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“Montauk is a remote town located on the very eastern tip of Long Island, New York,” he explains. “Five miles away rests the now defunct Camp Hero Air Force base, a rusted and decaying relic that was used primarily during WWII. After the Air Force moved out of Camp Hero, it is said that a privately funded outfit moved into the facility during the early ’70s and began its own research. The stories that were told to me range from brutal mind-control experiments and child murders to extraterrestrial encounters and time travel.”



The movie’s concept was born out of Garetano’s acquaintance with John Brodie, one of its subjects (as well as a co-producer), who proposed the filmmaker delve into the subject. Garetano would up interviewing a trio of the experimented-upon, who were willing to relay a number of intense and far-out stories. “I was told by all three of my subjects about a powerful psychic who would sit in a specially designed chair and project his thoughts into tangible reality,” he reveals. “They claim that one evening, after thinking of simple things like a cup or a mouse, the psychic manifested a large monster that attacked people and destroyed the entire facility.

“It gets even more bizarre,” he continues. “Their stories challenge everything we have ever learned of our existence. These aren’t simple stories like UFO sightings or crashes. These are long, detailed yarns that contain enough technology, history and alien creatures to fill a science fiction library. The men in my film all swear with conviction that the stories are all true, and that’s what truly interested me.”

The shooting of MONTAUK UNVEILED took Garetano to Miami, Michigan and upstate New York so he could interview his subjects in their homes, which is where he believed they would be most compelling. “The most fascinating part of this is that it’s not just one individual making these claims, but many,” he adds. “Most of the men are dead serious when it comes to these subjects. They truly believe they were there and that these things happened. I thought that the only way the film could be truly interesting is if we interviewed them in their environments and looked them in the eye as they told these crazy stories. Sometimes that technique can rival a polygraph test, if you have the gaze for it.”

The point of the movie isn’t to point out how insane this all sounds, however, as Garetano took everything as seriously as he could. “I did make a point not to poke fun at these men,” he says. “That’s too easy and would be a waste of my time and theirs. There are, naturally, moments where we note the awkwardness of the situations, and there’s a good balance of horror and levity in this film. I also shot several cinematic re-enactments of the alleged experiments, but the greatest parts are the visits with the men who claimed they were actually there.”

MONTAUK UNVEILED is currently being considered by a major distributor, and there should be an announcement soon about when it will see the light of day. Until then, you can check out the trailer below, see the movie’s MySpace page here and keep your eyes on this site for updates.