Interview with Tim Van Dammen Director of Mega Time Squad

You played a Street Demon in director Jason Lei Howden’s FrightFest favourite DEATHGASM. Is the New Zealand film community that small?

I didn’t play a street demon; I am a street demon. The film community in NZ is small enough for most active people to know most other active people – but the genre scene is small enough for us all to know each other by at least one degree of separation. Many of my friends worked on or acted in Deathgasm and they needed a night shoot of ‘street demons’ so I donned my tie-dye and offered to help out. It was a lot of fun and I think Jason and the team did an incredible job.


Have you met Peter Jackson and do you see him as the ultimate Kiwi role model?

I have met some of his major long-time collaborators like Richard Taylor (production designer) who put me in touch with Jamie Selkirk (editor/post supervisor) who mentored me through the postproduction of Romeo and Juliet, so I spent a lot of time at Park Road Post but I have never met Peter Jackson. He is certainly one of the great Kiwi legends and for filmmakers he would be the ultimate role model. His work has inspired me since I was five years old and living in a caravan when I saw a news piece about Bad Taste being selected for Cannes. I remember my dad laughing his arse off about the sheep being hit by the rocket launcher and ever since then I wanted to be a filmmaker. Then when Braindead came out I realised that filmmaking was something I might be able to do – I just needed to find a fresh approach. I still remember gagging as Tim Balme pulls the dog tail from his mother’s throat… Braindead is so good.


Not many people get to write with William Shakespeare as you did with your 2013 feature debut ROMEO AND JULIET: A LOVE SONG. That must have been a great experience? 

Haha, yeah, I think that credit was a legal thing. Shakespeare really didn’t deserve it, after all he only wrote the verse. I’ll give you a moment to recover after that hilarious joke… It was fun trying to Kiwify Romeo and Juliet but the difficult part was filming it as an opera. Coming from music videos I was used to shooting to music but to shoot the full play in its entire original text, all set to a series of songs, and to try to make it emotionally moving was a major challenge. It taught me that I had a lot to learn in terms of storytelling.


You directed over 180 music video for some top Kiwi and International acts. Can you name some we would have seen?

It’s hard to tell which videos you may know because the music scene varies so vastly from country to country. My band, Collapsing Cities, was signed in the UK around 2008/9 and we toured and did the big festivals so maybe you saw something then. I used to make at least a video a week so it’s hard to remember them all. My most popular videos were ‘Just a little bit’ - Kids of 88, ‘Standing in the rain’– Sola Rosa, ‘Autumn’ – Artisan Guns, some The Naked and Famous stuff… but these were more popular in Aus, NZ, Germany and the US… the UK is pretty unique in its music scene; when my band supported the Artic Monkeys I was surprised to see that they had platinum records hanging on the wall at XFM…so antipodean.


Where did you get the idea for the MEGA TIME SQUAD script?

I wanted to do a time travel movie and I thought it would be cool if it were about a guy who went back in time to hang out with himself. But then I wondered if it would funny if he jacked himself off... Then he would feel weird about it and go back in time again to stop himself from jacking himself off and there would be this weird love triangle between a series of copies of the same guy. Then I came to my senses and realised that there was a better way to approach this idea. What if he helped himself commit a crime or escape the punishment for committing a crime? What if he time travelled to help himself steal a bunch of cash but once he got it he didn’t want to share the cash with himself? What if he time travelled so much that the various versions couldn’t remember which version was which? Then what if they started killing each other? This seemed like a better angle than a wankfest.


Time travel stories can often be so convoluted, how did you avoid that?

I drew a kind of map of the time travel and decided that the only “rule” was that when John time travels he moves in time but not in space. I was more focused on how to make time travel new again or at least address it from a less familiar perspective. I felt like we’d seen enough time travel movies where we follow the same character going back over and over again so I wanted to show the story from more of a third person point of view. We travel with John the first couple of times but after that we follow whichever version of John is driving the story. It’s not really about time travel, it’s about a lovable idiot with a time travel device who thinks time travel is cool because he gets to hang out with earlier iterations of himself.


Any favourite time travel movies you looked at for inspiration?

I watched as many as I could find and I loved most of them but the one that influenced the way this film worked was Time Crimes. Mega Time Squad is a very different film in both tone and premise but it’s similar in that there are multiples of the same guy in the same timeline and that’s what Time Crimes achieved very well. You’ll notice a dozen or so nods to various movies in the Mega Time Squad but they are not so much influences on the film; instead they are films that I imagine that John (the main character) thinks he’s in.


Did your script have to be so vulgar, or is that the NZ way?

I didn’t notice it was so vulgar until the sound designer played it to his kids. While I was writing it I was spending a lot of time with my dad and that’s how we talk. A big chunk of the dialogue is made up of direct quotes from my dad and his mates. I wouldn’t say ‘it’s the Kiwi way’ but I do think New Zealanders and Australians have a more relaxed and cheerful attitude towards vulgarity than many other parts of the world. Etymology section of answer: I was recently in Rome where I saw an original ‘vulgar’ fresco on the wall of a church from 150AD depicting the Emperor instructing slaves who were dragging St Clemente out of the ocean and the text in the fresco read “Hurry up you sons of bitches!” That’s where the term ‘vulgar’ comes from.


MEGA TIME SQUAD features some amazing special effects considering, one assumes, the low budget. How did you manage it?

I’ve been deep into VFX software since I started my career as a video artist showing in art galleries until my band was signed and I moved into making music videos and then into making films. After spending years making VFX-heavy content and then doing the VFX on Romeo and Juliet and some more on Deathgasm I have a pretty good command of the discipline. I understood that there were going to be a lot of constraints around the formal aspects of the film because, as you mention, we had no money. So I needed to work around that with regard to camera movement, for example, while still being able to pace the film and give it a cinematic feel. It was a challenge, and if my past endeavours hadn’t taught me the limits of what I could pull off competently at this budget level, I probably would’ve felt that I’d bitten off more than I could chew. As far as conceptualisation, my only rule on Mega Time Squad was that I wanted the VFX to be inherently silly while remaining cool and being something that I hadn’t seen before. Hopefully that’s what James and I achieved.


How would you best describe MEGA TIME SQUAD?

Its an absurd time travel crime comedy with a big heart about a loveable rural idiot with modest aspirations who uses a time travel bracelet to steal the money needed to fulfil his dream of moving to the neighbouring town… but he fucks up the time travelling bit.


MEGA TIME SQUAD plays at Arrow Video FrightFest on Thurs 23 August, Cineworld Leicester SQ.

Tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2018Films/mega-time-squad.html

Interview with Paul Hyett - Director of HERETIKS

What first attracted you to actor Gregory Blair’s script?

When Templeheart gave me the script of HERETIKS (although it was a different title at the time), the one thing that really grabbed my interest was the opportunity to do a creepy period horror, set in 17th Century England. I’d already shot a war-set film, a contemporary werewolf film and here was an opportunity to do a film set in the 17th century where young girls were put on trial for witchcraft, of which some were drowned, hanged and so much worse. It was a truly dark and fearful time in the history of England, one that I was keen to portray on screen, and adding to that a supernatural element, was hard to resist.


What did you and your SEASONING HOUSE co-writer Conal Palmer bring to the final screenplay?

Conal and I did an extensive rewrite, as I remember, at the time it had vampiric nuns. I was keen to ground it and get rid of that story element but I loved this tale of these younger girls brought to this priory, so worked more on the relationships between the younger girls and hierarchy of the older nuns. And then we brought in the mythology of the supernatural element of the film, creating the flashbacks and why the priory was haunted. We then a did a lot of work of Persephone’s journey and the background she left behind and then really worked on all the characters one by one, we really wanted to give everyone their own unique character and background. We also brought the themes of religion more strongly forward and both Conal and I especially worked on the dialogue to give it a more olden style. And after working on the slow burn build up, I felt the film needed to go full tilt in the last act, thankfully Templeheart liked the direction we were taking it.


What a coup casting Clare Higgins, the HELLRAISER icon herself, as the Reverend Mother. What was it like working with her?

It was wonderful to have Clare. I grew up with the Hellraiser films, so to have her on a film of mine was great. She was a consummate professional, and she really anchors the film. It’s hard for an actor when they’re portraying a character that you don’t want to give away their true intentions too early, and I think Clare got it pitch perfect.

And Michael Ironside is another genre icon too, it must have been fun directing him?

It was wonderful, a childhood dream. He was so lovely to everyone, really chatty, and just was so approachable to everyone on the cast and crew. It was great talking to him about Scanners, Total Recall and so many other films of my youth. He was so full of stories and anecdotes. I’d love to work with him again in the future.

Your actress muse Rosie Day turns up again, as she also does again in your next movie PERIPHERAL. Is she your lucky charm?

Haha, yes, Rosie and I love collaborating at work together and we’re great friends, so yes, we’ll keep working together.

Hannah Arterton is your lead in both HERETIKS and PERIPHERAL, so Rosie might be replaced? Say it isn’t so?

No, of course not, there are lots of reasons why you use certain people for certain roles, sometimes due to availability, schedules and also the right fit for the role. For example I saw Rosie as the perfect person to play Shelley in PERIPHERAL and she nailed it perfectly, and Hannah I saw as the character of Bobbi, and she in turn nailed that role. I look forward to working with both Hannah and Rosie in the future. They’re truly talented actresses and lovely to work with.


The Priory is a wonderfully evocative location, where is it?

We split the shoot into two places in Wales, the upper floors were shot at Margam Castle and the lower floors were shot in Tretower, a medieval court. They were beautiful locations, we just had to be very careful, bringing in specialists just to supervise a lit candle, so you can imagine the bigger FX sequences were challenging. But the locations were beautiful, the grounds around them outside, were so vast and breath taking, I feel it gives the film a more realistic feel then if you’d just built sets.


We’re seeing a lot of nuns in horror at the moment, why has it become a trend?

I don’t know why, although I’ve noticed a trend of religious horror getting more popular over the last few years, horror seems to have these trends, whether it’s post- modern social commentary, or home invasion, torture porn etc., it’s always trying to work out what is going to be the trend in a year or two? With HERETIKS we felt you couldn’t go wrong with a retro-style religious period horror featuring nuns.

What was your biggest HERETIKS challenge?

I think mostly shooting in real locations, like Margam Castle and  Tretower court,  there could be no drilling in walls to attach anything like stunt cables, you couldn’t throw blood about in case it stained the medieval stone work, we also had to build sets within these locations but couldn’t attach or drill them into the actual location, we just couldn’t risk anything, but I think the biggest challenge was the endangered bats that were a protected species. We couldn’t harass them, distress them, and certainly not harm them. We risked a large fine and a prison sentence. So whenever one flew out, we had to call cut and let it fly about and do its thing until it was happy for us to continue. I remember one scene that we needed a fireplace roaring in the background for continuity, and a bat had got itself settled in the chimney, I did seriously consider going in with a stick if no-one was watching.

Pleased to be back at Frightfest? Tell us some of your favourite memories from past appearances.

I love Frightfest, it’s been so important in my formative years in the last decade or so and I feel so wonderfully supported by Alan, Paul, Ian and Greg, from my time as a prosthetics artists, to my first movie, and their continued support to Heretiks. If I had to choose a memory, it was the phone call telling us that we’d been selected as opening film for THE SEASONING HOUSE, and then the actual screening at the large Empire screen, was the best night of my life.


HERETIKS plays at Arrow Video FrightFest on Sat 25 August, Cineworld Leicester SQ.

Tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2018Films/heretiks.html

Arrow Video FrightFest announces 2018 Short Film Programme

Arrow Video FrightFest 2018 showcases the best in short film from the UK and around the world, with ten countries representing five continents. From otherworldly ghosts to terrifying monsters, from the creepy to the baffling, from this dimension to those still unknown, this year’s selection unleashes the latest from upcoming and established filmmakers.

Some of the best homegrown talent stretches their acting muscles, including Maisie Williams in Tom de Ville’s soaring Corvidae, Gemma Whelan in Paul Taylor’s hair-bristling The Blue Door, Alice Lowe in demonic thriller Salt, plus Adam Buxton and Asa Butterfield in surreal dark comedy Right Place, Wrong Tim.

Girl Power takes on different meanings: from the empowerment of American shorts Pie and BFF Girls, and Ireland’s Catcalls, to the downright deadly of Spain’s Marta, New Zealand’s Devil Woman, and UK shorts The Good Samaritans and Envy, these ladies will keep you guessing and possibly running for your life.

Monsters loom large: in the post-apocalyptic wilderness of TiCK, an abandoned warehouse in We Summoned a Demon, on the way home in Who’s That at the Back of the Bus, in the home in My Monster, The Cost of Living and Milk and even at a wedding, as in NeckFace.

Creepiness pervades throughout the programme, from unsettling discoveries in 42 Counts, to unwanted birthday surprises in Special Day. Strange sights and smells disrupt home life in The Front Door, Secretion and The Lady from 406 from South Korea, while some secrets are best left alone in Reprisal from Lebanon, and Wrong Number.

Perhaps the scariest thing of all is love, and what better way to explore its mysteries than through genre shorts. The devil makes an appearance in Payment, while true intentions are hidden under paper and cloth in Baghead and someone wants to use love to control in Puppet Master, from Finland’s Hanna Bergholm.

Time takes strange turns in new UK science fiction, from trying to make amends in Be Uncertain, to cunning entrepreneurship in There Are No Dividends. New animation shines in UK folk horror Madder Isle, and New Zealand homegrown DIY style Fire in Cardboard City.

This year, the FIRST BLOOD strand includes three shorts by up-and-coming UK directors:. Beware of insects in your hotel room in Fran & The Moth; the countryside might not be the best place to be on your own in The Lonely and some teenagers never learn in Mannequins.

There is also a world premiere screening of Joanne Mitchell’s Sybil. Fresh from producing and starring in ATTACK OF THE ADULT BABIES, this ‘deathly love-story’ marks Mitchell’s directorial debut.

Programmer Shelagh Rowan-Legg said today: "The short films at Arrow Video FrightFest have incredible sights to show you, from haunted houses to frightening forests, to monsters from beyond the grave and ones a little too close to home. With shorts from the as close to home as your local night bus to as far away as the wilds of Tasmania, with stars stretching their talent to new actors and directors making their break-out hit, these short films offer the best from new and established filmmakers, shaking the foundations of fantastic genre film.”

Arrow Video FrightFest runs from 23rd -27th August 2018 at Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema.

Tickets & passes are now available to buy online: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html
For full programme details: http://www.frightfest.co.uk

Interview with Lou Simon - Director of 3 : An Eye for an Eye

Horror filmmaker Lou Simon (HazMat, All Girl’s Weekend) gives us the 411 on her new film 3 : An Eye for an Eye, releasing this August on VOD, as well as a horror anthology she’s working on next month.


Having spent so much time in this genre in recent years, I imagine you must be a fan?

Yes, I’m a huge fan of genre films in general and horror in particular.


How did your love of horror begin?

I don’t know if it’s just horror as suspenseful films – anything with mystery to solve or some sort of twist.  As a kid, I never watched cartoons. Instead, I would watch old films with my mom. Films like Alfred Hitchcock films or “Whatever happened to Baby Jane.”  My mom says that sometimes I used to figure the twists even before she did.  So I guess you can blame my mom for dark taste in entertainment.


Have you intentionally made films that you, as a teenager, might’ve wanted to see?

I have tried to make films with mass appeal, not for any one age in specific.  The truth is that international sales make or break a film nowadays, and you have to take into account the censorship policies in different territories.  You make something that is too violent or gory, and you’ll never be able to sell it abroad. If you can’t make money off the film, you won’t make another one.


3 : An Eye for an Eye isn’t as much of a ‘horror’ film as you previous films were. Is that fair to say?

Yes, it’s definitely a psychological thriller, although there is some amount of violence that might be construed as horror.  Someone called it “psychological horror” the other day, and that seems to fit.  This is my homage to Hitchcock, my favorite director.


Your ‘villain’ is quite complex.  Did you want the audience to ‘feel’ something for him? Was that intentional?

There is very little that was not intentional in the story.  The entire film is about “who is the villain?”  Is it the man who might have raped this woman, or is it the man who’s torturing him?  It’s the moral question about right and wrong, which is always a complex one.


Do you have anything else in the works?

I’m filming my segment of an all-female horror anthology in September.  Then, start pre-production on a sci-fi, horror film about a man who wakes up after world war III to find that he’s the only man alive in a colony of women.

Horror Channel unleashes monstrous FrightFest Season

To celebrate FrightFest 2018, taking place in London during the August Bank Holiday, Horror Channel is dedicating thirteen nights to past festival hits.

Amongst the twenty-six fear-filled favourites, the channel will air four UK TV premieres: Simeon Halligan’s ‘terror-torial’ home invasion shocker WHITE SETTLERS; Jeff Maher’s crowd-pleasingly ghoulish orgy of sex and gore BED OF THE DEAD; Chad Archibald’s breath-choking supernatural thriller THE DROWNSMAN; and the hauntingly sinister NIGHTWORLD, directed by Patricio Valladares and starring horror icon Robert Englund.

Plus, the channel is broadcasting three network premieres; Alberto Marini’s sly and witty scaremonger SUMMER CAMP; Bernard Rose’s FRANKENSTEIN, a stylishly smart update of the classic myth, starring Xavier Samuel, Danny Huston, Carrie-Anne Moss and Tony Todd, plus RUPTURE, a surreally spooky sci-fi horror from Steven Shainberg (Secretary), starring Noomi Rapace.

The double bills airing every night from 9pm from August 17th – 29th also feature FrightFest crowd-pleasing classics such as the pulsating, blood-soaked ‘80s homage TURBO KID; Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s stunning contemporary occult tale of Hollywood ambition, STARRY EYES; the terrifying anthology V/H/S, which pushes the genre in a fresh direction; Lowell Dean’s rage-fuelled WOLFCOP; Franck Khalfoun’s superior psychological horror MANIAC starring Elijah Wood; and Paul Hyett’s hairy horror and bloody action adventure HOWL, starring Ed Speleers, Shauna Macdonald and Sean Pertwee.

Full film details in transmission order:
Fri 17 Aug @ 21:00 - SUMMER CAMP (2015) *Network Premiere
Sat 18 Aug @ 21:00 - FRANKENSTEIN (2015) *Network Premiere
Sat 18 Aug @ 22.50 - RADIUS (2017)
Sun 19 Aug @ 21:00 - WHITE SETTLERS (2014) *UK TV Premiere
Sun 19 Aug @ 22:40 - THE LESSON (2015)
Mon 20 Aug @ 21:00 - CHERRY TREE (2015)
Mon 20 Aug @ 22:45 - MANIAC (2012)
Tues 21 Aug @ 21:00 - THE POSSESSION (2012)
Tues 21 Aug @ 22:55 - SOME KIND OF HATE (2015)
Wed 22 Aug @ 21:00 - CURSE OF CHUCKY (2013)
Wed 22 Aug @ 22:55 - TURBO KID (2015)
Thurs 23 Aug @ 21:00 - THE STRANGERS (2008)
Thurs 23 Aug @ 22:40 - HONEYMOON (2014)
Fri 24 Aug @ 21:00 - BED OF THE DEAD (2016) *UK TV Premiere
Fri 24 Aug @ 22:40 - THE DIVIDE (2011)
Sat 25 Aug @ 21:00 - RUPTURE (2016) * Network Premiere
Sat 25 Aug @ 23:00 - I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE 2 (2013)
Sun 26 Aug @ 21:00 - THE DROWNSMAN (2014) *UK TV Premiere
Sun 26 Aug @ 22:45 - LATE PHASES (2014)
Mon 27 Aug @ 21:00 - NIGHTWORLD (2017) *UK TV Premiere
Mon 27 Aug @ 22:55 - STARRY EYES (2014)
Tues 28 Aug @ 21:00 - THE EVIL IN US (2016)
Tues 28 Aug @ 22:50 - WOLF COP (2014)
Wed 29 Aug @ 21:00 - KNUCKLEBONES (2016)
Wed 29 Aug @ 22:40 - V/H/S (2012)


Horror Channel: Be Afraid

TV: Sky 317 / Virgin 149 / Freeview 70 / Freesat 138

Website: http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrorchannel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/horror_channel

Interview with Padraig Reynolds - Director of Open 24 Hours

OPEN 24 HOURS is your third time being represented at Frightfest. Why is it important you show your movies at the UK’s premier festival?

FrightFest is the best horror festival in the world.  It has the best fans and the best organisers a genre director could hope for.   There is so much love and care that goes into the festival and I’m honored every time I get to be a part of it.  I’m just happy that they let me keep coming back and showing my films.   Everyone involved has become like a family to me and I really can’t thank them enough for helping me with my career and showing my films.   


Where did you get the story concept for OPEN 24 HOURS?

The idea of ‘Open 24 Hours’ came to me while I was shooting my first feature “Rites Of Spring” in Mississippi.  We were scouting locations for the movie and came across this time worn Gas Station on a lonely rural road.  This gas station was a character of itself and I knew that it would make a great self-contained horror movie.  I went back to my hotel room and began writing the script.   I knew I wanted a strong female protagonist to be as lonely as our main location.  Mary is a damaged woman in a thrift store dress.  She is desperately trying to put her life back together after years of abuse from her Serial Killer boyfriend who made her watch while killing people.  She gets a job and feels that her haunted past is finally behind her.  But on a cold rainy night the past returns with a vengeance.


How much did the story change from first treatment to finished screenplay?

I wrote the overall script nine years ago and most of it never changed.  I added some gags and tweaked some dialogue.  We were going to change the ending but we left it alone.


Is the Rain Ripper based on any particular serial killer from criminal history?

This is a funny story.  An ex-girlfriend asked me one night if I was a serial killer who would I be?  I said the Rain Ripper and I would only kill when it rained.  She thought that was really scary and I kept that element for years and plugged it into Open 24 Hours.  The killing with the hammer part came from The Yorkshire Ripper who use to kill off his victims with a variety of blunt objects.   

You play with reality, illusion and delusion within the movie, was that the biggest challenge?

Actually, it was a blessing because you can get away with so much more playing with reality and  illusions. I really wanted to push the illusions into territories we haven’t seen before but try to keep them grounded. 


We love Vanessa Grasse because of LEATHERFACE and IT CAME FROM THE DESERT. Why did you choose her to play Mary?

She gave a killer audition and her look was exactly what I had always envisioned for Mary.  Mary is a great female character.  A well rounded protagonist that you feel for and you want her to conquer her demons.  I think Vanessa really knocked it out of the park.   I was blown away by how well she could switch her accent from English to American as well.         


Did you build the garage/gas station from scratch? And where did you shoot the movie? 

I had a full Gas Station that I could use in Mississippi but the producers wanted to shoot in Serbia.   So my production designer, Jelena Sopik, and her team built me the exact Gas Station that was in Mississippi in Serbia.   It was crazy but really cool.  It gave me the freedom to put more rooms in the Gas Station for more cat and mouse play.   I really can’t thank them enough.  They really made the movie special since the Gas Station is basically a character in the film. 


When directing a Psychological Horror  film like OPEN 24 HOURS, what do you have to bear in mind?

You want to keep the audience guessing as to what is real and what is not.  You also want to deliver the thrills that they expect when they come into a horror movie.

Were you influenced by any past horrors in either the look or tone of OPEN 24 HOURS?

John Carpenter’s Body Bags episode ‘The Gas Station’ and ‘High Tension’ for sure.  Since we shot in Serbia in the winter I really wanted to capture the cold and the rain.  I really think that added a nice element to the film.


What are your opinions on the state of the current horror genre?

I think horror is so great now.  You have all these different avenues where your film can be watched.  Netflix, Amazon, Shudder, Theatrical,  Hulu, You Tube.   It’s just crazy how many places where your movie can be played.  And this year has had some killer horror movies already. ‘A Quiet Place’, ‘Sequence Break’, ‘Mohawk’, ‘Downrange’, ‘The Ritual’.



OPEN 24 HOURS plays at Arrow Video FrightFest on Mon 27 August, Cineworld Leicester SQ.

Tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2018Films/open-24-hours.html

Interview with Jenn Wexler - Director of THE RANGER

What is it about the Punk movement you like so much? It informs so much of THE RANGER…

I’m incredibly drawn to punk’s spirit of rebellion and its embracing of individuality.  Growing up in the suburbs, there was so much pressure to fit in, to be seen as “normal,” and going to punk shows was thrilling for me because it helped me realize it was okay to want other things. I went to college in Philadelphia at the University of the Arts and studied screenwriting, where my classmate, Giaco, wrote a script that would eventually become THE RANGER. I fell in love with the concept of a group of punks going up against this figure of authority, someone who deems them less than, because they don’t conform to what he values as worthy.  I find personality types like this terrifying-- ones that say you have to fit into some cookie-cutter mould or else you’re living your life wrong. Punk is all about fighting that.


You started out at Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix in the marketing department and moved on to producing. But was it always your ambition to direct?

I’ve always wanted to direct and was directing shorts while working in marketing, but to direct a feature, I wanted to first understand as much as possible about filmmaking. Producing films like DARLING, LIKE ME and MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND was invaluable, it taught me so much. When you’re a hands-on producer, you’re in the trenches with directors, helping them realize their visions, weathering the pitfalls and celebrating in the triumphs through every stage of the process.


THE RANGER is your feature debut so what was important for it to be about and what did you want it to achieve artistically? 

I wanted to combine the outrageous, absurd humor of 80s punk movies with the thrill of the slasher, all circling around a girl who’s trying to figure herself out in the face of others telling her who she should be. Throughout the film, Chelsea is trying to unravel memories about her childhood, which informed the bubblegum, candy

colored aesthetic — sweet on the outside but getting sour the more her memories are revealed. Overall I wanted the film to have an EC Comics vibe, to feel larger than life, with the world of the punks and the world of the Ranger colliding, both visually and musically. We start the film in the punk club, with all these insane colors, and when the punks escape to the woods they bring those colors with them, invading The Ranger’s rustic, Smokey-the-Bear parkland.


Should we make something relevant out of SCREAM being the first horror film you ever saw?

I’ve been drawn to scary stuff since I was a kid. I was obsessed with the television show ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK and would try to get my friends to hang out with me in graveyards after school. I was 10 years old when SCREAM came out, and I remember overhearing a conversation between my mom and one of her friends about how utterly horrible this new movie was, my mother completely disturbed by the description of the sweet little girl from ET hanging from a tree with her insides out. 

My curiosity was more than piqued. At a sleepover party soon after, someone had the VHS. I felt a supreme sense of rebellion watching the movie, knowing how much it would freak out my mom. It became more than rebelling against my parents, though. It was like an entirely new world had been revealed to me. SCREAM ushered me into adolescence, and I became obsessed with the teen horror movies of the time, including THE CRAFT, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, URBAN LEGEND, DISTURBING BEHAVIOR, THE FACULTY, with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER my favorite TV show.

As with my discovery of punk, they offered me a sense of adventure and an emotional escape from the tedium of being a kid in suburbia. Eventually they gave way to my discovery of the rich history of the genre. I think a lot of what you see when you’re in your early adolescence informs your development as an artist and as a human, and I can say the 90s teen slasher craze informed mine.


Why did you choose Chloë Levine as Chelsea and Jeremy Holm as the Ranger?

Jeremy is a friend of co-writer Giaco Furino, so we wrote the part with Jeremy in mind. I was a fan, watching him in HOUSE OF CARDS and MR ROBOT. When at long last we showed him the script, we were very happy to find out that he loved it! We had a meeting and we all clicked. He was the first person we cast.

We worked with casting director Lois Drabkin who suggested, while I was at SXSW 2017, I check out Chloë Levine in THE TRANSFIGURATION. Her performance was mesmerizing, and we ended up having a meeting at the festival. We bonded over the character, and I could tell she would bring so much nuance to the role.


Does Larry Fessenden always insist being in every production, or does he actually wait to be asked?

Larry is the last person who would ever ask for a role. It’s just all of us filmmakers who love and admire him who keep asking him to be in our movies.


Did you worry that there’s been quite a few other 80s slasher homages recently?

No, if a concept speaks to me—and THE RANGER is one that wouldn’t let me go—I’ll follow it through. Projects may have similarities on the surface, but when film is being made from a sincere place, each one will be so informed by the specifics of the people who make it.


You used the term ‘80s Dreamland’ during shooting on the Hunter’s Mountain locations, what did you mean exactly?

As we were prepping for production, a few of the actors and crew members asked what year the film takes place in; the kids have no cell phones and there’s a boombox, so they guessed sometime in the 80s. I expressed that the film doesn’t take place in the actual 80s, but just to the left of reality, in a comic-book, fairy-tale-esque world that I dubbed 80s Dreamland. In my mind’s eye, it was a world where 80s punk movies like RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, Smokey-the-Bear PSAs, and Lisa Frank colors collide.


What was the biggest lesson you learned from your first time behind the horror camera?

Anytime I make a film I feel like someone has drilled a hole into my skull and poured information into it. THE RANGER was exciting because, while I’ve certainly worked across departments before as a producer, it was my first time working with department heads from a creative perspective. Collaborating with our DP, production designer, costume designer, composers, and more to realize the film was such an incredible experience. At the end of the day I learned that directing was just as intense and also just as rewarding as I hoped it would be.


All that Punk music but Charlie Rich’s 1973 hit ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’ makes the biggest impression. WTF?

I really wanted the music in the movie to feel like a mix-tape. When the punks are in control, the soundtrack is primarily punk music, but as they get deeper into the woods and lose control, The Ranger’s music of choice takes over. Jeremy would use ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’ to get into character, and he was always singing it on set. Our on-set editor, Kyle Mumford, dropped the song into the cut just to see how it would feel, and immediately we were all obsessed!  But my personal favorite song on the soundtrack is “The Good The Bad and The Kowalskis” by The Avengers, which plays over the closing credits. I feel The Avengers are Chelsea’s spirit band.


THE RANGER opens Arrow Video FrightFest on Thurs 23rd August, Cineworld Leicester SQ.

Tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/2018Films/the-ranger.html

Competition: Win It Lives on DVD

It Lives is out on DVD on 6th August 2018. And to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 3 copies on DVD to give away.

Synopsis
A lone scientist maintains a bunker in preparation for a coming nuclear disaster. Isolated deep underground his worst fears are realised when communication is lost and he is trapped with no knowledge of events on the surface. The walls begin to close in and a terrifying series of events make him question his sanity. But is he losing his mind, or is there something else in the bunker with him?

Starring Andrew Kinsler & Peter McCrohon

Click here to buy from Amazon (Opens in a new window)

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Terms and conditions
1. Closing date 13-08-18
2. No alternative prize is available
3. When the competition ends as indicated on this page, any and all entries received after this point will not count and emails blacklisted due to not checking this page first.
4. Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.

Arrow Video FrightFest 2018 announces guest line-up, additional films & Long List for Screen Genre Rising Star Award

Two extra films have been added to the record-breaking 2018 line-up: PIMPED is director David Barker’s modern transgressive erotic thriller, an Hitchcocktail of elevated suspense and shock in the revered style of Brian De Palma, And If you’ve never seen John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN on the big screen, now’s your best chance. The inclusion of this 4K restoration needs no explanation in anticipation of a new Michael Myers slasher being released in October.  Check screening details on the FrightFest website.

Ahead of single tickets going on sale from Sat 21st July, we’re thrilled to announce our current slate of guests, which includes Poldark star Aidan Turner, who will be with his co-star Caitlin Fitzgerald, director Robert Krzykowski and composer Joe Kraemer for THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT.

Leading ladies shine this year. Joining THE RANGER director Jenn Wexler on opening night is The Transfiguration star Chloe Levine. Also delighting audiences are Brittany Allan (It Stains The Sands Red and Jigsaw), attending with director Colin Minihan to support WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE. Shauna McDonald joins director Paul Aviary for WHITE CHAMBER, HERETIKS star Hannah Arterton is in the house to support director Paul Hyett, Imitation Girl Lauren Ashley Carter and action heroine Angela Dixon accompany director Tom Paton for BLACK SITE and director Issa Lopez flies over from Mexico with her sensational TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID,

Plus, The First Lady of FrightFest, Barbara Crampton is back!. The beloved Re-Animator legend will be introducing her new movies PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH and DEAD NIGHT. With the former she will be united with Italian composer extraordinaire Fabio Frizzi and with the latter by her Heroes co-star Brea Grant. Also returning is THE CLEANING LADY producer and Goddess of Love star Alexis Kendra.

This year there are more International directors attending than ever before. Acclaimed music video and film director Joseph Kahn (Detention, Torque) joins us for BODIED, RKSS personnel François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell will be rocking in for SUMMER OF 84 and UPGRADE director Leigh Whannell, the creator of SAW and INSIDIOUS, will light up FrightFest’s Saturday night.

Also guaranteed to liven up proceedings are THE GOLEM helmers the Paz Brothers, alongside producer Shaked Berenson, CULT OF TERROR director Gustavo Leonel Mendoza, DEMENTIA PART II director Matt Mercer with stars Graham Skipper (SEQUENCE BREAK), Suzanne Voss and Najarra Townsend, HELL IS WHERE THE HOME IS director Orson Oblowitz, MEGA TIME SQUAD director Tim van Dammen, OPEN 24 HOURS director Padraig Reynolds, HAMMER HORROR: THE WARNER BROS. YEARS director and Dr. Who author Marcus Hearn, LIFECHANGER director Justin McConnell, SECRET SANTA director Adam Marcus, SEEDS director Owen Long, THE MOST ASSASSINATED WOMAN IN THE WORLD writer/producer David Murdoch, VIDEOMAN director Kristian A. Söderström, CRYSTAL EYES directors Ezequiel Endelman and Leondro Montejano, and WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS director Andre Gower (THE MONSTER SQUAD).

Also attending is writer/director Axelle Carolyn (Soulmate, Tales of Halloween), author of THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO GHOST MOVIES, who will be signing copies exclusively at the event.

Homegrown talent will be present in abundance this year. Actor and director Matthew Holness brings us his much-awaited POSSUM, AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS will spring director Johnny Kervorkian, his producer Jack Tarling (God’s Own Country) with stars Holly Weston, Sam Gittins, Neerja Naik, Grant Masters and Kris Saddler. And a warm welcome for BOOK OF MONSTERS director Stewart Sparke, CHUCK STEEL: NIGHT OF THE TRAMPIRES director Mike Mort, FRANKENSTEIN’S CREATURE director Sam Ashurst and RAVERS director Bernhard Pucher, who will be attending alongside the cast including Vikings star Georgia Hirst.

The FIRST BLOOD strand goes from strength to strength and all the helmers will be around, supported by their cast and crews. CTRL director Harry Lindley, F.U.B.A.R. director Ben Kent, PERFECT SKIN director Kevin Chicken (with Games of Thrones star Richard Brake) and THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY director Aislinn Clark.

Also present will be writer/director Roxanne Benjamin (XX, SOUTHBOUND, V/H/S), presenting an exclusive screening of FINAL STOP, a must-hear horror short produced by Sennheiser and Soapbox Films. Shot entirely on smart phone, and recorded in full binaural audio using the AMBEO Smart Headset, the film is designed to be watched with headphones (which will be supplied), so audiences can immerse themselves in the story and its terrifying 3D soundscape.

Equally terrifying is GHOST STORIES and we have co-directors/co-writers Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson hosting a live commentary on their mega-successful stage show-turned-major movie. Get ready for sly humour, fun facts and plenty of behind-the-scenes secrets!

Established in 2016 to celebrate the work of emerging UK genre talent, FrightFest is proud to team up for the third year running with Screen International to present the ‘Screen Genre Rising Star Award’. This year’s long list salutes the work of Kevin Chicken, director of PERFECT SKIN, actresses Hannah Arterton and Ella Hunt, Aislinn Clarke, director of THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY, Mike Mort, director of CHUCK STEEL: NIGHT OF THE TRAMPIRES, actress/producer Marcia Do Vales and actor Sam Gittins, The short list will be announced prior to the event. Previous winners include Alice Lowe Danny Morgan.

Keep watching the official twitter @frightfest for even more guest announcements in the coming weeks…

Arrow Video FrightFest runs from 23rd -27th August 2018 at Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema.

Single tickets go on sale Sat 21 July at noon and, alongside the few remaining Festival and day pass sales are available to buy online: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html

Interview with Andrew P. Jones - Director of "Darkness Reigns"

Did you write the film as a vehicle for Casper Van Dien or did you simply realize, looking back, that he was the best man for the job?

We looked for a celebrity actor who would play himself and have fun doing it.  That takes a special kind of actor who can push his own ego aside and just go along for the ride.  Casper was perfect for that because he’s such a talented, fun, and incredibly nice human being which is important on a low budget set where the creature comforts are very limited compared to those you might find on larger productions.


Do you recall how and where you pitched Casper the movie?

I like to meet and socialize with my “name” actors before I cast them to see I how it will be working with them, especially since with "Darkness" we would be in a closed, haunted, old hotel with no air-conditioning, in Missouri, in the middle of August.  So, our casting director set up a meeting at a restaurant with Casper and his fiancé Jennifer Wenger, my wife and producing partner Linara Washington, and myself.  And we all really hit it off,  like we’d known each other for years.  I knew right then that Jennifer, who is well known in the horror genre, was perfect for the role of Rebecca Long, the movie star.  And I knew Casper would have a great attitude and sense of humor about playing himself.  And in fact, that friendship has continued now nearly two years later and I can't wait to work with them both again.


Did Casper struggle with anything on it? Did he make any suggestions to improve scenes? 

Casper is not only an actor, but an accomplished director, so he knew what I was dealing with and did everything he could to make my job easier and keep things light and fun.  He is the consummate cheerleader on set and makes the entire crew feel good.


Is he the type of actor that tends to stay in character between takes? Which, in this case, means he simply stayed… himself? 

Casper was playing a slightly surrealistic version of himself, or as we joke - an “asshole” version, which he had a lot of fun with.  He’s been acting a very long time and has the ability to slip in and out of character with no problem, whatsoever.  He is a lot of fun on set.


Do you click on and off easily after shooting a film? How did you personally wind down after shooting?

There is very little “wind down” time for me on my movies because I go right into post.  I give myself maybe a week to unwind but then, honestly I can’t wait to start editing because that's when the real work starts.


Tell us how many hats you wear in this movie. A lot, right?

I have worked in film and TV for over thirty years now, and I started my career doing special effects – puppets, makeup effect, miniatures etc.  So, with my films I do wear a lot of hats; writer, producer, director, editor, sound designer, sometimes I score - but not on this one, and I help out with a lot of the makeup effects.


What’s the best thing about being a producer on your own movie? I imagine it means you get more say at the table?

As my own producer I have no push-back.  I have no one telling me "no."  I do surround myself with other producers who I bounce things off of, and who once we’re in production, allow me to just be creative and thankfully they take on the headaches.


And finally, just how haunted was the place you shot the movie in? Even if it isn’t, I imagine nobody will be willing to step one-foot into it now!

One of the really uncanny things about making this film was that there were many things that happened in the script that also ended up happening in real life. Even Casper at one point said, “be careful what you write, you’re really powerful.”  The script originally was written to be in a hospital, but we couldn’t find one that worked, and then we found an old hotel that was closed, so it was an easy re-write to set it there. 

It turned out the hotel was, in fact, thought to be haunted and many people who used to work there had all kinds of experiences, many of which were similar to things that had already been written into the script.  As these things kept revealing themselves, the crew was getting increasingly nervous since there we were making a horror movie about a film crew making a horror movie in a haunted location – and everyone dies.  I had written a running gag about Casper’s flight getting messed up and guess what?  His flight was horribly messed up the night before he was to begin working and it was a miracle he made it to location.  There was a long list of “coincidences” that were unnerving to say the least.