I have long been a champion of British Horror and from a worryingly young age fanatically watched any such films I could lay my under-age hands on. Relaxed parenting, late night TV re runs and a battered but functional VHS recorder ensured that I grew up destined to work in film and not on gay musical movies but on dark, dripping and foetid films that pick at your soul like a buzzard and batter your humanity down into a pit of fractured nightmares and slippery awakenings.
I was drawn to the core ideas behind much of the Director’s previous work ‘Scayrecrow’ and ‘Screaming Skull’ and love the way Ashley blends the look of film with the texture of animation to produce films that champion the old Hammer aesthetic while breathing new life into the myths and legends of Britain. It has been a meeting of minds and drawing on experience from my established career producing documentaries for television I have streamlined the production process and enabled Ashley to focus on his vision for the film. The shooting schedule has been a great success and we’ve steamed through the work not forgetting (as Ashley will admit) to enjoy the process.
I have long felt this country’s great history of Horror has been undervalued and under appreciated over the years, cheated of its rightful place on the world stage and reduced to its current state of extreme Americanisation. Many great British Directors have had to go to Hollywood to realise their ambitions and find the budgets to make such classics as ‘Alien‘ … As a producer I am determined to ensure that the best of Britain’s film making talent get the chance to make films that are undeniably British and yet dominate the world stage and draw attention to the film industry in this country for something more than Costume Dramas and Rom Coms. Don’t get me wrong they are very worth while but seem to dominate the UK’s output and, I think counter productively, play to long held stereotypes about the British.
This country has as fine a history of film making as the US yet seems to have been left behind in the current market place. With ‘The Hairy Hands‘ and my other production www.the10poundhorrorfilm.com I aim to refocus Britain’s eye on its legacy in the Horror genre and take our films to the rest of the world. Ashley’s success in America with ‘Screaming Skull‘ being selected to screen in New York at ‘Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors‘ in New York this year shows the appetite is there so I am confident that with these productions I can feed that hunger!
T Atkinson on Edward Berry:
Edward is a very fine actor and because of his experience working in this unusual way with Ashley on his other animation productions requires only minimal Direction to fill the role of Cole in ‘The Hairy Hands‘. I have been very impressed by his professionalism and determination not to shirk from the task at hand even when required to crush his face into an oily and suspicious smelling floor. He is a jovial young man and never fails to brighten up the set with his unique and pithy humour.
T Atkinson on Ashley Thorpe:
Director Ashley Thorpe and I were classmates many years ago and shared this passion for all things gory and terrifying but have only just 
started working together via his latest film ‘Hairy Hands‘. Being familiar with Ashley’s work and sharing his enthusiasm for Horror has ensured this production has been a pleasure to work on. He has a bright future in film and the no nonsense attitude that gets things done on set or in script development when circumstance gets in the way. I was very happy to be invited to produce ‘The Hairy Hands‘ and will do my utmost to ensure it gets the exposure it deserves and Ashley, I think, will agree that there is a bright future for this dark art of Horror film making and that Britain’s thirst for blood will not be easily slaked.
Carrion Films would like to thank Tom for his insights into the production. For more information on Toms long term British Horror Renaisance project please visit www.the10poundhorrorfilm.com.