Inside 'America's most inbred family' as filmmaker shares 'crazy' experience
12.01.2024 - 16:29
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A filmmaker who met a group described as "America's most inbred family" has described his experience as like "a scene out of Deliverance". Mark Laita opened up on filming the Whittakers as part of a documentary, comparing his time with them to the iconic 1972 thriller.
In the movie, four businessmen go on a canoeing trip down a river in the Southern state of Georgia and encounter some unfriendly locals who take a dislike to the city men - leading to dark and deadly consequences.
When Laita first approached the Whittakers about filming them for his doc, he was threatened by their protective neighbours. However, he persevered and was soon escorted by cops to meet the family in their rural West Virginia village, aptly named Odd, The Mirror reports.
His YouTube footage of the group, who have no education and live in squalor in an isolated backcountry shack cut off from civilisation, has been viewed by millions.
Speaking on the Koncrete KLIPS podcast, Laita said: “It was like that little scene from Deliverance that everyone knows. We came around to this road, which turns into a country road, which turns into a dirt road.
"Then we come to this trailer and then a little shack on the other side of the road. And there’s these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us.
"And then one guy, you would look him in the eye or say anything and he would just scream and go running away, and his pants would fall around his ankles, and he would go running off and go and kick a garbage can. And this would happen over and over. It was out of control - the craziest thing I have ever seen."
During Laita's time with them, he met three siblings and a cousin who were living together in a filthy