Writer/Producer Greg Stechman chatted with Upcoming Horror Movies about his various projects in development and including his new one "Shades of Gray" with "Meg" writer Steve Alten who has another project on the boil that Greg kindly let us in on.

Question: You're close friends with Meg author Steve Alten -- is there anything you can tell the many fans out there on what's going on with the proposed movie?

"It is on hiatus while a new writer is in talks to write the script. THE LOCH, however, is moving towards a huge production deal- producer David (THE THING) Foster is producing with Ryan. It is about the Loch Ness Monster. The book will be released very soon. I have read it -- it is f**king sick".

Question: In your personal opinion -- better than Meg?

"Different -- Steve is a more mature author since Meg. I love them both. I read Meg four times when it first came out; The Loch reminded me of the feeling I got when I read Meg for the first time".

Question: Is there any additional information you can reveal about that? like is it going to get a threatrical run and so on?

"The Loch is looking at a projected budget of $100 million. Yes, we expect it to get a wide theatrical release. David Foster is one of the biggest producers in Hollywood and he's going to make this thing one hell of a show"

The pair are also working on a smaller $7 million budget project called "Shades of Gray" along with two other films based on two of horror fiction's most famous stories:

Question: What's Shades of Gray about?

"It is partially based on the true story of white supremacists in the town of Cor De Lane, ID. One of them's wives is artifically enseminated and the child is black. He attempts to kill the child and see leaves him. It is a drama about the pressures of growing up in that situation. It is a very emotional and intense story, much like Monsters Ball".

Question: Oh I see, so it wont be a horror flick then?

"No. But, I am drawn to it because of the emotional intensity and both the physical and emotional violence centered around the characters. Steve is one hell of a writer and this script is one of the best he has ever written -- it is my privilege to produce this for him. On the other hand, he is in the process of writing an updated Pit and the Pendulum. I have also convinced him to research a Lovecraft story to write. I would be involved in either of those".

Question: Cool, what's the other Lovecraft story?

"Either The Unnamable or At The Mountains of Madness, now that Del Toro has officially given up. Steve would give either of those stories an interesting spin. I've heard that Pit and The Pendulum may be set in 1991 Iraq during the Gulf War".

Question: So how would Pit and the Pendulum work out being set in '91 during the Gulf War?

"Well, if you've read anything about Saddam Hussein -- it's just about as bad as the Spanish Inquisition. That's really all I know; it's very, very, infant at this point but exciting as hell nonetheless".

Thanks to 'Fright Master'