COMIC-CON 2006: Producers Stan Winston and Jim Issac Talk Skinwalkers

Director Jim Isaac and Producer Stan Winston have created a new werewolf movie that refuses the digital domain for straight up old school practical effects. Skinwalkers is a film about character rather than showy CGI. Both were on hand to discuss the new horror franchise in the waiting...

Can you tell us about your new film?

Jim Isaac: Well, it approaches Werewolf mythology in a different way. It's about two clans of werewolves that battle each other. It doesn't deal with the typical transformation. It doesn't have the person that gets bit, and then spends the rest of the movie dealing with it. This is a group of people that have been werewolves for ages. It has a different character take to it.

Stan Winston: Werewolves have been my favorite monsters since I was a kid. I love characters that are in conflict. Men who have to battle the beast within. For years, I haven't seen a good werewolf movie. Not for twenty years, since Rick Baker did American Werewolf in London, and Joe Dante did "The Howling"...Then we went off on a tangent. Don't get me wrong, I have a strong affinity for Digital Effects. But everyone is doing that. And we have lost that since of humanity. I lost the scope of the werewolf movie I always wanted to make. But then I read the script to Skin Walkers and I cared about the family being portrayed in it. I knew it was a chance to create an environment where I could do the werewolf that I wanted to do. It was a chance to do werewolves that you have not seen before. This is the script that I always wanted to do. And me and Jim Isaac were on the same page as to what we wanted to see. I'm excited and extremely proud of this movie. And at the end of the day you will see some really cool werewolves. And they're not digital. You actually see and feel the characters. Its them, they don't lose the personality and become this digital cartoon. You never lose the character.

Jim Isaac: Every design was what I really, really wanted. I wanted to go with the prosthetics. Each werewolf is designed to work within the character. It's what makes the movie work. You are not distanced from the werewolves, but you don't lose them either.

Stan Winston: Let me just tell you...These werewolves are going to fuck you up!

Jim Isaac: The strong point is that you will get involved in the movie. I hope it reminds you of the old Hammer films. And the Universal films. I hope you walk out saying, "That's a cool movie." This is not pretending to be the The Matrix or Underworld. It's about real werewolves.

Skinwalkers comes to theaters this year.