I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say we’re in the midst of a werewolf renaissance, but the last number of years have seen an uptick in werewolf movies. While not all the films have been great, I certainly welcome any and all werewolf movies into my life. Bubba the Redneck Werewolf was completed two years back but is finally joining this mini werewolf craze on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD October 11 courtesy of MVD Entertainment Group. The below trailer is my first introduction to Bubba, but it appears he’s a 20 year-old comic book character. This looks absurd, for sure, but this looks like it could be a lot of fun. I definitely appreciate the Drive-by Truckers-like song in the trailer. It provides a nice touch. More details and the official press release below the trailer.

Originally published in 1996 by Brass Ball Comics and later by Creature Entertainment, the cult classic comic is a favorite among collectors. Created by Mitch Hyman, who also serves as the film’s executive producer, the original idea of Bubba came from a Halloween costume. “I was invited as an adult to a Halloween party”, said Hyman. “I figured out how to make myself a wolf man. But the hair was so expensive and hard to work with for me at the time. I then figured out that I could get around it by putting on my 1980s trucker’s ball cap and add a pair of overalls. I knew was always clothed. This allowed me to use the hair I did have for the hands and facial appliance and make it work. So the prototype for Bubba was born!” Despite the ridiculous costume of convenience, the idea was born and Bubba made his first appearance in a CFD comics anthology series as a “scarier than hell werewolf”. Over time, Hyman embraced the absurdity of the character after he was presented with the idea of turning “Bubba” into an animated series. “I thought it would be fun to see how Bubba could be more benign. I re-vamped him and took him back to his first origin as a dog catcher, but now he was up against corporate pirates doing animal testing.” And thus the comedy-horror-sci-fi mash up of the character was born and remains to this day.

2016 marks the 20^th anniversary of the comic book release and producers Will Phillips and Brendan Jackson Rogers couldn’t be more excited. “Making Bubba The Redneck Werewolf was an awesome opportunity to bring such wacky characters to life! I was a huge fan of the comics and jumped on the opportunity to be a part of the team.” Brendan Jackson Rogers agreed. “Filming was a blast. We were very fortunate to have a great cast and crew and our makeup and special effects team was second to none.” When asked about the comics Brendan continued his enthusiasm, for the property, “The fact that there is so much material from the comics to pull from is awesome. Bubba is literally already a franchise. I personally would love to see Bubba battle other classic monsters (vampires, mummies, Frankenstein’s monster, etc), but to give each of these monsters a southern twist.”