Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love a good creature feature. But, do you know what I love even more? A good creature feature that’s based off of a real urban legend! Tailypo – or Taileybones, or one of many other nicknames – is a supposed cat-like cryptid rumored to haunt the Appalachia region of the United States, from the southern tip of New York to Georgia and Mississippi. Tailypo is often described as an animal a little larger than the size of a dog with pointed ears, glowing yellow eyes, massive claws, thick black fur and the ability to speak the human language; mostly to ask the weary who has its missing tail. With such an awesome monster as the backstory, who wouldn’t want to bring this baby to the big screen?
Well, Tennessee’s own Cameron McCasland is that man and he’s just starting to release his short film Tailypo to the independent horror film circuit. The owner of Red Headed Revolution, 3x Emmy Award nominee and Rondo Hatton Award winner released his homage to backwoods slashers, The Lashman, last year and it looks like he’s making sure to keep his name in audiences mouths with Tailypo, the short film he wrote, directed and produced along with director of photography Josh Ickes, production manager Chad Fuller, assistant director J Kyle Kelly and the creature design team of Dustin Mills and Brad Edwards. Cast-members include David Chattam as Levon, Ranger as Jasper the Dog and Joseph Aguon Drake and Danielle Gelehrter as Tailypo.
With a little fact checking I discovered that McCasland had stuck pretty close to the original Tailypo legend: a woodsman roaming the forest with his hound during a not-so-prosperous game season. The dog, in this case – good ol’ Jasper, encounters something in the underbrush that grabs the attention of Levon. Unfortunately, Levon seems to be a bit blind and dimwitted and absentmindedly fires into the underbrush without checking out the commotion first. He finds the tail of a creature, which he believes to be a raccoon or skunk, and takes it back to his cabin to mix in with the night’s bowl of bland soup. What he doesn’t know is the tail belongs to the fabled Tailypo and the mysterious creature has followed Levon and Jasper back to their humble cabin…and it really, really wants its tail back. With darkness covering the creatures tracks, it becomes a battle for survival as man is pitted against wilderness in a way he never imagined, or dreamed of in his wildest nightmares.
While I thoroughly enjoyed The Lashman last year, I wouldn’t be objective if I failed to mention that it was riddled with production errors. It seems like The Lashman was a labor of love, though one I think still resonates with independent horror fans. Luckily with Tailypo, most of those production errors have been corrected. The audio is better, the camera work is fantastic, the lighting at night is top notch and super impressive. And I loved the practical effects and creature design from Mills and Edwards. The only production related issue I can harp on is the shots of Jasper while he and Levon are around the fire. Either a different camera was used, it was shot at a different time or whatever the reason, but the shots are very different looking. It’s almost like blue filter, red filter, blue filter, red filter, blue filter, red filter, etc. I mean, both types of shots look great, but when interwoven together I have to criticize them as a big error. However, if this is my only real complaint, then I can guarantee viewers that Mr. McCasland has really stepped up his game and brought his production value up a couple of notches. Well done.
Tailypo is my first “sighting” of the cat-like cryptid and I have to say that I’m a bit enthralled. Should Mr. McCasland ever decide to adapt this story into a feature film, I think it could be very successful as long as he kept with the same style. Lovable characters with good acting behind them, a backwoods cryptid that hasn’t been done to death yet, a little humor here and a little horror there and great special effects… I may not have Tailypo’s tail, but I hope to encounter him again in the future. Plus, any short film with a dog in it is A-ok in my book. Final Score: 7.2 out of 10
