes.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yes, so he does a lot of investigations up there so he came down he brought a spare box and we're in the cabin and always just like ah you just get it just radio stations just You know putting too much you're just trying to hear something and right, you know, but when you get a full sentence You wouldn you would not hear on the radio and So we were talking about the Cherokee legend of the spear finger. I don't know if you've heard that. Yeah. So we he I was filming and he asked the question, you know, we've heard that there's a witch called the spear finger. um Do you know anything about that? And
00:25:41
Speaker
without like not like having to wait for an answer it like instantly you said that's devil worship i'm like what like that i've never heard anything say that's devil worship on the radio that i mean that and if it did that's such a coincidence you know right like I don't know, that's too coincidental at that point. Needless to say, I ordered one. flash yeah I have one now. Now I'm a believer. I am because I've i' picked up stuff and it's, you know, it's, you can't explain it, you know. so i'm I'm with you on that. there There are a few things that I very much was skeptical of and I'm 100% a believer now.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah,
Cryptids and Paranormal Beliefs
00:26:26
Speaker
yeah. I know we talked a little bit about the Dog Man earlier. You saw your face, you're like, so what do you think about this Dog Man creature that's supposed to exist in North America? So I am a huge cryptid fan, period. um I love that everybody, because where is Dog Man? Is that more So it's, I think it started in Michigan. Michigan, okay. Because that was our Michigan Dog Man and then there's Lauren. The Beast of Bray Road is another one and that's up in Northeast. And see, he's more like Beast of Bray Road's more like werewolf-esque. Yes, yes. Right, and like the Dog Man's more like I got a trench coat and a cigarette. I'm not sure, I don't remember. I mean,
00:27:17
Speaker
I mean, I think anything upright canid now is called Dogman. Yeah. I really don't like Dogman term. I much prefer just calling it a werewolf, you know? Yeah. But I mean, I don't i don't know if it's a trench coat and cigarette. I mean, that's funny though. I saw so many images of this thing in a hat and and trench coat. Like, is it a detective from the fifties also? It's so funny. It's a werewolf. Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker
But this phenomenon, I mean, it comes all the way down to Tennessee. So there's the land between the lakes. I don't know if you've heard that story. I don't think so. But there was a murder there in the, I think it was the late, the late 70s or early 80s that they attribute to a werewolf type of creature. Okay. My whole family got slaughtered and they found like body parts hanging from trees. And yeah, it was hard. It's wild. Yeah, look it up because I'm not going to recount it the story. I mean, it's it's crazy. Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like a movie, seriously. And then around here, there has been dog men sightings and also Sas watch sightings. Okay. But there I mean, it's
00:28:43
Speaker
it's It's crazy. It's it's I don't know. I hear a lot about the ah the Tennessee wild man, too. Oh, yeah. definite that' That has started circulating again. um I do. I used to do these like cryptid mockumentaries on my creature corner channel where they were these like 10 to 15 minute long cryptid stories where I would just play all the parts and all of the reenactments because I couldn't have friends that would. over Was it a family that had a green tint to their skin? Is that? It was no, this was like a basically like an alien invasion that happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um These little like goblinesque yeah yeah major ah hopskinville goblin goblins. Hopskinville, yes. Yeah, okay, yeah. So Geraldine Sutton came on my show, who is the daughter of the man who that whole story is about.
00:29:54
Speaker
So she was a little girl when these aliens reportedly attacked their house that night. She told me that she remembers everything that happened. Her dad shooting at these things and the bullets just like ricocheting off of it. So I. I have a very big um belief in in the unexplained and cryptids and everything. I never wanted to say, no, that doesn't exist. Yes, ah i the things that I have a heart. I think the reason that so many different places have so many different iterations of these stories is because if if and where these creatures do exist, I don't believe that there's just one of them.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, things like everyone says, Oh, that's Bigfoot. Like there's just one. Well, that's Bigfoot. And that's the Sasquatch. And that's the Yeti. And that's the Tennessee wild man. And yeah i I think Momo, Missouri had Momo, yeah momo which was the big but um and it's all just, you know, different iterations of Sasquatch dog esque werewolf creatures, dinosaur esque, you know, aquatic creatures and then like chupacabras, little alien yeah things like that. Yeah, that's it's.
00:31:14
Speaker
um So recently I had um an experience with, I want to say it's a cryptid of some sort. I don't know. I'm am not going to categorize what it was because we didn't see it. We just heard. um So I don't know if you're familiar with the Confessionals podcast. Yes. Ernie michaelel Merkel. Okay, so um I'm friends with Tony and he just recently put out a movie called Sasquatch and the Missing Man with Wes Germer from Sasquatch Chronicles. um So i did we did a reenactment and I was actually played Wes Germer in the film. he So we were out in this it an undisclosed location because
00:31:57
Speaker
It is. um It's it's a very secret location because there's a lot of strange stuff that happens. And, you know, we don't want anyone going up there and, you know, messing up. Right. that The I don't know. It's just a magical place. That's all. Yeah. Trust me. I understand. You have to explained. ah Yeah, yeah. um So we're up there filming and um during filming, we heard like some frogs croaking. who And Tony came over, he's like, guys, you know, I heard this, you know, in the woods, and it sounded like the predator.
00:32:30
Speaker
I know that clicking sound. Oh, yeah. Right. um And I was like, it's just frogs. You know, I'm here to. Yeah, that. Yeah. I'm like, I just hear it's frogs, you know, because the frogs were croaking. Right. And so we got done filming and we're all just standing around the trucks and and chatting. And all of a sudden, I mean, we hear it it's loud and it's coming from in the forest. And it is the weirdest thing I've ever heard. The only thing that i can I've heard that sounds like it and ah besides the predator, um a creature that sounds like it is the shoebill stork. I don't know if you know what the shoebill is. It's like a foot bird and it like moves its beak and it makes a clicking sound and it sounds very similar.
00:33:18
Speaker
But man, I mean, it it was no frog. It was like it was so loud. that If it was a frog, it would have to be a giant frog. you know so Neil is just a um Tony being Tony. He was like, OK, guys, let's go. Let's track this thing down. So we all head into the woods and we're walking down the path and stuff and we get a pretty far back in and we decide to turn around and come back. Well, something throws we did. We don't know if it was a stick or what, but something got thrown at us from the woods. And yeah, it was.
00:33:55
Speaker
It was very weird. So I don't really know what happened, what it was or what was going on, but there was something out there. You know, are you familiar with the mile high campground in North Carolina? I know I'm not. Okay, so this is that you you're literally about a mile over the clouds. Oh, the tallest peak of this mountain. And it's a campground that you can camp at. So there's nothing around once you you drive forever up the side of this mountain to get to this huge peak. ah We're camping there one night me my fiance and I think my mother in law. She we were in different tents and stuff. And
00:34:40
Speaker
All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, we all we woke up and heard what sounded like this huge machine, like whirring start, just this whirring sound, like this machine starting up. and But not like an engine, just like a very clean running machine, whatever it was. And it got faster and faster. in this who And you heard it, it started kind of shaking things. It sounded like something lifted up outside of the tent. And my fiance called over to her mom and was like, are you up? Do you hear this? And she was like, yeah, but they're like, stay in the tent. I don't know what's happening. But and then as soon as it as quickly as it started, it just got dead quiet and was gone.
00:35:29
Speaker
I do have no idea what that was. That's weird. Now that you say that that worrying sound, it seems like I've heard something like that in the past. I don't know where, but I'm i just that recall a memory of that sound. It's a very distinct. Yeah. Kind of like, you know, like the I don't know what they're called. I know you're a film guy, so and I know you've seen Crocodile Dundee right back in the day. That thing, you know, where they spin over their head is like, yes, that. Yeah.
00:36:04
Speaker
It's very much like that, it except louder and like, it's got, you know, you can feel it. Yeah. So that's crazy. That was, and I think I peeked my head out after it went away, but My philosophy, a lot of times if you just ignore those types of things, the person in the horror movie, the janitor with his headphones on, never dies. He's just minding his own business while someone gets brutally murdered behind him. He's okay. Oh, man. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of because whenever we went to track down the creature in the woods, I was like, this is how horror movies start. This is exactly how this starts.
00:36:49
Speaker
And I was I'm not in the best of shape. So I was like the last in the line of people. And I was like, I'm going to be the first to go. And then I'm prepared. Are you? Are you? Like, I already know it's going to be me. That's how I get picked off the back while the rest of the game tricks on. OK.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah, i man, I don't know. There's so much strangeness. Out there, um and there's so much like, I mean, either everyone that has an experience is lying, right? Or there's something going on. And I mean, gosh, there's, I mean, there's so many people that come forward. I mean, there really are. I mean, there's some probably some people that are exaggerating or something. But I mean, yeah, I mean, it happens. But I mean, everyone there. I mean, if one person is telling the truth, and that's enough.
00:37:45
Speaker
Yeah. And see, that's the worst part about even so the digital age that we've come into and you could sit down and have a conversation with Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster and people would not believe you. Yeah, I know. You can have the most concrete evidence of all time and people would be like bullshit. I know. I know. Have you ever what do okay What do you think about like the UFO phenomenon now that like the government is coming out and kind of you know declassifying some of the evidence? oh yeah what are What are your thoughts on that?
Belief in Extraterrestrial Life
00:38:24
Speaker
and after It's about time. like Absolutely. but My boy Roswell back here, you know I've had him for years now, way before the Area 51 raid happened, me and him broke out, way before everybody was talking about it. ah
00:38:40
Speaker
But I absolutely think that there are ah not only extraterrestrials and other life forms, but there are many different other life forms. I think it is incredibly small minded and selfish to think that we are the epitome of things that exist in this universe as expansive and growing that our planet is the, God knows what kind of weird fucking otherworldly creatures are are out there. and yeah that are way smarter than us. Yeah. So my friend Joel, we had him on. We asked him that question and he was like, you know.
00:39:19
Speaker
I'm less likely to be believe like, you know, grays and but because everything, you know, kind of looks like us, you know, two arms, two legs, you know, ahead. He's like, I'm more likely to believe that, you know, there's just giant like monstrosity, ye like ah this crab beast, you know, that comes down as an alien than something like us, you know, they're not gonna be this like humanoid. I mean, some of them maybe, but yeah. Absolutely. there's Yeah, no, i'm I'm all about the UFOs. They're 100% real and have been for a very long time. Yeah. So the the UFO thing, I kind of um am on it another camp than a lot of people. So I i think UFOs are not
00:40:08
Speaker
what they seem and not like you know coming from millions and millions of miles away. I liked the theory that they're interdimensional and they're coming over like into our dimension from the one just right next door. Absolutely. absolutely They're inside the earth like they're they live because there's a lot of the stuff about like I don't know if you about know about a Admiral Byrd and the hollow earth theory and stuff but I mean that's right we're like people have seen like spacecraft with swash stickers on them and stuff and they are inside the earth and you know it gets crazy but you know. Those are my two favorite theories more than the space, like millions of miles away. I want to say they're already here. You know, the interdimensional travel is without a question. Like time is not linear. no I don't know. I don't know. Forward, backward, side to side. It's the fucking Willy Wonka elevator. You know,
00:41:04
Speaker
that's no I interdimensional travel. Yes. Yeah, because I mean, that's my also one of my theories about ghost is um maybe time is not linear. And it's all happening at the same time. You know, so we right now, you know, you may be walking through this house is abandoned. But you know, you're seeing things that are actually going on in the past. like real time. And then maybe they're seeing it go some they're seeing you, you know, in the future. So it's like that. Yeah, that's I like that. It's it's a really crazy thing. So what got me started on that I heard I was listening to a radio show. And um there's this guy that told a story that he said he was a little kid and he came downstairs to get a sandwich or something on the fridge, right? And it was like real late at night. And he went in his kitchen and he saw a guy standing in his kitchen.
00:42:00
Speaker
And so he got freaked out and he ran away. sure Well, fast forward to when he's a teenager, he was in the kitchen late at night and he turned and he saw his self as a kid come down. So he's actually over that time is overlapping. It was like, me yeah. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? The whole like time is so expansive and large that yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. I'm i'm a believer of that. Yeah. I mean, I I love time travel. Just a thing. I don't know if it's possible.
00:42:36
Speaker
But I love to think about time travel, you know? Yes. I don't think we should be responsible enough with it right now. I think that's why we don't get to know about things. Because we can't be responsible. Because look at what we do with what we have. You can't be trusted with yeah meddling in time. Which I mean, you know, that's another theory is, you know, the spaceships we're seeing or whatever, they're actually time travelers like us from the future, you know, coming back and reviewing events. That's why a lot of like, I know they were, I was watching the show the other day. um
00:43:11
Speaker
Then what's it called? Expedition Unknown or something. It's on travel channel. It's a Josh Gates show. I don't know if you know who Josh Gates is. Expedition Expedition X. That's the name of it. But they're talking about the Fukushima disaster. And they saw like ships over top when they were the tsunami hit. And I was thinking, you know, if maybe they are, you know, us from the future and they're going back and like, this is just a history class. Hey, kids, this is what happened. And they're watching real dark, you know, what's we're just a trip on the magic school bus route. I know. I know. Right. plus So what is the craziest cryptid that you keep up with that you that? Like, you know, some of the more interesting ones that catch your yeah catch your eye.
00:44:01
Speaker
I don't know a lot about it, but the squonk. The squonk is one of my favorites. but that The most depressed cryptid ever. know I The one that is, it's kind of sad because there's kind of a history behind it was, um um, I don't know if it's Kentucky, it's somewhere north of us, but they're, they called them the melon heads. Do you know about this? And that painting they were mainly challenged yeah um individuals who were, you know, just running like living in the forest. And I mean, that's ah that's an unfortunate name that, you know, happened to come about. That's another like, it's not necessarily cryptid, but it's just a weird thing that happened, you know, in our history.
00:44:51
Speaker
Absolutely. yeah and like I think the specter moose is one of mine. Maine has a specter moose. It's just this giant ghost moose that people have killed. They've shot this thing. They've even gone up as far as to like string the moose up and like bleed it out and then turn around. The moose is like whatever down from the thing. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. ah And my favorite thing is every one of these stories that you read people's first reaction to all of these things is to shoot it. Yeah. Well, I shot at it. Why? Yeah. um I thought it would attack me. Yeah.
00:45:38
Speaker
Um, another thing is the, uh, in Tennessee, you know, there's the, the, the Black Panther legends, but I think those are more than just legends. Um, cause I mean, there's been a lot of sightings and like trail cam footage and stuff. But, um um, I mean, going back, what was it like, even in the song, Rocky top, was it like half bear and half cat? Yeah. Or what, i think like half cat. Yeah, there's something weird, um I think, with some sort of creature that's not been discovered in the Appalachian Mountains, yeah. There's so many things there, Cat. Yeah. No, there there is no shortage of terrifying things in the Appalachian Mountains to all the people that are thinking about moving to Tennessee. There are terrifying, horrible things in the Appalachian Mountains. Stay away. That is true.
00:46:37
Speaker
I'd say it all I feel like there's been such an influx of people from cities to the south because there really hasn't been a good movie in a while about how terrible scary rednecks are and monsters in the woods. Yeah. um Gosh, that's you know, that's ah another thing, you know, we we kind of touched on earlier is the wild men, but they're like there's feral people. I mean, there's been document lo perol people in the Appalachian Mountains. yeah yeah Yes, people that have still don't have running water. i the yeah People that right here in our backyard that have never had running water, don't know how to read, don't know how to write. They're living in shacks with no plumbing, no electricity. It's that's right here in the in the mountains. And they are very much feral people. Yeah. Yeah. But and I know, like, I mean, it takes you like the movies.
00:47:29
Speaker
What was it was a movie I watch where maybe was it a TV show? I Can't remember which one it was, but it was like these like backwards rednecks kidnapped people to hunt them wrong It was a wrong turn. I don't it seems like it was something more recent than wrong turn What maybe you know what maybe was it? Was it supernatural maybe I was watching? Maybe. I don't know. It could have been an episode of Supernatural. It was supernatural. naturalt thing Yeah. um But yeah, they kidnapped and like, you know, would turn people loose to hunt them in the woods. And I guess I think they ate them. I mean, I think they're cats. See that? That's what happens. Yeah, that's what happens when you come to Tennessee. The crazy rednecks. The animal rednecks. are Right. dude They wild.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah, so I gotta ask you, that brought up a ah film that I love. Have you seen Cannibal the Musical? of Yes. I love Cannibal the musical. No one has ever seen this movie and they do not understand the genius. that Everybody, you know, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Everybody knows South Park. Everybody knows. But did you know that they were brilliant filmmakers before they ever touched South Park? Yeah, man, cannibal musical is incredible. I love it. Like that and baseball. Oh, yeah. My absolute favorite. Just stupid movies. So good. So good. I mean, I want to like I want to see I was going to say I want to see baseball again, because I just to see how it holds up over time, because it's been a few years since I've seen it. Oh, yeah. I.
00:49:25
Speaker
I love their comedy. I love their sense of humor. They're absolutely my favorite duo. My favorite people. I mean, they have some other films, too. They were they're really good that are um pretty not safe for work or or yeah, very much neither. Yeah, they're. They're really good. Yeah. flip this Um, so speaking of like, people like, you know, since we're talking about comedians and stuff right now, um, yeah. Comedian-esque kind of thing. Have you seen, uh, have you heard of Tim and Eric? Did you ever watch Tim and Eric? Oh yeah. Awesome show. Great job. Yeah. Those guys were ridiculous. It was so good. I love watching Tim with the things that Tim Heidecker is still doing. Yeah. He's involved in a lot of really awesome stuff.
00:50:18
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, gosh, I just remember the, I mean, I guess they someone told me that they would like put ads, I think on Craigslist for actors and didn't, you know, they just got the craziest people. you know what ah Workaholics did too. Oh, really? They got some of their people from Craigslist ads. I didn't know that. That's funny. but I love those guys. And Danny McBride is another like huge comedy influence of mine. I absolutely love every show that man works on, every movie that man does. like Yeah. Yeah, man. Gosh, okay, I'm trying to bring it back. Yeah, just scary stuff. um Sometimes the audience don't like comedy. What was wrong with him?
00:51:09
Speaker
What is wrong with people and not liking comedy? You know, well, what about ah Tucker and Dale versus Evil? Oh, my gosh, dude, that is like the classic comedy horror movie. yeah The scene we brought it back. Yeah, merge the two. No spoilers. But man, that that scene where that guy falls into the wood chipper. He's a college kid blern. No. Oh, man. No, absolutely. Excellent. Yeah. Are you um so it's for anybody that is Knoxville adjacent or around you. June 15th is when we'll be having the premiere of the movie. Oh, awesome yes. What Dwells Beneath will be premiering i end and on June 15th out at the historic Grove Theater in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
00:52:03
Speaker
I like the Grove. I've been there a few times. Yeah. I love the Grove. The Grove is super cool to us. Doors are going to open up at six o'clock. We'll have concessions available. The movie, like I said, has got about a 35 minute runtime. And then there'll be a brief Q and&A afterwards, followed by some photo walks with the monsters in the lobby. Oh, awesome. That's cool. Yeah. I would like to see the monsters up close. That'd be cool. If I can make it out. Yes, right here. Please, please come out to the premiere because I believe it'll be one of the only times that I have the monsters on site with me whenever I'm showing the movie. So are you going to enter into like any film festivals or anything like that? you I am hoping to.
00:52:47
Speaker
All right. I have a few on my list that I'm hoping to submit to. And, you know, kind of see where where this thing goes. I definitely want to try to distribute it. Yeah. Now, do you do you know um William McAfee? He runs Central Cinema. Oh, OK. I think that's not well heard of Film Fest. Yeah, yeah. I have to do that. I'm hoping to. that That's definitely one of the ones that I'm hoping to submit to. Go. Because, yes, central seven is awesome. Not for this is awesome. Yeah. um So we mean him go way back. um We actually he's his old man and my old man tour together for a look for like a week tour. But yeah, nice, though. Yeah. Yeah, it was like we had like this. ah
00:53:39
Speaker
I guess post hardcore band. Yeah, we went all the way up to Boston. We played a few shows in Boston. It was it's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, that was gosh, early 2000s, I guess. The long time ago. Yeah, yeah the ladies. Yeah. So, ah yeah, anyways. um So what like I was trying to get back to movies. um So in in your opinion, is there one horror movie like modern horror a movie that just stands out to you as like a must see? I think there are some good ones that have come out ah in in the last little bit.
00:54:30
Speaker
um I was a really big fan of nope. A lot of people didn't like it, but I i was a fan of it. I was a big fan of nope. um Let's see, I'm trying to think about the most recent horror that I've watched. I've been watching a lot of really obscure, like off the wall stuff here lately. yeah um But, e you know, The Terrifier series, I highly encourage anybody that hasn't checked out The Terrifier series, because I know they're about to release number three that's coming out in early October. ah That's just a super fun, hyper violent movie. they The level of gore in that movie in those movies is absurd. It's ridiculous and I absolutely love it. And most of the cast, including Art the Clown in full makeup, will be at CreepyCon this year.
00:55:30
Speaker
Oh, really? I did not know that. Yes. Awesome. So yeah on Saturday, yeah David Howard Thornton is going to be in full art, the clown makeup doing photo ops. um and we'll have pretty much the entire cast from ah a lot of the cast members from the first and second film and third coming out and Daniel Roebuck from the Grandpa and Munsters and he's been a lot of Rob Zombie stuff i and a lot of other things. Daniel Roebuck is a great star and I'm excited to do the convention this year. I'm excited to see everybody get back into the convention feel of it, you know.
00:56:07
Speaker
and Yeah, um so tell everyone a little bit more about the convention because that's yeah, that's a because I didn't I wasn't even thinking about going there. But yeah, I mean, that's that's awesome because I know you you have a lot of stars coming and yeah, yes. And even though so creepy con typically is not a very like big name guest driven convention. they focus more on their attendees on the vendors and on their live shows because a lot of conventions that I go to at most they'll have like a costume contest maybe something else throughout the day but CreepyCon is the only one that I know
00:56:48
Speaker
That has just like a consistent stage schedule all three days there's constant live entertainment going on on their main stage. oh There's panels to go to workshops that you can attend um so just for stuff like that I think it makes it more of an interactive experience for a lot of the attendees that come. And I try to do that too. When I'm on stage, I really try to make sure that the guests feel like they're immersed in the whole experience of it and everybody's there to have a good time and I want to make sure that I help everybody have a good time.
00:57:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome, man. Yeah. um Like I said, I have never been to creepy con. I really need to go, though. Yes. like for I think I think this year would be a good year to come. It's a lot of fun. and It's at the Knoxville Convention Center. um And then in September, I am actually ah partnered up with a few of my very good friends to come to present an event of our own. Oh, really? be Yes. We're actually going to be rolling out a two day, two night horror themed camping experience called Camp Dreadwood.
Camp Dreadwood Event
00:57:57
Speaker
Oh, really? This will take place in an old west ghost town in a place called Possum Trot, Tennessee.
00:58:04
Speaker
so there'll be a fully functional saloon old it's an it's in an old ghost town um we've got live entertainment on the stage and horror movies showing every night then camping ghost stories around the fire we'll have a drag show in the saloon we've got cosplayers running around a fully immersive town experience lots of photo ops I think it's going to be a really, really cool time. ah We got camping spaces available and day passes available for the people that don't want to camp. Maybe you just want to come hang out for the day and watch the horror movies that night. That's fine, too. A day pass will get you in as soon as the doors open and you won't have to leave until the last movie plays at like midnight. OK, that's cool.
00:58:46
Speaker
um So I don't know like who all you're talking about, but my my friend Cody Ipling, he's the one that kind of told me to get ahold of you, so I didn't know. You mentioned cosplayers and stuff, so I was like, I bet Cody's a part of it. you know Cody and Kayla are ah two of our partners, actually, yes, on the whole thing, and then Mo and Ellen Mullis, who run the Black Cat out in Oneida, our other team. ah Cody and Kayla actually worked on the film. Oh, really? That's cool. Cody created
00:59:18
Speaker
probably I believe two of the monsters and piloted and puppeteered at least three. and So yeah, Cody did a lot and Cody and Caleb both did makeup on the on the shoot, effects, all kinds of stuff. So I absolutely adore those two. Yeah, they're two of my favorite people. Yeah, they're awesome. um Yeah, I met them because I used to do cosplay photography. So okay that's right. Yeah. Yeah. So. um But yeah, we've you know been friends ever since. Yeah, they're easy people to be friends with. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I've been like.
01:00:01
Speaker
I was asking it because they have a podcast also, right? Are they still doing the podcast? I think they do. I'm not sure if they do or not. It was like a horror movie podcast, if I'm not mistaken. I can't remember what the name of it was. Gosh, I don't know. I can't remember the name of it. It was something. Horror movie podcast. I don't know. Horror movie podcast. Slasher.
01:00:27
Speaker
Slasher something cinnamon slashers slashers. I don't know I can't remember in Jack McKnight, you know, Jack. Yes Jack will also be one of our cosplayers. Okay. Yeah, he he was part of the podcast also I wish I couldn't remember the name of it. Yeah, she's my own friends. We are I know great guys
01:00:50
Speaker
but Yeah. Um, so guys, uh, I don't know why I said so guys, my mind is like seriously, it's Sunday and I gotta go to work at like seven in the morning. So ah my mind is pointing to like shut off right now. Oh yeah. It's like ready to, it's ready to wind down. i'm i'm yeah Um, so I think we're going to wrap up right now because I mean, it I, my mind is reeling right now and I want to know so much more, but I'm afraid we're going to go for another hour. And I like to keep the shows about an hour long. um So if you could just tell everyone where to find you and just so you know once again about your movie and everything, just a little bit about you. Yeah. Absolutely. So starting from the top and going to the bottom.
01:01:40
Speaker
I'm Chris Bell, the Grand Uga Spook. You can look me up on Facebook under the Grand Uga Spook. You can look up the creature corner, which is creature with a K and corner with a K because I'm cool with a K. That's my podcast and my horror show where we talk about all the hauntiest news in horror. You can check me out at the CreepyCon Halloween and Horror Convention happening August 2nd through the 4th. You can come camp out under the stars in an old west ghost town with me September 20th through the 22nd.
01:02:11
Speaker
in at Camp Dreadwood, and more recently and most importantly, on June 15th in Oak Ridge, Tennessee at the historic Grove Theatre, come see me premiere my film, What Dwells Beneath. Doors open at 6pm, the movie should start at 7 and a Q and&A to follow. So please, please, please follow me on all the things. Look what dwells beneath film up on Facebook. Look me up on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and everywhere that you watch things. And I'll see you there for a great scare.
01:02:43
Speaker
That's awesome. Hey guys, thanks again for joining us on AFK discussions. um Once again, if you are around the Oak Ridge area and you have you can go check out What Dwells in Beneath, I highly recommend it. It was a great film. And I just want to say thanks again, Chris, for coming on, man. It was awesome. Thank you so much for having me. This was a lot of fun. I'm i'm glad that I got to check out the show and meet you. And I'm sure we'll be meeting in a lot of other places soon. Yeah, definitely, man. Definitely. Yeah. All right, man. Well, until next time, guys, peace.