About the Movie
from Short to Feature Film
THE RELIC | DRAGON is the first feature film from THE RELIC UNIVERSE -- a series of stories written by J.M Logan that encompasses everything he loves about movies: adventure - monsters - and treasure.
And it all started with a short film.
After directing the horror-comedy short LUNCH LADIES, Logan felt his next step was getting back to his roots, so he wrote a new short film that featured everything he loves about movies:
monsters, treasure, and adventure.
But he needed help.
So he turned to his two close collaborators of more than 25 years.
Logan met Matt Falletta and Roger Nall working in F/X shops in Los Angeles, and quickly learned they shared the philosophy that movies looked better when capturing as much in camera as possible.
As they designed F/X sequences tighter, they prioritized using practical FX whenever possible, and using them in harmony with -- not replacing them with visual effects.
Their sensibility of high-end / hand-made and keeping every sequence feeling tactile bonded them immediately.
Even as times and careers changed, the three of them continued to occupy each other's creative orbits, and when it came time to start making their own movies -- they knew they wanted to do it together.
With Josh's script and extensive experience in FX and post production, Matt's special FX wizardry, and Roger's cinematography and visual effects background, they pulled together a small team and set out to make a balls-out cosmic horror short they hoped would baffle anyone who watched it as to how they pulled it off for such a small budget.
And then, as it happens, just as pre-production was kicking off -- we had a pandemic.
Yet still, after everyone sat around for a few months, they grew restless -- and the film took on a new purpose.
The cast and crew decided to turn this unusual situation into an opportunity to use their problem solving skills as filmmakers to figure out how to stay creative *safely*, even during a pandemic. Keeping everyone safe while making something cool became the goal.
As it turned out, making a movie during a pandemic was about the most fun thing any of them could have imagined. It bonded them in a way that enhanced creativity and intimacy, and it shows in the work.
Taking over an entire summer camp in the mountains of Idyllwild, California, the cast and crew got tested, rolled in, and closed the gate behind them for five days of shooting.
They built a COVID White Paper based on all available information, issued PPE, designed on-set safety practices, and were among the first film permits issued in California and one of the first productions approved by SAG in 2020.
The shoot went beautifully, and no one got sick.
The short was finished in a few months, and began touring the world in film festivals, building a following through their new online experiences for an audience that had never been more captive or accessible.
Premiering at Telluride Horror Show, going on to FilmQuest, Nightmares, Fantasia, and more -- the team was rewarded for their hard work with many festival invitations and honors -- and Josh started thinking about how to turn THE RELIC into a series of feature films with a cosmic horror/adventure spin.
watch the award winning short film THE RELIC!
Learn more about
The Path to a Feature
Logan always had a love of history, and combined with a fascination with the cosmos, he began to develop a series of stories that would focus on combining real world history and mythology with characters caught in the crossroads between our conventional reality -- and somewhere else.
Inspired by the gothic horror writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he wove together a dark cosmic adventure mythos built from actual history and mythology -- something that already exists in our world --
-- and filled in the holes with monsters.
Anywhere a mystery exists in fascinating stories from humanity's past, he amended them with ideas of what could have happened when history wasn't looking -- and tied these stories together through its mythos.
After writing several full length screenplays and short stories of tales that could occur inside the universe of THE RELIC, it was time for the team to make a feature film.
THE RELIC | DRAGON grew from two sources -- Francisco Coronado's disastrous 1540 expedition into the American Southwest, and the myth from the Viking Sagas, "Andvari's Treasure" -- the same tale that is believed to have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write THE HOBBIT. Connecting these two seemingly unrelated stories is the fun of this adventure.
A cursed, magic ring that made everyone who saw it kill or die to possess it, and a conquistador lost in an alien world on a disastrous mission shrouded in mystery.
What could go wrong?
Taking the same philosophy from the production of the short film of "everyone does everything", Logan, Matt and Roger assembled a small team of polyglot filmmakers in Austin, Texas -- and put everything on the table to make DRAGON look and feel like a movie ten-times its meager budget.
Because of this incredible family, and the creatively supportive atmosphere of hard work and kindness -- the movie was as much fun to make as it is to watch.
Currently finishing post production, THE RELIC | DRAGON will arriving in Fall of 2026!
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