With the new ‘Penny Dreadful’ animation ‘The Hairy Hands‘ complete and beginning it’s crawl towards the World’s film festivals – and with the complete film unable to view until those screenings are secured – Carrion film thought what better time to finally reveal the official trailer and give you a taster of what to expect! The film was produced in co-operation with the UK Film Council, South West Screen, Devon County Council and the Exeter Phoenix and was made between June and November 2009.
This trailer is perhaps of particular interest as it features a number of sequences that will not be seen in the final film. These shots were not cut from the finished print however, they were actually created especially for the trailer and it also features a section of voiceover (relating to Dartmoor – the film’s setting) recorded especially by Doug Bradley that also isn’t present in the final film.
DOWNLOAD – ‘THE HAIRY HANDS’ Trailer (M4v i-Phone friendly format)
UNRATED REVIEW – Cinema of the Extreme.
Carl Ford (‘Dagon magazine‘) has posted a review of three short films by Ashley Thorpe on behalf of ‘Unrated magazine‘. Here is a brief excerpt:
“Despite the United Kingdom being fertile territory for horror filmmakers; with its history steeped in an abundance of folklore and myths relating to ghosts, monsters, cryptids and all manner of paranormal activities; few recent filmmakers have turned to its dark terrors for inspiration. Fewer still have exclusively focused their art on these outre occurrences, which is a grand shame since Britain’s heritage boasts a number of ghoulish legends that prove far more interesting than the constant barrage of recycled horror tropes with their inspiration drawn from American culture and rehashed monster movies. Step forward Ashley Thorpe who, under the banner of Carrion Films, has been causing quite a stir amongst horror genre aficionados with a series of creepy animated shorts that have picked up a plethora of awards on the independent film circuit…”
On ‘The Hairy Hands‘ – “…Featuring further nods to AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, Hammer Films’ BLOOD FROM
THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1971), Amicus’ DR TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965) and much of the exposition resembling Marion Crane’s guilt-ridden car journey from Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960), THE HAIRY HANDS plays as a road movie along the lines of THE HITCHER meets THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS. There’s very much a 60s/70s feel to proceedings with a scene depicting an outdated rural garage run by an attendant who could have stepped out of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and its infusion of foreshadowing via the use of symbols of death and foreboding radio messages (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS). Despite the allusions Thorpe’s film is stylistically unique, combining the use of slow moving camera, and action, bold lighting colouring techniques and stop motion with a fast paced narrative the results of which are impressive as well as damn right spooky!” – Carl Ford UNRATED
To read the full article visit: UNRATED MAGAZINE
BCFM INTERVIEW – ASHLEY THORPE & ED BERRY
Mark LeLeivre of Bristol’s BCFM Radio has interviewed Carrion Director Ashley Thorpe and stalwart actor Ed Berry for their dedicated movie and music show. The interview was broadcast on Saturday 27th of March but can still be heard via podcast or by clicking here: LISTEN TO BCFM INTERVIEW.
“The Hairy Hands” is vibrantly colorful, which owes a lot to the old “Hammer Film’s” and the “lurid” blues, reds and greens of Bava and Argento from the days of the “Technicolor three strip process”, their new film “The Hairy Hands” tells a newly emerged story of a pair of roaming, disembodied hands that haunt a road across the old Moor. Featuring the voices of Doug Bradley (Pinhead: The Hellraiser Films) and Nicholas Vince (The “Chatterer” Cenobite: The Hellraiser Films, Nightbreed). “The Hairy Hands” will undoubtedly do well and I am sure make it to the cinema as a supporting feature and to TV, alongside “Tales of the Unexpected”, “The Twilight Zone” and “Night Gallery” programmes we use to watch as kids back in the 60’s/70’s.” – MARK LeLEIVRE BCFM
Apart from a few candid insights into the animations and their production processes the show also included a widely eclectric selection of music including Fabio Frizzi’s theme to ‘City of the Living Dead‘, the Fantomas cover of ‘Spider Baby, ‘Dracula‘ by James Bernard, ‘The Hunt‘ from Jerry Goldsmith’s score to ‘The Final Conflict’ aswell as a wealth of vintage stingers and trailers.
To join Mark’s online horror / cult / exploitation community – ‘Incredibly Strange Film Club’ – visit Facebook.
THE SCREAMING SKULL ‘DOWN UNDER’
We have just received confirmation that Carrion Films award nominated animation ‘The Screaming Skull’ has been officially selected to be screened at the ‘Night of Horror international film festival‘ held annually in Sydney Australia. The festival runs April 15th – 23rd 2010 and showcases a varied mix of international features and shorts. The festival’s director had this to say (taken from official site):
‘...the best part of being involved in a horror film festival is having the chance to watch a wide variety of cutting edge films made by up and coming genre filmmakers. The horror genre has always provided an outlet for the dark imaginations of cinema’s most talented practitioners: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Fritz Lang, Ingmar Bergman, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, and Francis Ford Coppola (to name but a few), have all made important and powerful horror films. Hollywood’s current A-list includes several directors – notably Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson – who launched their careers with inventive, low-budget horror masterpieces. And thankfully some of our favorite directors, including John Carpenter, Dario Argento and George Romero, never left the genre that they helped define.’
The Raindance ‘Best UK Short’ nominated film can be downloaded in its entirety from this site and more details regarding this screening will be posted as soon as we receive them.