Predators!

I had read a story in an issue of Epic Illustrated called “Predators”, which was about a strange woman who comes to the big city and encounters a man who begins to stalk and harass her. Wanting to keep things on the up-and-up, we contacted the author of the story and got the rights to adapt his original short story into a script. The artist who illustrated the story even gave us reference material to work from.

I then sought out help from my friend Ted Smith, who I had met a few years before at a sci-fi convention. Ted was also a filmmaker, and knew more about make up effects than I did. He became a co-producer and helped build props and created the MU effects that would be needed.

We shot in my then wife Dana Eilers’ house in South City from early February through late March of 1988, usually on weekends which is when everyone was available. Karen Klaus was cast as the lead, with Mike Smith playing her womanizing adversary. Our camera was a rented VHS camcorder. Our sound system was a cassette recorder with a microphone taped to a broomstick.

By today’s standards the production was a bit crude, but we were enthusiastic and ambitious, and achieved some really cool things. We learned a lot and were having a blast. And then…

After filming, Dana and I separated and divorced, and I began moving from place to place. I was fired from my job, and frankly, I was a bit lost. Then the cable studio’s VHS deck-to-deck editing system broke, and it seemed as if it would never get fixed. I had to finish the film, but I just wasn’t sure how it was going to happen - in those days, it wasn’t affordable to just go out and buy an editing system, and PCs with non-linear editing software were still years off.

In December of 1988 I left St. Louis and moved to Los Angeles. My film career took off out there, and yet I still tried to find an edit system that I could use for low cost or maybe in trade. But after a few years went by, I finally put the project on the shelf and just forgot about it. I was on to better things and chalked it up to experience.

In 2006 I would move back to St. Louis and continue production work, creating a slew of corporate and commercial projects, video shorts, features, and music videos.

Cut to this past summer when I was cleaning the house and came across the old Predators VHS tapes with all the raw footage. And it struck me - capturing video is so simple now, and my edit system could easily handle this and probably greatly improve the image quality. I could upscale the footage, and do a much better job at sound mixing and effects.

I had always wondered if the project was any good, if I knew what I was doing. Would it even cut together? Would it make sense? So within days I had a capture device hooked up to a VHS deck and was pulling the footage into my computer. And after 37 years, it seems I am finally going to finish this film.

Honestly? The footage is pretty good, for what was possible at the time. Our coverage is good, and we didn’t do a ton of takes. I think it’s going to work, and now it will have a retro 80s look, which might actually work for it. I even have considered the idea of interviewing the people who were originally involved, the ones who are still around, and doing a little documentary about indie film and the struggles we go through to get projects made.

It will probably take the better part of the next year to put this together, but I will keep you all posted with updates. Should be a fun little horror project.

--- Wyatt Weed (Nov 7, 2025)