Your upcoming movie Terror at Black Tree Forest - in a few
words, what's it going to be about? Caroline and her
friends usually meet up once a year for a camping trip to escape their
everyday lives and to feel like youngsters again, but this time it is
different. They still meet up, but someone is stalking and killing them
off … one by one! With Terror at Black Tree Forest
being a remake of the movie by the same name by
Dustin Ferguson [Dustin Ferguson
interview - click here], how did that come about even, what
inspired you to remake that movie? Actually, Dustin offered
us the opportunity to film a remake way back in 2018, and we were set to
make it last March (2020) before the pandemic happened. The original idea
was to reflect that it was the tenth anniversary of the original Terror at Black Tree Forest. Despite the deadline passing we were, and are,
still really keen to make a traditional slasher, and, fortunately, Dustin
was still more than happy for us to remake the film. I always find the
ideas of remakes fascinating as it is a case of finding the right tone in
both honoring the original and giving it new life! How close will you
remain to your source material, how much artistic license will you take? Dustin
has given us full creative control, so we have taken the story in a very
different direction whilst also harking back to the original. It is still
a slasher with a psycho on the loose, but the question is “who is the
psycho?”! (Other)
sources of inspiration when creating your version of Terror at Black Tree Forest? I guess just embracing the good and the
bad of the slasher genre - how do we find ways to hide the killer, keep
the violence shocking, and have characters that the viewer can empathize
with and also some that you are just waiting for them to be killed! As
bloody and messy as possible, in some cases… With Terror at Black Tree Forest
being a slasher movie, is that a genre at all dear to you, and some of
your genre favourites? I love the slasher genre, it is
probably one of the first horror subgenres I was introduced to in my
teens, devouring Friday the 13th and
Nightmare On Elm Street
and, of course, Halloween,
Scream and such like. Sure, they
are some of the most popular of the slasher genre but there’s a reason
for that: Iconic killers and great victims! Like most
slashers of the 80s our film will be using some of the techniques
perfected by giallo film filmmakers like Dario Argento and Mario
Bava [Mario Bava bio - click
here], in
particular Blood and Black Lace and
Deep Red - those films
offer the perfect mix of mystery and grizzly, keeping you guessing who the
killer is till the final moment! Do talk about Terror at Black Tree Forest
approach to horror! And what can you tell us
about the overall intended look and feel of Terror at Black Tree Forest? The
key word for this film to me is 'entertainment', something that can offer
you all the cheap thrills you expect from a slasher, with strong
characters that never fall into a style of a knowing wink to camera or a
grim gritty and unnecessary reboot that does nothing new... no one needs
another one of those! We want people to walk away from watching our
version of Terror at Black Tree Forest
absolutely screaming out to
see the sequel! And, like the majority of our feature films, we will be
using a lot of improvisation with the actors too to give them the freedom
to develop their characters as well as telling the story. Anything
you can tell us about Terror at Black Tree Forest's cast yet? For
me it is an interesting mix of actors who we have worked with before (and
who I adore) and actors who will be working with us for the first time.
That will bring a sense of excitement for me in directing this film. I
just have to give shout outs to the cast. Our lead,
Amanda Bourne, really impressed me with a small cameo for our feature film
Senseless, so I know she will offer an emotional release for the
audience as they will really feel for her, and I think that is absolutely
essential in your lead! Annabella Rich - I have had the
absolute pleasure time and time again working with her, she is truly
remarkable. Max Pill really impressed us in his audition,
plus we wanted an authentic musician to add to the complete feel of the
group of youngsters on screen! Calum Beeson worked with
us (Trash Arts) on our feature film
Acting last year and I can’t
wait to see him play a more fun character this time round! Ella
Palmer was actually one of the first actresses I worked with way back in
2010, so I feel very lucky to have her working with us again, especially
after her character work in Senseless. Martin W Payne [Martin
W. Payne interview - click here] is not
only a fantastically committed actor to any role but has become a good
friend and supporter of Trash
Arts, so, whilst his on-screen role is small
and insignificant (or maybe it isn’t… it is a ‘whodunit slasher’!
Haha!), he will be taking the burden of producer for the feature so I know
he will help relieve some of the anxiety on set/location! Cassandre
Wallace had a brief cameo in a thriller feature that we have just shot
called Hacker. That was via a zoom recorded performance, so I
can’t wait to work with her in the flesh! And last, but
definitely not least, Will Jones is a familiar face in UK indie horror and
someone I have wanted to work with for a long time, recently starring in I Scream on the Beach
(TIS Films) and Pandamonium
(Mycho). You're
currently running a fundraiser for Terror at Black Tree Forest
- so
what can you tell us about your campaign? We have some
awesome perks for this IndieGoGo, thank you perks, executive producer
credits, physical media, props from the films, t-shirts - but one perk which
will be very close to me is pay £10 and I will get hit in the face with a
number of custard pies, each named for the donor and I’ll give a shout
out to them as well. https://igg.me/at/black-tree-forest Once the
budget's in place, what's the schedule, and any idea when and where the
film might be released yet? We are aiming to shoot the
start of July and dive immediately into post-production with the film
being released via SCS
Entertainment, hopefully by the end of 2021! My
intention is to lock the film and hope for an immediate release! Any future projects beyond Terror at Black Tree Forest? Trash
Arts has a few projects on
the go at any one time. So we have Decline and Acting
on a
year-long festival run thanks to the support of an IndieGoGo last year. Acting
has picked up 11 selections and a couple of ‘Best Actor’ awards for
Annabella that we are really happy about. Senseless is an arthouse
anxiety-ridden woodland horror that is currently in post-production
alongside Home Is Where I Lay, a psychological horror. Hopefully
after Terror at Black Tree Forest
we will look to produce Jackson
Batchelor’s [Jackson
Batchelor interview - click here] next horror comedy feature and we are working on other
ideas as well, including a vampire-based film for shooting in 2022!
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So where can people support you?
It would be absolutely great if we could achieve our target on the
crowdfunder. We have set it as fixed at GBP 3,000 because we know we will
need at least double that to make it really effective. We know we can do
that – we’d like people to support us and come along for the ride! So
please click on https://igg.me/at/black-tree-forest
to see the perks on offer, get your name in the film credits, and, no
matter what, see me get splatted with custard pies
Thanks
for the interview!
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