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Your new film Paranormal
Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn - in a few words, what is
it about?
Very simply it tells the tale of a special event that happens once
every 100 years – the moon turns blue. We join a motley crew as they all
come together to witness this special time, only to discover that somebody
had planned the whole thing and he’s been around for centuries doing the
same thing each time. It all goes nasty. And why not, better than just
having a picnic.
What were your inspirations when writing
Paranormal
Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn?
Well, I
shan’t do it again, because once is enough, but this film was totally
made with classic Hammer House in mind. Think 70’s British eccentric
horror and that’s what this was an attempt to do.
You
have (professionally) done quite a bit of research on the occult for your
books and documentaries. In what way did your knowledge on the
subject influence your writing Paranormal
Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn, and/or did it actually
at times stand in the way of story development? Well, of
course, you use your knowledge when putting a film together like this, but
as you rightly point out, sometimes it can get in the way. I have been
accused of being too complicated, too confusing for folk, so I have taken
some of that into account with this film, which is pretty basic, but,
there are explanations for several myths embedded in the film. Not going
too deep, helped me keep a fairly decent pace to the film and let it come
almost naturally out of the characters.
Why did
you use the borderline-iconic character of witchfinder general
Matthew Hopkins
in your film, and did this part of the story follow any
actual myth? Two reasons. Firstly because Hopkins is
exactly as you point out, iconic. If you want cult eccentricity, then you
might as well go the whole hog. Secondly, because he forms part of an
occult explanation for why witches were persecuted in the film.
John Symes doesn't only play
Matthew Hopkins
in Paranormal
Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn, he is also credited with
co-scripting and co-producing the film. What can you tell us about Symes,
and what was your collaboration on the script and on set like?
John Symes (center) |
John
Symes was only recently let out of an insane asylum and I simply thought
that using him in such a film would add more realism. The man is
completely barking mad and probably one of the greatest living actors. He
deserves to be picked up by the big film companies! Even if he is insane.
But his insanity can be very useful when you need somebody to go over a
script and help you iron out the rough edges… What
can you tell us about the rest of your principal cast? I
shan’t pick anyone single person out, because they were all hard working
and gave it their all. Besides, I can’t stand any of them. Your
eclectic supporting cast also features qute a few non-actors who seem to
pop up time and again in your oeuvre, like musicians Corjan and James
Earnshaw, and metallurgist and writer Robert Feather. A few words about
them?
James Earnshaw is a diamond. He will throw himself into anything and he
is a very creative man. His band, No Redemption, have given us some
fantastic rock songs! So listen up EMI, sign the buggers!
Corjan came along again this time, because he was missing being
slaughtered and you know what these Dutch folk are like, they do like to
get killed every now and then. He wrote and performed a brilliant song for
the film and James directed the video for it beautifully.
How would you describe your directorial approach
to the subject? I closed my eyes, shouted
"action" and waited until I got the footage back to base to see
if it worked or not. Well, it’s a different style I bet nobody else has
tried before. Somewhere I have read your film was shot
on location wherever, but now I seem to have mislaid my source material -
so is that at all true, and if so, what can you tell us about your
location as such? We used a very old Inn called The Swan in
Staffordshire and it was awesome. Supposedly haunted by spirits… yeah.
Films about the occult, even with
setups similar to yours, have a long tradition in (English) horror. A few
of your genre favourites?
The Wicker
Man, The Omen, Dracula
and all the Carry On-films… (they were horror right?)
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Any future projects you'd like
to talk about?
I have totally changed style for this next
one called Lady of the Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire. It stars
Melanie Denholme, who I can say, without reservation, scared the shit out
of me making this film. She is absolutely fantastic. I shot with DSLR’s
mainly and have attempted to create an artistic juxtaposition between
beauty in imagery and horrific content (or some such crap...) Your and your film's website, Facebook,
whatever else?
The new film I’m working on is www.ladyofthedark.webs.com
Paranormal Haunting is www.paranormalhauntingmovie.com
The Stone is www.thestonefilm.com
And Facebook is apparently somewhere on the internet.
Anything else you are dying to tell us
and I have merely forgotten to ask? Can I have that ice
cream you promised me now and please take your foot off my neck, I
answered the questions didn’t I? Thanks for the
interview!
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