If you've ever wondered how "The Shining" will turn out in a fast food setting, "The Chickening" is your answer.
The first of its kind as remixed, augmented cinema, "The Chickening" is released as a trailer for a fictional film that transforms the Stanley Kubrick classic into a comedy adventure. It is the brainchild of Nick DenBoer and Davy Force, and tells the story of Jack Torrance as he takes on a new job as Charbay's Chicken World senior chief night manager.
A new barbecue sauce called "The Shiny" is being developed in Jack's workplace and strange things begin to happen when he decides to give the sauce a try.
Danny, Jack's 42-year-old man-child of a son, sees his father is slowly turning into some kind of aggressive and unstable chicken creature and decides to take matters into his own hands by destroying the pipeline for The Shiny.
DenBoer and Force had been talking about the idea of "taking a classic film and putting it through the digital blender" for years. The two were both remix and visual effects artists so they have a lot of experience applying different production styles to classic films. They finally had some free time last spring and so were able to collaborate and put "The Chickening" together.
Why chickens?
The inspiration probably came from DenBoer's experience growing up in a chicken farm and working in his family's poultry butcher shop.
"One has to develop a sense of humor about poultry when handling it in all day in its raw form."
"The Chickening" is presented as a pseudo-trailer right now and might not necessarily be expanded as an actual film or a short film. DenBoer and Force have plotted out an extended version, however, to help them assess the project's commercial potential. "The Chickening" debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
"We are really excited to do more of this type of work, whether it's extending this film or transforming someone else's film. It's a fresh new style and a lot of fun to produce," the co-directors said.
Watch "The Chickening" the below!
