You can go out to the store, especially this time of year, and grab some pretty disturbing merch. These past few weeks alone I've seen animatronics of guys puking in a barrel, mincing body parts with a cleaver and, an especially gruesome one, of a torso with a giant rat gnawing at the innards as he shrieks and tries to crawl away. Pretty good, but there is something commercial and controlled about them. If you want simple runaway madness, unencumbered by corporate limitations, look no further than Lee Howard's QuiET RoOM BeARs.
Howard originally made the first of the BeARs as an entry into a "Rosemary's Baby Shower" themed Halloween Party. He figured every baby needs a teddy, but this little Hellspawn is going to need something special. So he dug deep into his rotting mind and came up with the concept of the QuiET RoOM BeARs, A group of horrifically disfigured and maimed teddy bears.
"The QuiET RoOM part of the name comes from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 when the kids were in the institution, Howard said. " I created a back story that basically says that SOMEwhere out there, at one point in time, there was an institution full of the worst of the criminally insane, and the most deeply disturbed and psychologically scarred people. When the patients get 'out of sorts', they are placed into the 'quiet room'. Nobody REALLY knows what happens in there, but when the inmates come out (if they come out at all), they are sometimes missing pieces of themselves, as well as less of a soul. And with them, comes a new Bear. Each 'session' in the Quiet Room, produces a new 'session' of bear (the bears have no names, only 'session 1', 'session 2', and so on, carved somewhere into their bodies)." You've gotta love that!
According to Howard, the BeARs are starting to develop quite a following, as you would assume they would. Check out the video below, and some of the pics. These things are just amazing. They look like a nightmare emerging from a teddy bear. Hopefully all Mr. Howard's psychological examinations are up to date because I know I've got some questions about his stability! Howard was Mark Patton's (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2) featured artist at this year's Rock and Shock festival in Worchester, MA and has been getting attention online and in print.
Check out the QuiET RoOM BeARs Facebook Page to get an idea of the depravity that is going through this guy's mind. Holy crap, Lee. You alright?
Howard is currently getting the official QuiET RoOM BeARs website launched as well as working on a script based on the bears' concept. I'm telling you guys, I can see this taking off. You want disturbed? You ain't seen disturbed until you've come face to face with one of the QuiET RoOM BeARs!
