datu talim surrounded! this production sketch has one of the "tweaks" i've been talking about. the creatures 'round talim is my version of tianaks. i know, i know, i'm totally breaking away from the traditional look of the creature (child like vampires/ ghouls), but there has been precedence in updating folklore before. all of the classic monsters in the pass have had face lift and re interpretation. take the werewolf for example. each succesive generation has their version: there's the lon chaney version, the american werewolf in london version to the more recent van helsing CGI model.my version happens to be more beast like than anything. they do not have eyes but hunts by heat/smell signature the prey emits . the slits in front of the head acts as heat/olfactory sensors.
i also have the idea of them being able to 'liquify' the ground and sink into it, so they can lie in wait in ambush, much like some bug species i've seen. they can generate a sort of ultra sonic vibration that breaks apart stone, dirt, sand et. at. similar to earthquakes. they are known to liquify the ground if the tremor is big enough and the vibration frequency is just right. only the tianaks do it on a very localized point and in a more focused manner.
