Here is a spread from my snappily titled forthcoming book, 21st Century British Horror Films Vol.1: Dog Soldiers and Doghouses (2000-2011).
It will be about 180 A4 pages, documenting 316 films released over that 12 year period.
British Horror Revival
Tuesday, 3 December 2019
Tuesday, 22 October 2019
Trick or Treat
d. Ed Boase; w. Geraint Anderson; p. Geraint Anderson, Craig
Kelly; cast: Craig Kelly, Dean Lennox Kelly, Maimie McCoy, Frances Barber,
Shaun Parkes, Jamie Sives, Jessamine-Bliss Bell
The director of the impressive Blooded, terrible The Mirror and unreleased
An American Exorcism does a solid job on this work-for-hire gig for city
stockbroker Anderson. It’s a crime thriller with horror trappings, set in
Blackpool on Halloween (technically the early hours of 1st November). Former
gangster Greg (C Kelly: Corrie) is facing a mid-life crisis – wife, baby, 45th
birthday – when his disreputable brother Dan (actual brother DL Kelly:
Shameless) turns up with a dead body, followed by two gangsters looking for
Dan. Greg is drawn back into a shady, dangerous, violent world he left behind
but halfway through starts to doubt the reality of what he is experiencing, partly
because of hallucinations which may be psychic ability or a remnant of the pill-popping
raver youth he misses. Anderson’s script has some satisfying twists and turns,
especially the end. A fine cast includes Kris Marshall as a copper, Jason Flemyng
as a taxi driver and Hugo Speer as a comedian on TV. Maeve O’Connell’s great
night-time cinematography captures Blackpool’s seedy underbelly perfectly.
Trick or Treat has a limited theatrical release on 25th October 2019 in cinemas in northwest England.
Saturday, 19 October 2019
The Witching Hour
d. Adam Evans; w. Neil Morris, Gary Smart; p. Chris
Griffiths, Neil Morris, Adam Evans, Gary Smart, Stuart Conran; cast: Kenneth
Cranham, Mark Wingett, Simon Bamford, Ian Gelder, Bruce Jones, Corin Silva,
Jamila Martin-Wingett, Neil Cole, Gemma Gordon, Ethan McKinley
The fourth Dark Ditties film is the longest and in some ways
the most conventional, although it becomes more complex as one considers
connections to the other three. A cheesy paranormal investigation TV show films
an episode in the same stately home where The Offer took place. On the verge of
cancellation, psychic Marvin La’Fantome and cynical Selwyn Parsons have one last
chance to recover their ratings – but a real supernatural danger lurks in the
shadows for cast and crew. As ever, Morris and Smart’s script creates a set of
unpleasant but fascinating characters, brought to life by an exemplary cast,
both stock players and newcomers. Magnificent photography by Terrence Wilkins
and Ben Halford, a beautiful score by American composer Sean Schafer Hennessy
and of course Stuart Conran’s top-notch effects are all part of the hugely
enjoyable Dark Ditties brand. Two further titles, Dad and Welcome to Upton, are
promised for 2020.
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
Wolf
d. Stuart Brennan; w. George McKlusky; p. Stuart Brennan,
Mark Paul Wake; cast: Stuart Brennan, George McKlusky, Mark Paul Wake, Adanna Oji,
Austin Caley, Victoria Morrison, Ross Anderson, Jennifer Chippendale
When a squad of soldiers is attacked by werewolves in the
Scottish Highlands, comparisons to Dog Soldiers are inevitable – albeit Wolf is
set 18 centuries earlier. Brennan’s Roman horror has a team of legionaries and
associates searching for missing messengers. After fighting some Picts, they’re
stalked by barely-glimpsed, fast-moving beast-men so head back towards Hadrian’s
Wall. Much of the film is frustratingly slow and talkie, but the characters are
interesting and most of the acting is good. When we eventually see the
attackers they’re naked guys with fangs (which contradicts the bipedal wolf pawprints
found earlier). Nevertheless this ambitious, high concept horror – legionaries vs
lycanthropes – merits a watch, if only for the impressive costumes and Simon
Aukes’ top-notch cinematography which incorporates stunning drone shots of the
snow-covered landscape. McKlusky is George McCluskey (The Zombie King). Many of
the cast also worked with Brennan on Plan Z, The Necromancer and A Christmas
Carol. Horrible Histories author Terry Deary was executive producer.
(Four stars.)
Sunday, 6 October 2019
A few words about the future
For more than two decades now I’ve been patiently
documenting the British Horror Revival. What started out as an interesting
collection of distinctively social realist horror films has blossomed and expanded
and kept on expanding. So that the comparatively short period covered by my post-2000
British horror masterlist now accounts for about 80% of all UK horror films
ever made.
This is insane, clearly. It’s like letting other people
write about the Premier League while I write about every other football club in
Britain, right down to Sunday morning amateur teams.
I have already written one book, Urban Terrors, covering the
British Horror Revival from its late 1990s origins up to the singularity of Mum
and Dad, the first UK film released simultaneously in cinemas, on DVD and on VOD. Over
the next few years I will be publishing my magnum opus: a complete catalogue of
every British horror movie 2000-2019. About 1,050 films spread over three volumes,
with a fourth collecting together 300+ incomplete/unreleased features.
I’m ten films away from completing Volume 1 (Volumes 2 and 3
are also mostly complete). I expect to produce that next year. Presumably
self-published, unless anyone wants to make me an offer.
Next year. 2020. A new decade.
Here’s the thing. I really don’t want to keep on doing this
for another ten years. I’m 51 now. I have other half-written books I want to
finish before I die. I have other films I want to watch.
My masterlist will close for good on 31 December 2019.
Obviously I will still be discovering films and releases which precede that
date for many months to come, filling in gaps and revising data. But any film
released on 1 January 2020 or later is outside my remit. I want my life back.
This is where you come in. I’ve spent all this time cataloguing
and reviewing these films because Somebody Had To Do It. Unless someone takes
the trouble to document these films when they appear, they will be lost to
researchers forever. (You can’t rely on the IMDB. Plenty of the films on my
list aren’t on the IMDB and many others have incorrect data.)
So this is an open invitation. If anyone wants to take up the
mantle of British horror film historian for the next decade, you are very, very
welcome. The post is about to become vacant and I would love to see it filled.
It would be up to you what criteria you establish
for inclusion on your masterlist; I’m not going to prescribe anything like
that. But I will say that this is a big job which requires constant prowling and
digging around all corners of the web. You can’t just set up an alert and wait
for things to come to you. These films can get released in any medium in any
territory. This is a job for someone obsessive who loves looking for stuff and
eventually finding it. It can be tedious, but it can also be very rewarding.
Perhaps a group of you want to do this. Perhaps two or more
people will take on the gig separately and compete to see who can unearth the
information first. I really don’t mind. It’s not up to me. I can give you
nothing but my blessing.
But I do hope that someone will take on this mantle. Because
otherwise, the recorded history of British horror cinema, from the silent era through
the golden age of Hammer and Amicus, and then into the boom years of the early
21st century will suddenly lurch to a halt in 2020. Film historians
of the future will have an impossible job trying to find this stuff if no-one
records it at the time. What they’ll be left with is an unrepresentative handful
of high-profile releases that won’t in any way reflect the actual state of the genre.
And that would be a real shame.
Monday, 9 September 2019
Double Date
d. Benjamin Barfoot; w. Danny Morgan; p. Maggie Monteith,
Matthew James Wilkinson; cast: Danny Morgan, Georgia Groome, Michael Socha,
Kelly Wenham, Dexter Fletcher, Robert Glenister, Rosie Cavaliero, James Swanton
Very, very funny – but also enjoyably gory – Barfoot’s debut
benefits from crisp direction and a quartet of solid performances. On his 30th
birthday, virginal ginger nice guy Jim goes out clubbing with vampishly glam
Lulu and her pretty sister Kitty. Making up the foursome is Jim’s disreputable friend/mentor
Alex (the always reliable Socha on absolutely top form). We know from an
effective splash panel prologue that the sisters are psycho witch bitches,
which Jim and Alex discover in a terrific third act back at the girl’s massive
country house. The Lulu/Alex fight is a masterpiece of comic, bloody action,
and Swanton (Frankenstein’s Creature) turns up under heavy
make-up as the reason behind all this. Middle act visits to Jim’s happy-clappy
Christian family and Alex’s trailer park dad (Fletcher, killing it as usual)
provide characterisation and context, while also driving the plot. Shot in
London in 2016, this premiered in Edinburgh in June 2017 and should not be
missed. Available now on digital, DVD and Blu-ray.
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Enjoy Richard Driscoll's unfinished new website
Richard Driscoll doesn’t have a new film out – but he does have a new website: https://dragonstudios.biz
DRagon is the company he created to release Grindhouse Nightmares – and yes, it is supposed to have two capitals letters. That’s not a typical Driscoll typo, but it is a typical Driscoll idiosyncrasy.
To be fair to the man, the site is not finished yet and still contains some dummy text. Also the Facebook and YouTube icons at the bottom of each page actually point to the social media of this fitness coach.
There’s some stuff on here about Conjuring: The Book of the Dead (“based on M R James book Casting the Runes”) which is the latest incarnation of what used to be The Raven Part 2 and has been called many, many things since then. The Conjuring trailer is just a YouTube placeholder but fear not, Dicky-fans, because the actual trailer is on Vimeo, with lots of previously unseen stuff.
Also listed, rather oddly, is Ossidio Assonitis’ The Devil Within Her, which presumably Driscoll has bought the rights to (or think he has bought the rights to). It’s an odd choice. Then there’s Eldorado, Grindhouse Nightmares (under its original title Grindhouse 2wo), Kannibal, Legend of Harrow Woods and three Linnea Quigley-hosted clips shows: Sexploitation, World of Kung Fu and Hollywood Celebrities Exposed.
Best of all is news on a potentially brand new Driscoll feature. What’s that film coming to cinemas in a few weeks? Joker? Well then, Tricky Dicky Risk-All has to bring us… Jester!
This is the story of 2 men from different sides of the street. The first is Arthur Nemski a Youtube blogger and corner shop worker from a normal background who is dragged into a world of vice and murder. Arthur is beaten and bruised when he stumbles into the world after delivering a bag of groceries. Arthur knows nothing about what is to become of him and his alter ego the JESTER.
Next is disgruntled Police Detective Frank McMillan, who decides to take the law into his own hands after the death of his partner. Frank decides to retire from the New York Police Department and transform into The BLACK KNIGHT a Batman style vigilante hero to enforce his own type of law.
The Black Knight was a working title of what became Assassin’s Revenge which included a Joker rip-off character so presumably the two films will share some content. Or not.
(Incidentally there’s no mention on the site of Assassin’s Revenge or Driscoll’s mooted motor sport biopic Born 2 Race though you can watch a trailer for that here. Nor of his oops-too-late Tarantino rip-off concept Once Upon a Time in Hollyweird.)
All the above will allegedly be available online, via the website, from November. It’s ‘DRagon Online Cinema’ and I’m not holding my breath for it. There’s a bunch of other goodies on the site which I’ll let you explore for yourselves, but do please remember that (a) it’s not finished yet, and (b) lorem ipsum dolor. Richie still has to cross the Is and dot the Ts.
As far as I can tell, DRagon Film Studios has no connection with the existing film-making facility Dragon International Film Studios.
DRagon is the company he created to release Grindhouse Nightmares – and yes, it is supposed to have two capitals letters. That’s not a typical Driscoll typo, but it is a typical Driscoll idiosyncrasy.
To be fair to the man, the site is not finished yet and still contains some dummy text. Also the Facebook and YouTube icons at the bottom of each page actually point to the social media of this fitness coach.
There’s some stuff on here about Conjuring: The Book of the Dead (“based on M R James book Casting the Runes”) which is the latest incarnation of what used to be The Raven Part 2 and has been called many, many things since then. The Conjuring trailer is just a YouTube placeholder but fear not, Dicky-fans, because the actual trailer is on Vimeo, with lots of previously unseen stuff.
Also listed, rather oddly, is Ossidio Assonitis’ The Devil Within Her, which presumably Driscoll has bought the rights to (or think he has bought the rights to). It’s an odd choice. Then there’s Eldorado, Grindhouse Nightmares (under its original title Grindhouse 2wo), Kannibal, Legend of Harrow Woods and three Linnea Quigley-hosted clips shows: Sexploitation, World of Kung Fu and Hollywood Celebrities Exposed.
Best of all is news on a potentially brand new Driscoll feature. What’s that film coming to cinemas in a few weeks? Joker? Well then, Tricky Dicky Risk-All has to bring us… Jester!
This is the story of 2 men from different sides of the street. The first is Arthur Nemski a Youtube blogger and corner shop worker from a normal background who is dragged into a world of vice and murder. Arthur is beaten and bruised when he stumbles into the world after delivering a bag of groceries. Arthur knows nothing about what is to become of him and his alter ego the JESTER.
Next is disgruntled Police Detective Frank McMillan, who decides to take the law into his own hands after the death of his partner. Frank decides to retire from the New York Police Department and transform into The BLACK KNIGHT a Batman style vigilante hero to enforce his own type of law.
The Black Knight was a working title of what became Assassin’s Revenge which included a Joker rip-off character so presumably the two films will share some content. Or not.
(Incidentally there’s no mention on the site of Assassin’s Revenge or Driscoll’s mooted motor sport biopic Born 2 Race though you can watch a trailer for that here. Nor of his oops-too-late Tarantino rip-off concept Once Upon a Time in Hollyweird.)
All the above will allegedly be available online, via the website, from November. It’s ‘DRagon Online Cinema’ and I’m not holding my breath for it. There’s a bunch of other goodies on the site which I’ll let you explore for yourselves, but do please remember that (a) it’s not finished yet, and (b) lorem ipsum dolor. Richie still has to cross the Is and dot the Ts.
As far as I can tell, DRagon Film Studios has no connection with the existing film-making facility Dragon International Film Studios.
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