"The Lurking" (1985)

"The Lurking" is a 1985 short film by Clarke M. Smith and starring Peter Beam, Sherry Felix, and George Mazarakis. It was completed in 1985 via equipment from Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ. It was made for the final project for a class called Intro To Video Production, and produced by TimeAxis Entertainment.

## Plot

A housewife emerges from the bedroom of a middle class home, and goes into the kitchen to make coffee. She finds some kind of green slime on the counter, and touches it.  Its sticky and she goes to find a towel, when she steps on more of it.  She bends down to pick up some kind of gooey shedded skin.  Something plops down onto the counter behind her.  She turns to look, and sees a horrifying crab-like creature on the counter.  It just stares at her.  She swiftly runs out to get a hammer from a nearby drawer. Upon returning to the kitchen, the creature is gone.  It somehow rises up, and attacks her by clamping onto her face. It then drags her lifeless body into a closet.

Later in the day, her husband comes home from work and looks/asks around for anyone home.  No one answers.  He goes into the bedroom, and is attacked by the creature.

The son comes home from school and sees a note on the counter which says “Your dad and I have gone out.  Dinner is in the oven”.  Rather disappointed in this, the son opens the oven to discover the creature lurking inside, awaiting him.  The horrified son kicks the oven door closed and runs upstairs to get his switch blade.  Upon returning, the oven door is open and the creature is gone.  The son backs up and inadvertently puts his hand directly on the creature.  He turns and - suddenly he awakens from the dream.  After settling down, he calls out to his mom.  No answer.  This alarms the son, who hastily puts on his glasses to see better.  The kitchen is empty.  Cautiously, the son stands up and goes into the kitchen, and then steps on something.  Its assumed to be the same gooey shedded skin of the creature, signifying that it was not just a dream.

## Realizing the Script

Originally written to be a claymation short on film, The Lurking was not made to be nearly as tongue in cheek as one might think. The hope, naively as it may seem, was a legitimately scary movie. But the silly monster prop and campy acting took care of that.

Ande Felix (1951 - 2000) wanted to be the husband, but with his long hair and beard, he was not right for the part. Enter Pete's step father George, who was exactly what Smith was looking for. The slightly balding business guy. Smith's mother Sherry was given the mother role, who had a ton of fun being in it, and she took the role seriously, cranking up the scared housewife vibe. Pete rounded out the cast as the kid not happy to evidently yet again, eat his own dinner while his parents are out. (really out, this time)

## Shooting Details

The rented camera and VTR of the time, were very large and cumbersome. Therefore the majority of the film was on a steady tripod, and very little handheld work. Some interesting camera angles, and creature POV were employed. The biggest influence, and nods, were to Alien (1979), especially the notion of finding a shedded skin from the growing creature.

The creature was created and sculpted by Smith, which again was originally intended for stop motion animation. As a result of taking the film to video, that was scrapped, and the creature had very little life or movement.

The film was entirely shot in one afternoon and evening, concealing the darkness by shooting anything outside or with windows early on. Under the gun to get it shot in one day and to be able to edit and turn it in on time, Smith recalls in the audio commentary, being very pushy and bossy. His impatience is evident in some of the raw footage.

### Music

The musical score for The Lurking was comprised of existing scores from John Williams: Superman, Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  These were taken directly from the LPs (phonographs) and recorded onto VHS for use in editing. Many of Smith’s early short films were re-edited in higher quality, but The Lurking remains the only one to retain its original sound and music. However, 30  years later, the video clips were re-captured and used to replace the existing picture, synched to the original sound. In addition, creature sound effects were added in preparation for the film’s submission to the 2015 San Diego Film Week.

## Aftermath

Sadly perhaps, very few students showed up for the last day of class, when all the final projects were shown. They likely didn't make anything to be terribly proud of and just turned it in on time but ditched the last day. However, the instructor was very impressed with what was accomplished in so little time, and such poor editing facilities.

Subsequently, 30 years later in 2015, shortly after Mrs. Felix passed away at the age of 72, The Lurking was shown at the 2015 San Diego Film Week's "Oldies but Goodies" program, which later won the award for Best Oldie but Goodie. It was a bittersweet moment for Smith, whose film hadn't seen the light of day since it was in class, let alone a long-delayed recognition and award.

## Video Links

"The Lurking" (1985) (Movie)

1999 Visual Audio Commentary

Outtakes

"The Lurking" (1985) 2017 San Diego Film Week Screening and Q&A