It’s Oscars week, so The Ticker is examining movies being made in and around Traverse City. Though the Michigan Film Incentive has largely dried up, some interesting storylines are developing in these parts.

DOGMAN2: The Wrath of the Litter
Rich Brauer / Brauer Productions, Traverse City
Plot Overview: It’s been a year since Dogman terrorized this small community and nearly killed Hank. But in the nearby forest are the grown Dogman pups and they are a bad batch, standing upright seven feet tall.
Estimated Release: Summer 2014
Michigan Film Office incentives: Yes
Who Knew: The cast unanimously thinks this would make an awesome TV series

DIVISION
Cat Muncey / Novum Productions, Traverse City
Plot Overview: While searching for inspiration for an upcoming gallery showing, a young woman gets obsessed with discovering the real truth behind local folklore and gradually becomes more and more haunted. What begins as an examination of a couple's daily routines transforms into mind-bending suspense.
Estimated Release: October 2014
Michigan Film Office incentives: No
Who Knew: The tunnels below The Village at Grand Traverse Commons is one of several local historic sites featured

Thaw of the Dead
David Marek / The Treefort Collective, Traverse City
Plot Overview: The hauntingly beautiful landscape is as dangerous as the roaming corpses. Within this apocalyptic world, a waning group of survivors have found refuge in an abandoned dam and must make painful choices to live by the skin of their teeth.
Estimated Release: October 2014
Michigan Film Office incentives: No
Who Knew: In the film, TC’s midtown will appear completely burned out, with a crashed helicopter lodged in a condo.

Bestseller
Christina Rohn / Misery Bay Films, Indian River; Collective Development, Lansing; Lake Street Media, Petoskey
Plot Overview: A literary agent vacationing at a cabin in the Upper Peninsula receives an unexpected manuscript on her doorstep. It details a literary agent who is stalked, tortured and killed by a disgruntled author while vacationing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Estimated Release: Fall 2014
Michigan Film Office incentives: Yes