I’ve decided not to mention names and be as vague as possible to protect the identity of the victims and their loved ones. Also, I’ll reframe from outright stating the movie name as I don’t want to run the risk of being linked as someone working on set at the time. I was a crew member in a famous dinosaur movie that came out in the 90’s. I remember everyone being excited to work on this project as one of the big scenes in the movie required a giant T-rex causing havoc among guests at the dinosaur zoo. We had gotten word that they would build a 20-foot animatronic that would be used for most of its scenes.
When they rolled the thing in the studio, everyone was in awe at the sheer size and realism of the animatronic. The trouble started around the time shooting began. The scene called for heavy rain to pour down on the T-rex, so water was artificially sprayed down to the set. What the geniuses in charge didn’t count on was the water had soaked into the latex skin covering the animatronic, causing it to malfunction. These malfunctions would cause the T-rex to move on its own whenever the cameras were off in between takes.
A cheap solution the director had come up with had been to hand dry the animatronic in between takes so the excess of water did not further damage the star of the movie. During these breaks from filming, the T-rex head would be moved lower to the ground to facilitate clean up. A young guy next to the dinosaurs’ giant jaws, I think he might’ve been an intern, was yelled at to clean the animatronic. As the poor kid was just doing his job, the animatronic violently shook its head unexpectedly, bitting down on the kid’s torso with various tons of hydraulic force. The surrounding crew was horrified as the closest were sprayed with warm crimson.
A group I had seen working on the mechanical horror earlier rushed to a control panel that apparently controlled the T-rex. In the time it took the crewmembers to disengage the animatronic jaw hydraulics, it had completely ripped apart that young intern. There were bits and pieces of human flesh scattered across the set, and what remained of that young kid was dangling from the animatronics teeth. The filming was stopped for a week. When we returned to work, we were reminded not to speak about the incident on set as we had signed NDA’s to work on the film and we understood our lives could be financially ruined if the studio decided to pursue legal action against us. After a few days of recording with no incidents, it was time for another death scene.
certain precautions were taken to avoid any further unfortunate accidents. Water was kept far way from the animatronics this time. The morning we were supposed to shoot a hunter being eaten alive by one of the dinosaurs, the actor was feeling “under the weather” so his stunt double would be replacing him on set. They brought another animatronic in, this time, it was a velociraptor. Everyone was on edge, no one more than the stunt double who had been strapped onto the animatronic to have it resemble it pouncing on him.
It took a bit of convincing, and they might’ve threatened his employment, but they got the stunt double to start taking falls on camera. With every fall, the director wasn’t convinced, making the poor man repeat the scene. On the last take, something went wrong with the animatronic. When the stunt double fell to the ground, the animatronic started malfunctioning just like the T-rex had. Its hydraulic jaws snapped down hard on the man’s face, causing him to yell out a blood curdling scream.
It didn’t take the animatronic long to crush the mans face with its powerful hydraulics. When the movie released, I found out they had used that last take on the film, and those horrible screams were as real as could be. The shooting was suspended for two weeks this time. When we got back, the same reminders and low-key threats were given. I noticed that a lot less crewmembers came back to work, and I couldn’t blame them.
It seemed that crew safety was very low on the priority list for the studio, and I wished I had joined them… However, I needed to pay my bills. On the last day of shooting, another dinosaur was supposed to attack a character inside of a car. The scrip called for heavy rain again, but the animatronic would be inside of the car and presumably be completely dry. The animatronic technician was working on the seriously freaky looking thing while the rest of the crew prepared the set for filming. While working on the animatronic, its rubber skin was removed to reveal its steel endoskeleton.
The technician looked incredibly uncomfortable working on the driver’s seat while the animatronic had been set up on the passenger seat facing the driver. I had stopped by to chat and check up on the guy. He was completely calm and relaxed working on the dinosaur while the rest of us wouldn’t go near the things as they had been labeled killers on set by the crew. Part of the reason the tech was so comfortable was because this animatronic was designed to be sound activated and would only simulate attack once a very specific sound was heard in its vicinity: A door slamming shut. I went about my day to handle other matters on set when I heard a commotion coming from where I had just left.
The director was chewing out the technician for working too slow on getting the animatronic prepared. To my horror, I watched as the director slammed the car door shut in frustration, activating the animatronic inside. the only thing we could see from the set was how the car had begun to shake violently from the vicious animatronic attack. Having its metallic endoskeleton exposed removed any safety’s added to prevent further harm on set. We could hear how the technician screamed out for help as the car windows were sprayed with blood.
I sprinted over to the car and opened the door to try and help the poor man. As the door swung open, half the body of the tech came spilling out. His face had been ripped off, and he had been gutted. The image that would haunt me in my dreams would be his eyes still desperately moving around in agonizing pain, finally rolling into the back of his head while his bare bone jaw opened and closed as if he was still trying to speak… or scream. That was the straw that broke the camels back for me.
I quit as fast as I could, and to my knowledge, the movie was finished and was huge, followed by some subpar sequels. They covered up the deaths of those people successfully and either paid off or threatened their family members from speaking out. It has taken me a lifetime to speak about the events of that horrible experience because I’m still under legal threats. I recently found out that they are thinking of making a new movie in the franchise, and it fills me with dread for whatever crew is involved in the making of that movie. I think you should all know the truth.