While the trailer for director Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell's upcoming film HUNT FOR THE SKINWALKER looks like the makings of a found footage horror movie, the project is actually – unless the marketing has pulled a fast one on me – not a fictional found footage horror story, but a documentary that delves into true events and features real world found footage.
Based on the book by George Knapp and Dr. Colm Kelleher, HUNT FOR THE SKINWALKER takes a look at
the most intensive scientific study of a “paranormal” hotspot in human history. Skinwalker Ranch is now famous throughout the world. For hundreds of years, myriad of frightening, seemingly paranormal events have been reported in the scenic basin surrounding the ranch, including orbs, UFOs, animal mutilations, unknown creatures, poltergeist-type activity, and many other inexplicable incidents. Shrouded in mystery, an exhaustive multidisciplinary scientific study was initiated and spearheaded by enigmatic aerospace mogul, Robert Bigelow. A team of PhD level scientists was deployed. The scientists and their investigators spent several years on the ground, interviewing witnesses, searching for explanations, and directly confronting an unknown intelligence. Recent headlines have revealed that a second publicly funded paranormal study was initiated by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which hoped to determine if the phenomena at the ranch could be of concern to national security. Secrets have been kept. Big Secrets.
For more than two decades we have wondered about the mysteries of the Uintah Basin and the Skinwalker Ranch. This story can now be told. The film includes rare, previously unreleased footage and interviews recorded while the scientific investigations were underway.
For some viewers, the documentary will be an exploration of mysteries they're already familiar with, while for others it will be an introduction to those mysteries. I would be of the latter group – a skeptic, I don't pay much attention to paranormal investigations, so all of this Skinwalker Ranch business has completely passed me by.
The Orchard will be releasing HUNT FOR THE SKINWALKER on iTunes September 11th.