Carrion Screaming! for latest updates
With a new short ‘Borley Rectory‘ ( a Glass Eye Pix / Carrion Film joint venture) in production and the ambitious feature ‘Spring Heel Jack‘ deep in development, Carrion Film has launched two alternative platforms to satiate those hungry for updates.
Apart from this site (and a presence on Facebook), regular updates will now also be posted via Carrion Screaming on tumblr and director Ashley Thorpe’s account on twitter. Visitors can expect unseen artwork from the previous animations aswell as exclusive concept art and storyboards for films currently in production or development. There will also be occasional ‘video updates’ – wryly christened by the crew ‘Carrion at your convenience‘ – wherein the Carrion Film team will give insights into production and the challenges a true independent faces getting material ‘on screen’.
Carrion: So how did the ‘Carrion at your convenience’ thing come about?
- ‘Carrion at your convenience’ – Edward Berry and Ashley Thorpe in ‘Pete n Dud’ mode.
Director Ashley Thorpe: “We , Ed and myself, were filming a series of introductions for Fearnet and between takes took the opportunity to just give a brief update on what was going on with ‘Borley Rectory‘ and reflect upon the making of ‘Hairy Hands‘. Well, that was the plan..of course it collapsed into a sort of ‘Pete and Dud’ thing about Tom, ha ha, but it was fun to actually talk, even briefly about what was going on.
Carrion: It’s been a while since you’ve been involved in anything ‘public’…
Ashley Thorpe: “I’ve been writing first and foremost but yeah you’re right…though it’s been a busy couple of years since ‘Hairy Hands’. Although we had ‘The Demon Huntsman‘ out last year, to the outsider it must seem a very barren period in terms of material. Long term prep work. There’s been a lot of writing – the feature for a start (Spring Heel Jack) – which was – is – the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. On top of that there’s been a couple of commissioned short scripts for other production companies so…can’t really discuss them but it’s all out there…waiting in the wings.”
Carrion: ‘Borley Rectory’ was initially intended to be a very modest ‘found footage’ thing to be shot very quickly last year wasn’t it? Now ironically it looks to be the most ambitious short yet…what changed?
Ashley Thorpe: “Yes, it was originally going to be something very simple, experimental actually, looking at the relationship between perception and expectation in ghost photography. Ghost photographs are almost always of a very poor quality and I wanted to play with those textures. Regardless, our pitch for local funding failed so I took it away and completely re-wrote i
t as something of a beginners guide to the haunting whilst utilising the look of classic ghost photography. Then of course Julian Sands became aware of what we were doing and then we have Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid behind it at Glass Eye Pix. Not a bad position to be in launching into production…”
Carrion: So initially funding was the main issue…
Ashley Thorpe: “Funding is always the issue. ‘Hairy Hands‘ was originally going to be part of ‘Hell-Tor‘ – the proposed Dartmoor portmanteau…”
Carrion: Is that still a possibility?
Ashley Thorpe: “Oh yeah. In fact I recently wrote another story for it called ‘Crows Mere‘… The point is that I lifted the story out of it because funding became available and it seemed like a good little piece to adapt within their perameters. I think you have to be like that. Constantly spinning the plates, coming up with stories so when something comes along, you’ll have something ready or at least available to adapt. The arts grants are shrinking or vanishing completely and there’s precious little public money around. Crowd funding seems to be the way the industry is gravitating. I’m certainly not resistant to it. I’m resistant to the ‘access all areas’ things that go hand in hand with crowd funding. That sort of access is fine retrospectively. But I do think mystery and anticipation are very important too. Carrion Film has, without sounding pretentious, always had a certain mystique to our productions…once locked into a production we pretty much lock down, and whilst I believe that its very important to maintain that sense of mystery… “
Carrion: The new platforms…
Ashley Thorpe: I simultaneously also think that it’s very important to recognise and appreciate your audience and the fact that they are genuinely interested in the process as much as the final result. It’s a nice excuse to open the vault a little, not give the whole game away but open the lab and hint what’s on the slab, right?. I have a lot of artwork, especially for Spring Heel’ that I’m looking forward to getting out there.”
Glass Eye Pix and Julian Sands join Borley Rectory
After months shrouded in secrecy Carrion Films is proud to announce the latest updates on the project, namely that the films narration will be provided by Julian Sands.
The British actor, who has worked with Directors as diverse as Ken Russell, David Cronenberg and David Fincher, recorded the narration in December 2011 in London.
We are also delighted to announce that Borley Rectory will be a joint Carrion Film / Glass Eye Pix production with legendary Indie Producer Larry Fessenden and Writer / Director Glenn McQuaid (‘I Sell the Dead‘ & most recently ‘V/H/S’) acting as Executive Producers for the project.
“When l first came across Ashley Thorpe’s work as a film maker l was struck by his originality and passion,” states Sands. “The poetry and sensitivity of his images were compelling and extremely moving. When l heard he was developing a project based on the notorious Borley Rectory l had to be involved. Working on this astonishing piece has been immensely fulfilling and l am happy to have joined his reparatory…” Julian Sands on BORLEY RECTORY
Following the award winning Hammer horror inspired fictions SCAYRECROW, THE SCREAMING SKULL and THE HAIRY HANDS, BORLEY RECTORY is the next in a series of gothic shorts inspired by what British Director Ashley Thorpe believes to be the neglected aspects of British horror heritage. It’s an approach that has led to the Devon based artist being marked as leading something of a British Horror revival. Editor in Chief of Fangoria Magazine - Chris Alexander “This guy is going places and – although Hammer Horror is back in an “official” incarnation – Thorpe’s gothic miasma’s are the honest offspring of those “pure” supernatural melodramas that changed the face of dark fantasy cinema.”
Director Ashley Thorpe “Borley Rectory is essentially an animated documentary, inspired by a genuine haunting that caught the worlds imagination during the late 1920’s. It’s going to be something quite old fashioned, very textural, with a house very much a projection of the personalities within it – Haunted house as voyeur. It’s a subject that seized my imagination as a child after stumbling across the legend in the Usbourne Book of Ghosts at the local Library as a kid…”
“I’d recently interviewed Julian for Fangoria about his work with Ken Russell on ‘Gothic‘ and after seeing the previous animations he expressed a genuine interest in what was next. He’d heard of Borley previously so when I explained that we were panning to do a study of the haunting in our style he leapt into the project with total abandon, it was pretty incredible really… And I couldn’t be happier for the film to be made with Glass Eye Pix. I can’t think of a better, more like-minded group to make this happen. They’re so genuine about what they do. I’m excited about the future.”
States Fessenden, “It is a pleasure to see how much inspiration Ashley draws from his local myths and surroundings: I believe strongly that the sense of place is an essential character in any good story, and after his wonderful radio play THE DEMON HUNTSMAN captured the feeling of the Moors, I knew Glass Eye would want to get behind the next Thorpe production.” McQuaid adds, “Ashley is a unique and soulful voice within the horror genre, and having already collaborated with him on Tales from Beyond the Pale, it’s a logical and exciting step to jump into another project together.”
Exec Producer Fessenden’s production outfit Glass Eye Pix has been responsible for dozens of celebrated independent films including THE INNKEEPERS, I SELL THE DEAD, THE LAST WINTER, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and STAKE LAND, as well as the critically acclaimed TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE series of radio dramas.
BORLEY RECTORY is in pre-production and will begin filming 2012.