D & C Film : The horror of Ashley Thorpe
This week D & C film is running a week long horror special ‘hosted’ by Carrion film director Ashley Thorpe. Today sees an overview on the director by Lee Morgan and then every day next week a piece will be published on the films that continue to inspire his work. Lee Morgan had this to say:
“Ashley Thorpe will take us by the hand and lead us through his top five horror films over the next five days. He will go through each movie and explain why they keep him – and us – shivering on the edge of the seat. But first, here’s the low-down on the filmmaker who puts horror into animation.
Ashley Thorpe’s horror is more scalpel than sledgehammer. His animations have a refreshingly classic feel, not least through the meticulously researched material and his unabiding love of horror in all its purest, and least pure, forms.
To make a ham-fisted attempt to continue the scalpel metaphor, his films and the surgical implement both make you think of similar wounds. Maybe it’s because you have the feeling that Jack the Ripper is hacking away in the background of the Penny Dreadfuls (or Penny Bloods) that are one of the inspirations of Ashley’s work.”
The article features snippets of interviews, stills and links to trailers. The first horror that will be discussed is Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien‘.
Interview with Express & Echo
On Thursday 5th February Carrion film Director Ashley Thorpe was interviewed by the Express & Echo. The full page article covered his influences, family and plans for the future.
He said: “When I was a kid growing up in Devon I was surrounded by ghost stories, local legends and folk songs about monsters, and I was lucky enough to be surrounded by people keen to tell them, especially to a wide-eyed child.
“I was fed a constant diet of vengeful ghosts, highwaymen and deals with the devil in the Dartmoor fog. I subsequently grew up feeling that everyone else knew stories such as The Screaming Skull and The Lambton Worm.
“But I soon realised that many of these stories, and the stories that the tellers had been told as children, were slipping away from us, becoming esoteric. As I travelled further afield, it became clear that many people had never heard of these tales at all.
“So with the Carrion film project I’m now aiming to take these neglected aspects of English folklore and re-invent them for the 21st century audience as digital animations.”