A star-studded creature feature with a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score had audiences in hysterics at FrightFest’s 25th anniversary event in London – with one catch.
The Invisible Raptor, starring Lord Of The Rings and The Goonies icon Sean Astin and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Sandy Martin, never actually shows you the titular monster.
As the title suggests, the film follows a raptor invisible to the naked eye. An experiment gone wrong that escapes the scientific facility it was raised in to wreak havoc on the sleepy town of Spielburgh County.
It’s up to washed-up paleontologist Dr Grant Walker (Mike Capes), and his loner security guard co-worker Denny Danielson (David Shackelford) to track down the apex predator following the disappearance of Elliot Kintner (Luke Speakman), a regular at Dr Walker and Denny’s dinosaur-themed attraction Dino World.
The unique horror comedy previously appeared at FrightFest Glasgow, earning itself an impressive 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with critics praising the film for its ability to ’embrace its silliness’ and its ‘genuinely entertaining gore.’
And on Thursday, for its UK premiere, the Invisible Raptor team brought those laughs to the audience in more ways than one as they provided a very unique piece of merchandise.
Every screening attendee at Leicester Square’s Odeon Luxe was gifted their very own Invisible Raptor figurine which, you guessed it, was made up of an empty piece of plastic on a Dino World card.
Viewers were quick to take to social media to praise the ‘great promo’ and the ‘ridiculous’ stunt that perfectly embodied the film’s nature.
Popcorn_cliches wrote: ‘The Invisible Raptor was better than the last Jurassic Park movie and has supplied me with what might now be my favourite piece of movie merch.’
Others shared how much they adored the ‘wild’ horror film, with Chris Ellaway writing: ‘Last night was my first film of @FrightFest. The Invisible Raptor was one of the stupidest films I’ve seen… And I loved every second of it!’
Naomi Roper added: ‘The Invisible Raptor -What a time. I was laughing so hard I thought they were going to throw us out. Delightful. Even if I was shaking my head in horror for most of it.’
Mal Jutley said: ‘Really enjoyed The Invisible Raptor at @FrightFest Glasgow. Imagine Jurassic Park but an invisible killer raptor on the loose It’s brilliant fun, loads of quality pop culture references…had the audience all laughing throughout and it’s gets nasty too. Top stuff by @themikecapes.’
Good movie promo:
— Rabia l the Cultured Curator (@RPISH) August 23, 2024
Invisible Raptor #frightfest pic.twitter.com/RmmcN3UvVM
The Invisible Raptor -What a time. I was laughing so hard I thought they were going to throw us out. Delightful. Even if I was shaking my head in horror for most of it @FrightFest pic.twitter.com/4jxARYYZcz
— Naomi (@khaleesi_101) August 23, 2024
@FrightFest The Invisible Raptor. Startlingly engaging parody of 80s movie tropes, the comedy covering all bases, clever, stupid, gross. Impossible to dislike. pic.twitter.com/mzNeYgJWQR
— The Unfortunate Gwatkin (@gillchrisd) August 23, 2024
The Invisible Raptor was better than the last Jurassic Park movie and has supplied me with what might now be my favourite piece of movie merch pic.twitter.com/Mwi1bykwjn
— Ashleigh (@popcorn_cliches) August 23, 2024
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, lead star Mike Capes and writer Johnny Wickham explained the complexities of creating a creature feature with no visible creature.
‘We were like, well, this will be a breeze. We don’t even have the Raptor,’ Wickham said. We don’t even have to show the Raptor. ‘But it turns out you’re making an Invisible Man movie.
‘You have to be very aware of the Raptor’s presence in the scene. So you’re doing floor effects, moving the banisters, and knocking trash cans over.
‘As an actor too, you had to act as if a raptor was there. We didn’t have a stand-in for the raptor. We didn’t have like a green screen, so we’re just pantomiming everything.’
Capes shared details about one particular scene which sees Dr Walker, his sweetheart Amber (Caitlin McHugh), and Denny subdue the raptor.
‘We had got a huge favor from an incredible VFX artist, a guy named Dorian Cleavenger who had a bunch of great suggestions, and really helped us finish the movie.
‘One scene that we had written was a nod to Jurassic Park where Dr Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) lays on the Triceratops which is breathing underneath him. So we wanted this scene where I would lay on the invisible raptor when it’s sedated.
‘We were trying to think of different ways without having a harness with a bunch of wires and cables that we would have to take out. I was at Mike Hermosa’s (director) house and I was kind of brainstorming the scene, and I looked at his couch, and he had just enough space under his couch to wedge my feet.
‘I asked him to sit on the edge of the couch, bearing weight on it. And so I was able to have my feet held by the couch and lean my body way out so it looked like I was floating.’
However, there was one problem – the scene in question was set in a deserted street. Not exactly the sort of place an errant couch would be lying around. So the crew had to get creative.
‘I talked to my Gaffer and I said, “Is there a way we can bear some weight in this street?”. And he actually bolted some straps into the concrete in the middle and then these straps went up around my boots.
‘When you see that scene, my boots are being held with bolt into the concrete with two straps, and I’m leaning my body out floating over the raptor.’
The Invisible Raptor had its English premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Thursday, August 22.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
