Although the story never reached my ears, the tale of TAILYPO is one that has been passed from generation to generation in the Appalachia region of the United States. It's a story that filmmaker Cameron McCasland (director of the indie slasher THE LASHMAN) first heard as a child:
“The first time I heard this legend I was in elementary school, and my teacher told it to us around Halloween. It always stuck with me, and creeped me out. I wanted to tell it again, in a way that was frightening, but still accessible in the same way it was to me as a kid.”
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McCasland has brought TAILYPO to cinematic life as a 14 minute short, the first in a series of shorts that he plans to make for an anthology show to be hosted by Larry Underwood, a.k.a. horror host Dr. Gangrene.
David Chattam stars as Levon, a short-sighted hunter who makes the mistake of firing off a shot at a potential meal before confirming what type of creature it is. Levon only manages to shoot its tail off, and that night it visits his shack to retrieve its missing appendage.
Co-starring a dog named Ranger and featuring a cool monster created by Dustin Wayde Mills, performed by Joseph Aguon Drake, and voiced by Danielle Gelehrter (a.k.a. horror host Penny Dreadful), TAILYPO is a fun start to McCasland's anthology project. I look forward to seeing what stories he’ll be telling in the future.
