Our stunt team provided technical support and creativity to put together an innovative ghost story sequence for the upcoming feature film Odd Thomas starring Anton Yelchin who was the actor who played the young John Connor in Terminator 4.

The Odd Thomas ghost story project was filmed at the well equipped and nicely laid out Gretta Garson studios located in the center of Santa Fe New Mexico.

In the sequence we did something quite unique and that I believe has never been done before. We motivated large objects, a refrigerator and a stove by winch and ratchets to propel a stuntman with a ratchet looking effect, only without the use of a vest and cable on the stuntman. 

How did we do it? Anton's stunt double Chris Brewster is an accomplished Parkour athlete. His talent and precise timing allowed us to drop the conventional jerk vest and cable rig and to try something completely different. 

We used our exclusive Soft Pull Ratchet system to precisely control the power and the mass of moving refrigerator to motivate Chris flying across the set. Sending him crashing through a set of pantry doors, and into the pantry shelves. Leaving him in a big heap of food, glass and boxes on the floor of the pantry. 

The effect looked exactly like a ratchet pull, but it wasn\'t! It was the power, mass acceleration of the cable pulled refrigerator and Chris\'s precise timing off the refrigerator that sent Chris flying across the set. Not a cable pull through a vest and harness system like we normally see. Because the stunt double was actually being hit and pushed by the fridge, it brought power and realism not possible by simply timing a camera angle hit. 

The fridge and stove are supposedly propelled by the ghost, so the effect had to look like the fridge and stove where being pushed with a supernatural growing force. Not the normal appearance of a ratchet pull, which in non-linear. 

After being tossed into the pantry, Odd Thomas gets up and tries to escape through a open door. The ghost then pushes the stove hitting Odd Thomas at high speeds causing him to fly over the rapidly moving stove similar to a car hit. As the stove quickly moves across the kitchen to block the door and his escape. Which is again pulled by one of our cable systems. 

Great Effects of Santa Fe was amazing with their support and help in this sequence. They provided everything we might have needed and more to pull this difficult sequence together. Stunt Coordinator Al Goto as always, is a wonderful and gracious boss.