By MICHAEL GINGOLD

It’s been decades in the works, and will now be unveiled for fans nationwide to witness.

Full Moon Features has announced that THE PRIMEVALS, the passion project for special effects wizard David Allen, will have its exclusive theatrical premiere at Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas across the U.S. on March 11. You can go here to find out the cities it’s playing, and order tickets. Allen, whose effects work graced movies ranging from LASERBLAST to YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (for which he was Oscar-nominated) first began developing THE PRIMEVALS in the 1970s. It eventually got rolling in 1994 under Full Moon and producer Charles Band, but its completion was delayed by Full Moon’s financial troubles before Allen’s untimely death from cancer in 1999, aged just 54. It was eventually resurrected by Band and longtime Allen associate Chris Endicott, who oversaw the completion of its stop-motion effects and other postproduction, including a score by veteran composer Richard Band. The finished film had its world premiere at last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Scripted by Allen and fellow effects artist Randy Cook (THE GATE), THE PRIMEVALS stars Richard Joseph Paul, Juliet Mills, Leon Russom, Walker Brandt, Tai Thai, Eric Steinberg and Robert Cornthwaite. The synopsis: “Deep in the Himalayas, a group of Sherpas subdue and kill a towering humanoid creature. Its remains–including a brain that appears to have undergone some kind of surgery–wind up under the supervision of Dr. Claire Collier [Mills], who believes it to be one of the legendary Yeti. Joined by her former student Matt Connor [Paul], a longtime believer in the creatures’ existence, big-game hunter Rondo Montana [Russom], and others, Dr. Collier leads an expedition into the mountains to track down more of the abominable snowmen. Their trek results in an encounter with a tribe of primitive hominids–which in turn leads to the far more frightening discovery of beings they never could have expected or imagined.”