The Valley is a 1976 stop motion live action^[1] adventure/fantasy^[2] post-apocalyptic short film made by a then fifteen-year-old Peter Jackson with his friends.^[3][4] It was strongly influenced by the films of Ray Harryhausen. It was filmed silent on a Super 8 camera and was shown on the children's television show Spot On.

Plot

Four prospectors walk into a valley and unwittingly enter a rift in the time/space continuum. As they journey down the valley, one of the prospectors (Ian Middleton) gets taken away by a harpy. Another prospector (Peter Jackson) falls off a cliff. The two remaining (Ken Hammon and Andrew Neal) have to fight and destroy a cyclops. They build a raft, float across a lake, and see a building in ruins. This ruin, unbeknownst to them, is the Beehive building of Wellington city – they have not travelled back in time but ahead into a post-apocalyptic world taken over by mythical beasts.

Cast

• Andrew Neal as Prospector #1
• Ken Hammon as Prospector #2
• Ian Middleton as Prospector #3
• Peter Jackson as Prospector #4
• Pete O'Herne stars in an unidentified role

Reception

The short has been described as "a tribute to special effects master Ray Harryhausen".^[5]