“SASQUATCH ASSAULT is currently in postproduction; we’re 30 minutes into the rough cut,” Gernhard tells Fango. “We have also begun the digital effects work as of…uh, 15 minutes ago. Once again, that team is led by Colin Theys. We have to be very precise with the effects in this film, due to the fact that we are mastering to 35mm scope. Our completion date is early March.”

Gernhard’s previous producing credits for his Synthetic Cinema company include PREDATOR ISLAND, BLOOD DESCENDANTS, WEREWOLF: THE DEVIL’S HOUND and the upcoming BANSHEE!!! He admits that he never actually aspired to be a director, “which basically everyone who goes to film school wants to do—that and write a screenplay. I started in this business as a cameraman, and have basically held every crew position since graduating college.” Gernhard laughs that he assumed the SASQUATCH director’s chair “by default—we needed someone, and since Colin [who helmed BANSHEE!!!] was working on a much larger sci-fi project, it fell into my hands. Richard Lucas, the executive producer of the creature features, has always wanted to have me direct, so now his dream is reality and my nightmare has come true! I do enjoy producing, and will definitely be back in that saddle for our next feature.”

Nonetheless, helming SASQUATCH ASSAULT proved to be a positive experience. “We had a very strong crew and a precise schedule to follow,” he says. “The hours were long, but the whole feature was shot in 15 days. Again, the movie was shot entirely in Connecticut: a creepy closed—and haunted—police precinct in Norwalk, an abandoned factory in Middletown as well as other parts of the city and the sewers of Hartford.”

While Gernhard won’t go so far as to proclaim his to be the best Sasquatch feature ever, he does note, “It is an original idea; a Bigfoot coming into the big city and battling cops and bad guys is great pulp material! There are some unbelievable scenes and memorable characters. I want this to be more than your average Sasquatch movie. Rather than, ‘Did you see the movie with the Bigfoot in the woods,’ I want to hear, ‘Did you see the movie where the Bigfoot crushed that pimp’s head?’ There are brilliant and bloody deaths involved, both practical and digital. We’ve got a head punch-through, a face rip and many terrible crushings! As well as a super-sexy chick with switchblades fighting a 7-foot-tall, 350-pound Sasquatch—now that’s hot!” We’ll keep you updated as SASQUATCH ASSAULT stomps toward release; check out Synthetic Cinema’s official website here.