Production Notes

Inspirations: Lovecraft and Neanderthals

“Primevil” draws upon the "Cthulhu Mythos" and takes some artistic license with respect to the historical nature of the story. Central to “Primevil” is the concept that these three Neanderthals worship Cthulhu, a mythical being created by H.P. Lovecraft. The idea of the Neanderthal sculpture of the Cthulhu statuette is inspired by both the idol described in the “Call of Cthulhu” as much by the famous carving the “Venus of Willendorf.” It was discovered in Austria in 1908 and thought to have been created in roughly 24,000 B.C. The Venus is not realistic, but an idealized form and shows remarkable skill in its craft. Filmmaker Mike Turner had a copy of the Venus on hand while carving the stone Cthulhu idol. Another important symbol in the film is that of the “Elder Sign”, again from the work of Lovecraft. Though some of the descriptions differ from story to story, Lovecraft is known to have drawn it in at least one of his correspondences as a single line from which five shorter lines branch off. This simple, primitive style seemed perfect for “Primevil” and is used on the pendant warn by the hero, The Hunter. The Elder Sign is ward against the worshippers of the “Great Old Ones” and Cthulhu. An important decision was made to not have any supernatural or magical elements in the film, in order to ground it in reality. Do these occult symbols really have any power? No more than what the characters give them by believing in them.

Filming in a Prehistoric Location

We were lucky enough to be granted permission to film at Natural Stone Bridges and Caves in Pottersville, NY. This amazing place serves as several locations for the film “Primevil” and helps establish the characters in the film’s prehistoric setting as well as helped the actors get into character. The Cro-Magnon family lives under the massive stone bridge arch which is the largest marble cave entrance on the east coast of the U.S. measuring up to 180' wide and 62' high. It was originally called “Ponte de Dios (Bridge of God)” by Spanish explorers. It was originally described in "Morse's Geography of 1790" and the land is privately owned by the Beckler family whose ancestor, Jacob Van Benthuysen, received the site in the 1700s for Revolutionary War service. Appropriately, this unique geography was formed during the last ice age by raging waters from retreating glaciers. Violent waters return to the caves in the form of floods each spring. This proved a challenge for the film’s cast and crew. Natural Stone Bridges and Caves is a popular tourist destination which generally opens after the flood waters retreat and the winter’s ice has melted. However, in the spring of 2007, the ice and high water took longer to recede than usual, which provided the filmmakers with a limited window of opportunity before the site opened to the public. It also provided the film with authentic and beautiful locations that truly contributed to the film.

There wasn't any sound in “Primevil” that was used from location without significant alteration. Maybe 5% of the soundtrack is sound from on location, but most of that was significantly processed or relocated entirely to different parts of the timeline. For example, the rushing water sounds in particular are all sounds recorded on location, but none of them are in the same place in the movie as they were when recorded, and they are all altered to better match the mood and location of the shots.

The other 95% of the soundtrack was done in post by Steve Maas. Creating most of the sounds entailed Maas digging for rocks in his backyard and then rubbing them together, slapping bare feet on the concrete floor of his wood shop, slobbering over imaginary chicken and punching himself repeatedly in the chest.

Almost all of the vocalizations were recreated after the fact, with the exception of one line by Jayson Argento (the Shaman), but even that required the removal of background highway noise and a great deal of reverb sculpting. Maas recorded his own voice for many of the vocalizations and used a variety of techniques to blend them into the film. The campfire exaltations were recorded in post by Argento, director Mike Turner and Maas. Maas’ wife, Sarah, did some dramatic breathing and shushing for the Mother character. The tribal drumming music that supplements the more thematic elements was recorded in Maas’ home studio.

Maas also led the sessions which included actor Argento, Turner and friend and musician, Josh Castonguay. Sessions involved banging and shaking all sorts of things, including an acoustic drum kit, a hand drum, shakers, claves, a rain stick and a thunder tube. Additional music was provided by Pump Audio, LLC.