Themes: Serial Killers, Haunted By the Past, Coming Home
Main Cast: Angela Bettis, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Devon Graye, Ben Cotton, Christopher Titus, Al Sapienza
Release Year: 2007
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
A woman trying to escape traumatic memories from her past finds history repeating itself in this gory horror story. Joan Burrows (Brittney Wilson) was an ordinary teenager growing up in a small Colorado town until she and a friend were abducted by Ernie Bishop, who ran the local funeral parlor. Joan and her friend discovered to their horror that Ernie was a violent lunatic who performed elaborate torture rituals on young women, and while Joan was able to escape with her life, her friend was killed. Sixteen years later, Joan (now played by Angela Bettis), who bears a facial scar and vivid memories of the attack, returns home for the first time to visit her older brother Jeff (Christopher Titus) and his daughter Olympia (Kirby Bliss Blanton), who has been voted queen of the local high school's senior prom. However, the mutilated bodies of Olympia's friends and classmates are soon littering the town, and both Joan and Jeff suspect that Ernie is back and up to his old tricks. Scar was produced in two versions -- one in a new 3-D process, the other shot using High Definition digital video technology. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Brittney Wilson - Teenage Joan; Monika Mar-Lee - Sandra; Carey Feehan - Brian; Tegan Moss - Susie; Kristin Kowalski - April; Brandon Jay McLaren - Howard; Bill Baksa - Melvin Gray; James D. Hopkin - Mr. Watts
Credit
Dwayne Smolnicky - Art Director, Aaron Griffith - Casting, Deb Green - Casting, Don Case - Casting, Douglas Berquist - Co-producer, Christian D. Bruun - Co-producer, Christine Thomson - Costume Designer, Jed Weintrob - Director, Chris Figler - Editor, Daniel Hank - Executive Producer, Allison Powell - Executive Producer, Len Koch - Executive Producer, Bob Silberberg - Executive Producer, Roger Neil - Composer (Music Score), Trevor Smith - Production Designer, Toshiaki Ozawa - Cinematographer, Norman Twain - Producer, Jamie Gordon - Producer, Courtney Potts - Producer, Coll Anderson - Sound Mixer, Tom Benz - Unit Production Manager, Zack Ford - Screenwriter, Jeff Edwards - Additional Music, Hudson Cooley - Production Coordinator, Coll Anderson - Supervising Sound Editor, Stephen Barden - Supervising Sound Editor, Chris MacRae - Set Decorator, Ron Osiowy - Production Sound Mixer
Scar is a horror/crime thriller film. It stars actress Angela Bettis, known for starring in the horror film Carrie. It is the first US produced 3D full length feature film to be completed in HD 3D.[1]
Joan Burrows (Bettis) returns to her hometown to attend her niece Olympia's (Blanton) high school graduation, but finds herself confronted by her past in the town. Before the graduation is to occur, a young couple goes missing and within a few days a mutilated body is found in the water during a town fish festival. This initiates flashbacks in which Joan's dark past is learned. When Joan was 16, she and her best friend were kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer by the name of Bishop (Cotton). Bishop bound Joan and her friend to an autopsy table where one girl was tortured while the other had the power to make it stop simply by demanding the death of the friend.[2] Joan was able to escape and kill her captor, but was left as the sole survivor of the spree with a scar on her cheek. With the present day's body count rising, questions arise whether Bishop had evaded death or if a new copy cat killer has arisen.[2]
The production office opened on September 5, 2006 and had a scheduled 25 days of shooting in Calgary, Canada beginning October 3, 2006.[3] Despite the use of 3-D an early review by Fangoria.com explains that the 3-D "doesn’t overshadow the film, which would be just as effective without it; instead of tossing in over-the-top, in-your-face FX like those seen in Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th Part III, SCAR’s dimensional cinematography encourages a subtler, more voyeuristic feel".[2]
All-digital workflow
Scar is the first feature length narrative 3D movie be completed in a completely digital workflow. The production workflow was designed by NHK and DitlevFilms. Using a 3D camera rig engineered by NTS in Japan (built around two digital high definitionSony cameras the all-digital workflow was supported by an on-site digital lab. The lab facilitated an HD offline version of the footage so editing could begin while filming. The lab also generated dailies and full resolution plates for VFX.
Postproduction
The editing process of Scar was done entirely in HD (720p) and was using an editing method that allowed both stereoscopic video streams to be cut and viewed simultaneously. Proprietary scripts were used to generate 3D previews using a DepthQ 3D projector and CrystalEyes3 glasses. The postproduction process was designed and implemented by Christian Ditlev Bruun (DitlevFilms) and included FotoKem, Technicolor, and Plaster City in Los Angeles. Final stereoscopic adjustments were done in Skip City in Kawaguchi, Japan with NTS (a division of NHK).
Reviews and buzz
According to early reviews at one instance a man was "out cold and paramedics were actually called" and "one viewer ran out of the theater and threw up"[1]
Release
On May 19, 2007 Scar3D opened at the Cannes Film Market. It has been the #1 film at the box office in several countries around the world, including Russia where it opened in 3D on 295 screens.
