MovieChat Forums > The Beast of Bray Road (2005) Discussion > how stupid are they going to make us loo...

how stupid are they going to make us look?


as someone who lives near bray road (well, within biking distance, if you want a workout), i want to know how stupid this movie is going to make wisconsinites look.

i mean, this movie takes place in my own backyard,pretty much.

"Stupidity is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished."
-- Hercule Poirot.

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If it helps you at all, I wrote and directed BRAY ROAD. I grew up in Wauwatosa and when I was in high school (I attended Rufus King in Milwaukee) my family moved to Cudahy. They still live there.

A lot of people who have been offended by the film, I believe, have fixated on a couple of characters. The majority of the people, all Wisconsinites portrayed in the film, are intelligent and articulate. We didn't have people do goofy accents. In fact, the only character that does have an accent is an actor who grew up in Rhinelander!

You can think the movie as a whole is stupid, I don't care. But the perception that a bunch of people in LA, with no idea of Wisconsin, made a movie to mock our state is simply untrue. Sure, there are some white trashy girl minor characters and some motorheads working on their mustang in the back of their farm, but if you've ever been to rural Wisconsin or taken in Summerfest, you know those people exist.

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so you made this movie, and this is the one they're going to show on sci fi channel? i'll watch it, but it's been my expirience that these kinds of movies suck on general principles (*cough*Chupacabra: Dark Seas*cough*).

"Stupidity is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished."
-- Hercule Poirot.

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Yes, it's the same movie. They're not for everyone. Hope you enjoy it. Just keep in mind that we don't take ourselves or these movies too serious all the time!

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i missed it. sorry.

"Stupidity is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished."
-- Hercule Poirot.

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thank you for making us liik like a bunch of inbred drunk hicks, jerk.

"[Stupidity] is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished."
-- Hercule Poirot.

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If we (as a guy raised in Elkhorn, WI and now lives in Milwaukee) were made to look like hics, then, well...about 42 states previously portrayed with hics in horror movies can say the same thing. It's about time it's our turn.

The director actually did us a favor. Taking a camera to Summerfest would indeed have been far more derogatory. Maybe we can hope for that in the sequel...

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Anyone who both watches the film and researches the facts on the Beast will know beyond doubt that the script is fictional. The Beast never killed, or even attacked, anyone.

If you are saying that people will think Wisconsinites are stupid simply because a few people have claimed to have sighted the Beast, there are sightings of odd animals all over the United States and around the world. I live in Florida. Here we have a version of Bigfoot called the "skunk ape". So don't worry.

Besides that, so far only Wisconsinites have posted on this thread, anyway. I grew up in Wauwatosa myself. (I was a senior at 'Tosa East when you were born, Leigh. Hi, neighbor.)

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[deleted]

not what i'm talking about. this is a monster movie, after all. what i'm afraid of is that it would be a bunch of hayseeds with wheelless trucks on the lawns of their farms who speak with a drawl.

"Stupidity is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished."
-- Hercule Poirot.

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I wouldn't worry about this movie.

All those cheese-hats pretty much took care of that already!

=)








“Well, my days of not takin' you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.”

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You are correct about the hats, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate your quote from "Firefly". What a great series, and a wasted opportunity.

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umm...very stupid. They made us look like a bunch of redneck and hillbillies. A relative of mine, Mark Schakelman, claimed to see the beast back in 1930 in Jefferson. I saw a lot of things wrong with this movie. They talked about deer hunting season going on, and the movie takes place in the middle of summer. The woman said she can go stay with her sister in Eagle River, so she's going to drive 300 miles until her husband comes back in two days. That's a little stupid. Plus I don't think the beast has ever attacked and killed anyone. And a lot of others, not even worth naming them all.

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Well, a Wisconsinite made this movie. Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but this is not an example of Hollywood screenwriters and snobby New Yorkers poking fun at the midwest.

How often do you see Wisconsin portrayed in movies and TV? Not very often. I hope to change that. I love the state (I grew up in Milwaukee), have shot films there (the feature DRAGON was shot entirely in Whitnall and Grant Park) and hope to shoot there again very soon.

I also hate to say, that like anything else, I never intended this to be a definitive version of every Wisconsinite. Of course, there are wealthy, well educated, literate, sober people living in our great state. Of course, some of these people are the people who claim to have seen the beast. But please don't claim that our state doesn't have many, many people that act exactly like the characters in this movie do. Also note, that had this film been made by a non-Wisconsinite I guarantee they would have had all the characters talking in ridiculous FARGO accents that aren't close to ours. In fact, the only character who has an accent in the film (FARMER BARTON) was played by an actor from Wisconsin, speaking in his natural tongue!

Similarly, I know that the beast never killed anyone (although, since this film was made at least one person has claimed that it attacked him). But, making a film about a beast that doesn't kill anyone set in a town of "normal" people doesn't make for an entertaining film. At least not the entertaining film I was hired to make.

So, sure, the beast kills and eats people, the beast is fleshed out as a werewolf and all of the characters are colorful and sort of white trash. No one should take this movie too seriously. It was intended to be a by the numbers monster movie with a dash of comedy thrown in here and there.


So please be happy that characters are talking about Walworth County, Eagle River, Bray Road etc. And I promise, when the beast descends upon Milwaukee in the planned sequel, not everyone will be a hick.

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Cheers to that and taking the time to post here. One can tell there are indeed a lot of numbskulls in Wisconsin by reading their posts here. Thankfully, you are not one of them. It's fantastic that you're behind the camera (and as a teacher from MPS, I applaud your roots and the example you set for the other students in our city, as well as our corner of the state).

Perhaps in the Milwaukee sequel, people can flee the beast in a boat and land on a tropical island in Lake Michigan, like they did in the Dawn of the Dead remake. Just a suggestion.

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Ah...an MPS teacher!!!

I am a proud graduate of Rufus King H.S.!

Thanks.

"There is no peace without freedom, no freedom without a fight."

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[deleted]

I realize this is an old thread, but..

Good to see a movie about this. I grew up and live in Elkhorn, and spent a lot of my time at a friend's, which is on Bray Rd. I was channeling through and saw this on sci-fi. 2005, I can't believe I haven't heard of this movie until now.

Anyway, as far as "Some Dude"'s concerns.. it's a horror movie about a werewolf.. How serious can you possibly take it? You're the one giving "Wisconsinites" a bad name.

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"This film is dedicated to the great state of Wisconsin"??? Please! Thanks for making all of the residents here look like fools.

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[deleted]

I generally dislike Wisconsin, so I might like this movie.

"For that day."
-Three Days of the Condor

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