Category: Carrion Films

“The Screaming Skull” has not only been officially selected for screening at the 17th ‘Raindance Film Festival‘ London but has also been nominated for Best UK Short 2009.

“Record breaking crowds, sold out screenings, live music, loud raucous parties and great films. This is what an independent film festival should be. Raindance has become what Sundance used to be fifteen years ago.”

Raindance is the UK’s leading independent film festival and each year more and more films achieve success after Raindance screenings. Recent triumphs include IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS (Independent Spirit Award-winner, 2009), TOYLAND (Oscar-winner, Best Short 2009) and ONCE (Oscar-winner, Best Song, 2008).

“Over the years, the festival has hosted such guests and filmmakers as Christopher Nolan, Shane Meadows, Ken Loach, Marky Ramone, Iggy Pop, Anton Corbijn, Mick Jones, Andrea Arnold, Adam Yauch, Quentin Tarantino, Faye Dunaway and Lou Reed.

But we’re here for the little guys too. Our big-name successes ensure that attention is on the whole programme. Everyone’s looking for the next big indie hit. Our audience of film fans, journalists, acquisition executives, actors, producers and directors know that a screening at the Raindance Film Festival is a sign of quality.”

This is the first time that the film has been screened in an official capacity in the capital, following its warm enthusiastic reception when screened in Manhattan in June as part of the ‘Fangoria Weekend of Horrors‘. Director Ashley Thorpe has high hopes for the screening – “In the light of all the – wonderful – exposure  ‘Scayrecrow’ has received recently, its eerie cousin has been somewhat relegated to the shadows a little. It’s a very different animal: its purposely slower paced,  funereal almost and has that long POV sequence that borders on abstraction, so I’m personally thrilled that ‘Screaming Skull’ is garnering interest and finding its audience…and its inclusion in Raindance this year, and of course the nomination for best UK short, is just beautiful. I am absolutely thrilled.” – Ashley Thorpe

Ashley Thorpe - on set 'The Screaming Skull' 2008.

A brief history of Raindance (taken from www.raindance.co.uk) : – Raindance founder, Elliot Grove, found himself at odds after crashing out of the London property market in the 1990 recession. After two years of thumb-twiddling, his neighbour, a part-time farmer, reminded him of his roots and said: “As long as you are feeling sorry for yourself, no doctor in the world can cure you.” Thus, Raindance was born, with Elliot casting back to his long exprience as a sceneic artist and set designer on some 700+ projects, his inherent Canadian organisational ability, and good, old-fashioned PMA (Positive Mental Attitude).

The first Raindance event was a Dov S-S Simens class in early April, 1992 – on the weekend before the last general election that John Major won. A few months later, with friends of Raindance making movies, Elliot launched the festival in the heart of London, during the pre-MIFED week mid-October. With MIFED long gone, it’s hard to remember that during the first 9 years of the festival over 1,000 international acqusision executives attended the festival each October. During that period, over 63% of the films screened at Raindance found an international distributor.  MIFED died a death post 9/11, and the festival has developed from a trade and industry event into a bell-weather festival.

UPDATE: ‘The Screaming skull‘ will be screened on Thursday 8th October ( which commences at 16:45pm) at the Apollo West End Cinema, Lower Regent street, London.

Click here for Raindance page and trailer.

SCREENING AT SPACEX GALLERY

‘The Screaming Skull‘ has also been selected to be screened as part of the Open Film Screening Night at the Spacex Gallery in Exeter, Devon. The event is due to be held on Thursday 3rd September, with all screenings commencing at 7pm. For more details, and bookings,  please contact the gallery on 01392 431 786 or email mail@spacex.org.uk.

Spacex is a public-funded contemporary art space and registered educational charity. It works to encourage public engagement with the latest developments in contemporary art through commissioned projects, exhibitions, events, talks and activities for all ages. Spacex became a registered charity in the early 1990s and is now recognised by Arts Council England as one of the UK’s leading international contemporary art spaces. Spacex presents the work of emerging artists as well as those who are internationally renowned. Spacex has presented exhibitions at the last three Liverpool Biennials, including He Yun Chang this Autumn.

Spacex was established in 1978, in a 19th century warehouse building between Exeter High Street and Quayside, extending the SPACE philosophy of artist-led studios and exhibitions initiatives for the first time beyond London. Supported by Arts Council England, Exeter City Council and Devon County Council.

Today at 2:15pm BCFM radio (93.2 FM) D.J Mark LeLeivre will be interviewing Carrion film Director Ashley Thorpe. Though the director is unfortunately due to go into hospital due to ill health on Monday, Ashley was determined to honour the interview.

“I’ve been looking forward to it. First and foremost it’s an important station that responds to to the interests of  its community and  I also happen to know that Mark is a keen fan of Horror and all things Hammer. On top of this I also found out that…believe it or not, and this  is spookily relevant to our particular company ha ha, that Mark has a pet Crow that he rescued and subsequently reared called ‘Russell’, which  although I have yet to meet the fellow, I wish so dearly that we’d met around the time that we were making ‘Scayrecrow‘.  Instead of painting in all those damn crows, Hell, we could have had the real thing!… Well, who knows, “Scayrecrow II” ? …It’s a rare thing for a show to dedicate itself so devoutly to film and its celebration: whether high art or popular culture or that exciting rarely tapped no-mans land where they meet. It’s an honour to talk to people who care enough to listen.’

The interview will touch upon  a general overview of the Carrion film project, finance for the films, aswell as touching upon some of the specific influences that have led to their creation. As with previous interviews, expect some genuine insights and informal fun.

BCfm is the first community radio station in Bristol. Offering access to air time, direct community involvement, training and the desired community led output of the audience. BCfm gives the city of Bristol the choice and the voice to get involved and make a difference.

BCfm started broadcasting on March 26th 2007 to the city of Bristol. This was the culmination of many years of community development and radio projects in Bristol, such as radio19 (the New Deal for Communities), Commonwealth fm and B200fm (Celebration of Brunel’s life).

Mark LeLeivre – “On to this weeks show proper, the usual mix of new and old film soundtrack music, so get those Real Players recording and I promise not talk over them! Some film news, what’s on and where to see it, a bit of film fun in the form of a trailer or two and then two phone-ins. Firstly at 2:15pm

Ashley Thorpe will be speaking from Devon about his film company “Carrion Films” And his two recent award winning short Horror Film Animations, “The Scayrecrow” And “The Screaming Skull”.

Moving from Graphic Art and Comic Illustration into Directing and Filmmaking would seem to have been the logical progression for Ashley as his visually interpretive style owes a lot to Graphic Novels and Comics, a type of  “Photo/Film Flicker Book, Pixelation/Animation” is used, which The Bolex Bros here in Bristol turned into a fine art with their incredible “The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb” (available on “Manga”dvd). The art of acting very, very slowly while individual frames of facial expression and movement are captured literally frame-by-frame and then run in sequence to give the impression of movement. Ashley will be talking to us Live at 2:15pm London Time. “

To link to the BCFM site and listen online : http://bcfm.org.uk

INTERVIEW WITH PHONIC FM

Today, 20th August, Director Ashley Thorpe was interviewed by Exeter based radio station ‘Phonic FM’, primarily to discuss the ongoing production of ‘The Hairy Hands‘ but also to play a selection of his favourite records. He was joined by his step-son Josh Taylor who discussed his cameo in the upcoming film.

Phonic FM hit the airways in February 2008 when it began broadcasting during Exeter’s annual Vibraphonic festival.

Phonic FM evolved out of a radio station set up five years ago called Vibraphonic FM that broadcast for one month each year to support the annual Vibraphonic festival.

The output of Phonic FM is largely music, both live and recorded, focusing on those tunes and genres you won’t often hear on mainstream radio. Phonic FM is charged with supporting the arts (in the widest sense) in and around the Exeter area, and with encouraging innovation and participation. Phonic FM has only been on the airwaves a short time but once it has got to grips with its music output the speech lead broadcasting will increase.

Phonic FM is committed to encouraging participation with its broadcasts (see the Skills page for more information) and is always seeking new approaches to both content and output. Phonic FM also has a growing relationship with the Sound Gallery studio which is based near the Phonic FM studio and has the facility to broadcast musicians ‘live’ or ‘as live’.

Phonic FM has a five-year license to broadcast on 106.8 FM within a five-kilometre radius of Exeter from its studios at Exeter Phoenix.

The Phonic FM website supports all aspects of the stations output. It has an up to date schedule so you can see when your favourite shows are being broadcast along with presenter and show profiles. The website also has comprehensive news and features sections letting you know about all the important happenings within Phonic FM.

Apart from a few candid reminiscences  about the films and the music scenes in in his home town growing up, Ashley chose three tracks to represent his musical enthusiasms: “Never trust a man with egg on his face” – Adam Ant, “Spellbound” – Siouxsie & the Banshees & “Blackout” – David Bowie.

To listen online go to: http://phonicfm.com/

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.

As the fourth ‘Penny Dreadful‘ animation  ‘The Hairy Hands‘ veers from production into post, Carrion Film took the opportunity to conduct a short candid interview with regular contributor Ed Berry. Ed’s first role was a cameo as the cowardly Fop  in 2008’s award winning ‘Scayrecrow‘ . Impressed by Ed’s enthusiasm and adaptive acting techniques, Director Ashley Thorpe insisted that Ed should take the lead for the follow up: the gothic ghost story ‘The Screaming Skull‘. Now with another lead in ‘The Hairy Hands‘ (and an  H.P Lovecraft inspired twist on a classic Cornish myth  in the pipeline) we gave the silent star a chance to speak…

“I’ve known Ashley for about six or seven years but we lost touch for a long time… and then a few years back we bumped into each other again by chance. He had just got the budget (Exeter Phoenix Project Greenlight) to make ‘Scayrecrow’ and a mutual friend of ours was due to be in it but he had to drop out close to filming, so to fill the slot Ash asked me if I’d like to play The Fop. The funny thing was that the part our mate was meant to play didn’t make it in the final cut and mine did. With ‘Skull’ Ash and his wife to be Sue, were watching a film with a very famous and talented actor in while they were discussing who was going to take the lead for ‘Skull’ and for some reason this actor reminded them of me. So Ash offered me the part. A pretty odd way to get the role. I was surprised because personally I can’t see any resemblance in looks or acting talent on my part to that actor. Who was he? I ain’t gonna say!”

“The one that always comes up is the days shooting we did at The Two Bridges Hotel on Dartmoor for ‘Skull’. There was only three of us –   Ash, Sue and myself. We went up the room along with the tripods and camera’s and lights… which got a couple of odd looks at reception. We got started but the shitty light Ashley was using kept frickin’ dying on us and it needed a good shake to get it going, so Sue asked Ash if he wanted her to ‘waggle it’. And then there was Ash telling me what position he wanted me in, what face to pull while I was in bed, telling me not to do it so quick, me complaining that my foot was stuck and that my trousers were too damn tight around the crotch area. We could hear people walking around the corridors outside who must have wondered what the hell we were doing!

“The biggest thing for me was being able to act some of the longer scenes in almost real time. The more advanced equipment being used has allowed much more freedom. ‘Skull’ was done with painstakingly slow movement and photography but because Spencer was almost robotic it worked very well and it really suited the film. After the first day doing ‘Hands’ I was having motherfucking kittens, big time! Because Ash was using those same methods, but thankfully we were able to shoot the longer scenes much faster. I was deeply relieved because there was a lot of stuff I was able to do that I don’t think I could have done if we used the old methods.”

‘Scayrecrow‘ was to all intent a Hammer style romp, but the last film and indeed the new film – The Hairy Hands – have a darker psychological ambiguity to them…..

“For me ‘Skull’ touches on feelings of isolation, loneliness, anger and someone who is trapped by the circumstances he finds himself in. I think most people can relate to those feelings. Mystery is a very good thing because it keeps the film… the dream going after it’s finished. Confusion is just fucking pretention…”

The past two weeks have seen Penny Dreadful 4 : ‘The Hairy Hands‘ launch into production full throttle; with all of the Dartmoor location shoots complete and a number of the interior car matte shots filmed and subsequently in the rotoscope / animation stage.

Although hampered by illness (on the part of the director) the shoots have gone not only well, but  faster than initially expected. “I’m very happy with our progress” said director Ashley Thorpe, “we’ve not only launched into production but,well, flown into it! It’s a great team. It’s so nice to be surrounded by like-minded people who not only understand the project but are enthusiastic about it. Previous Penny Dreadfuls have been made by an absolute skeleton crew with the majority of the actual production performed by myself and usually one or two others at most. Some days it’s been me , a camera and an actor! Bloody hell, some of ‘Scayrecrow’ was just me and a camera ha ha! This time I’ve been lucky to have  Tom (Atkinson) on board who has not only been present but has mucked in and helped with all the time consuming side of art direction – moving lights about, set-up – the nitty gritty that can all so often devour your time on set.”

” Another aspect that has really sped up the process of creating this one is actually having some genuine locations and vehicles for the actor to ‘interact with’. Although ‘Screaming Skull’ had a number of scenes set on a real location (the bedroom sequences were all filmed at the Two Bridges Hotel) the majority of it was still generated from scratch with the actor added to the shot in post. ‘Scayrecrow’ was almost all done as a matte – as very few of the locations actually existed, they were painted or a collage of things. That also goes for the carriage sequences and any scene involving a horse: Very few people are actually aware of this but at no point did any of the actors physically enter a carriage or sit on a horse, that was all shot at different times in seperate locations and then faked in post. That’s obviously a massive amount of work. This time we at least have a real car for the actor to sit in and real locations. Thankfully I also don’t have to animate anything going off a cliff! “

“Apart from the shoot being very successful in terms of capturing what we want and need, I’m also happy to report that the shoot has been – thus far – tremendous fun! Which is something that I’ve always taken great pride in – that apart from working to a  necessary level of professionalism the process should be spontaneous and above all fun. I’m glad that a larger budget hasn’t effected the creative process at all at this stage and has actually enriched it. However, though the shoots are going even better than planned – we still have a huge amount of work ahead. Though the styles and influences may fluctuate from film to film, I want there to be a line running through my work – a progression – and to achieve that involves a honing of approach and technique. Or in other words I’ve got to work bloody hard.” – Ashley Thorpe

‘The Hairy Hands‘ is currently set for an rough cut hand in date of Halloween 2009 and is on track to be premiered (in final cut) at the ‘Two Short Nights festival‘ 2009 (currently scheduled for early December), full details of which will be posted closer to time of release.

Hitting news-stands this week is issue 2 of Film periodical ‘Filmstar‘ – from the creators of ‘Deathray‘ magazine – which this month features an interview between Thom Hutchinson and Carrion film director Ashley Thorpe.

“For Filmstar’s inaugral choice from the huge and expanding universe of short film, we got talking with Ashley Thorpe, the man responsible for the Penny Dreadful shorts produced by Carrion films…’Scayrecrow‘ is ten minutes of horror and scandal on the 18th – century highway. Made through a painstaking combination of still photography, rotoscoping, hand-drawn art and collage, the result is an expressionist nightmare, partly evocative of Hammer and Amicus productions, thick with period detail…” Filmstar

The article primarily focuses on ‘Scayrecrow‘ – its techniques and influences, but also touches upon the director’s childhood fascination with the genre, the animation techniques and hints at future projects. Here is the full interview in unedited form –

•Many filmmakers make shorts as a stepping stone (both in terms of their technique and their career) on the journey to features. I suspect this isn’t the case with you; these films are so perfectly formed. But do you have feature-length ambitions?

Yeah, absolutely. I never really thought of them as anything other than what they were. I suppose if I distanced myself from them you could see them as being almost ‘animatics’ for a feature project. There were certainly never conceived as such. I like the form of the short, just like I’ve always loved the form of the short story. I think it’s a perfect canvas and also a great training ground. For the time being I aim to continue making Penny dreadful shorts – ‘Spring Heel Jack’ and ‘The Lambton Worm’ being the most significant.

I suppose if the interest came along to develop one of the shorts, then I suppose they could actually be developed in pretty interesting features, and I think that goes for ‘Scayrecrow’ and ‘Screaming skull’. ‘Scayrecrow’ had quite a chunk lopped out of it for time constraints dealing with all sorts of juicy details about Rookwood, his background, crimes and his love for his beau Eleanor, so it could certainly be fleshed out without being stretched thin. As much as I like the idea of developing the shorts to features I’m also a massive fan of the E.C comic thing and the ‘portmanteau’ stlye that had a brief ascendancy in the seventies. Perhaps that’s a way forward. In fact I have a project on the back-burner called ‘Hell-Tor‘ – an anthology of Dartmoor ghost stories…” Ashley Thorpe

‘Filmstar’ issue 2 is out now and available from all good newsagents – £3.99

Continuing to actively promote animation in the region, Animated Exeter has secured a spot at the Glastonbury festival 2009 for films shortlisted for its competitions (reminding all that its work goes beyond the annual fortnight of festival).

Carrion film animation ‘The Screaming Skull‘ is one of  the  films to be shown due to its part in Animated Exeter 2009 and also for being being shortlisted for the Screen out loud 2009 competition (it was also screened as part of ‘The Best of the West‘ this year). The film recently received glowing praise at its screening in New York as part of the ‘Fangoria Weekend of Horrors‘ and is starting to gather interest, and a reputation  within the horror community.

Festival co-ordinator for Animated Exeter, Rosie Jones said: “This is a great result for our festival and a real achievement for many of the local young filmmakers involved.”

At Glastonbury, there will be two 25m square digital screens, back- to- back, which will broadcast a mix of short films, archive footage, gaming sessions, classic pop and highlights of the BBC’s coverage of the Festival from 10.00am to 3.00am every day.

The content has been gleaned from across the UK via the Regional Screen Agencies. 10 hours’ worth will be supplied by artists from the South West, after South West Screen launched a call for content to filmmakers across the region last month. A mixture of short films, animation, documentaries, virals and pop videos were submitted and project co-ordinator, Cathy Gremin from South West Screen was on the panel to draw up the final list. She says:

‘We had a huge amount of content sent in from across the SW so it was a tricky job to whittle it down to just ten hours. The kind of content that will work best has a strong visual impact to be able to stand out against the fairly noisy background of the festival.

‘This is a terrific opportunity for all the filmmakers and content producers, and we’re delighted to be involved. Glastonbury is an iconic festival, which hosts a mixture of arts, but this is the first time there has been a screen programme dedicated to promoting the work of new and emerging filmmakers and games developers.’ – From South West Screen.

‘The Screaming Skull‘ director, Ashley Thorpe – ” I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for local filmmakers and artists…though it has always been famous for being primarily a music festival it’s actually a festival of –  and a showcase for –  all contemporary arts. I mean that’s an audience of what,  150.000 people. Extraordinary really. I have to say though that if I had been partying all weekend, I’m not sure if ‘Screaming skull’ is the first thing I’d want to see, ha ha..”

The Glastonbury festival  is held at Worthy farm, Pilton in Somerset and runs from Wednesday 24th to Sunday the 29th June 2009.

As of June 15th the final draft of the script (assisted by David Bull – a collaborator with Aardman studios) will hopefully be signed off  and budget negotiated (by Producer Tom Atkinson)  to allow the 4th Penny Dreadful animation – ‘The Hairy Hands‘ – to finally commence shooting. Though at time of press… the actual title of the piece is, surprisingly, still in negotiation:

Director, Ashley Thorpe – “South West Screen’ have grand plans for the piece but they’re  worried that by naming the film ‘Hairy Hands‘ – so explicitly based and named on a local legend – it may alienate audiences outside the Devon region. They’ve been pitching for some title like ‘The Hand’ or ‘The Box’. Y’know, I’d rather call it ‘The Creeping Death’ … ha ha. I think they’re missing the point and the source of the appeal. The whole point of these films is to take these obscure tales and to reinvent them so that anyone can enjoy them, regardless of where they come from. The success of ‘Scayrecrow‘ in the U.S and Canada and the interest in ‘The Screaming Skull’ in Japan and Egypt has been proof of that! People have actually been attracted to these films because they’re obscure, they’re different but they’re simultaneously traditional – rich in English heritage and steeped in legend.”

“I guess with SWS they’re nervous possibly because generally new filmmakers tend to look East rather than to their roots and chase trends in a Nathan Barley sort of way… assimilating as much contemporary popular culture as they can to attract attention. This project has pretty much the opposite as its stance and has done since the beginning; its making people re-evaluate tradition, it’s going back to basics  with genuine enthusiasm – it has a streak of punk about it, with a collective ideology that is quite Python… and I guess perhaps that also makes them nervous. Well I’m still optimistic…hopefully fortune will reward the bold.”

Initially pitched to be completed for August 2009, the film will now more realistically be completed for a release date of Halloween ( a year to the day when ‘The Screaming Skull‘ was completed). Although still very much a Carrion film production this film has some marked differences apart from its funding. First and foremost, the film has a Producer independent from the funding source – in the shape of Tom Atkinson; Documentary producer (the award winning ‘Roy of the Rovers‘ recently shown in Cannes, E4 rave ‘The Pantomime‘ and an upcoming groundbreaking secret project). Tom is also the man behind the revolutionary ‘10 pound horror film’ project (see previous posting) and is a lifelong dedicate of the British Horror film. ( A full interview with Tom will follow shortly).

Similar thematically to ‘The Screaming Skull‘ – a film about a man on the run from himself,  ‘The Hairy Hands’ will also star Ed Berry as the lead character Cole. Ed’s first film role was playing the cowardly Fop in ‘Scayrecrow‘. Shortly after completion Ashley Thorpe embarked upon scripting ‘The Screaming Skull’ and though initially a location was the primary concern, a leading man was also a dilemma. It was Sue Tilbrook – who played Eleanor in ‘Scayrecrow‘ – who found the solution. “I was so impressed by Ed’s enthusiasm on ‘Skull’, he was really dedicated… Ed threw himself into it and that enthusiasm invigorated the set. So when it came to casting the lead for ‘Hairy Hands’, it seemed only natural that Ed should be the lead.”

Musical / Sound duties will be performed by constant composer Mick Grierson. Mick has created the soundtracks for all of the Carrion film animations thus far – including ‘Scayrecrow‘ and ‘The Screaming skull’. Mick Grierson had this to say – “The process of building a soundtrack has to start with a gut feeling. I need to be able to to feel what the atmosphere is going to be like for the audience before I can begin. This can come from looking at the script or storyboard, but it’s still a bit of a mystery right up until we start to lay the sound on the images. That’s why I love working with Ash, because this is exactly the freedom that he wants to give me, and I really look forward to those times when we first sit down to do the audio.”

“Where soundtracks are concerned, people tend to split the process in two. There’s Music and there’s Effects – the old fashioned M & E track. I’m not usually in favour of this approach.  I’m not sure what the difference is between the two, as music can have and can be an effect, just as much as sound effects can have thematic value. However, for this type of stuff, you really do need a ‘ tune’ – a starting theme.”

“With a project as big as this, I knew that I needed to get the theme early. I wanted to try some ideas out on Ash and see if any of them stuck. Also, this tends to be the way things work with Ash for some reason – we often have to have an opening first, and this has to be right.” (Editors note: Ashley has commented that the first thing that he always does upon embarking on a new project is to create a poster in the style of the piece, to evoke the mood  and also to illustrate the films look).

“Ash has great taste in music, so it’s good to get an idea of music that he’d like to use. He often brings a couple a key ideas to the table in terms of temp-track material, and we’ve been talking about what the right approach would be. So far, the Carrion Film soundtracks have all been orchestral compositions, but I had a feeling that something different was going to be required – something that had a driving theme but still retained horror overtones. Ash had a couple of great ideas for this. One of them was Hermann’s ‘Psycho’. The other was much more electronic, which I was pleased about, as this was a route we hadn’t gone down before for the Penny Dreadfuls, and I make a great deal of electronic music.”

“So, armed with these ideas, I started to imagine what the opening shots would feel like…a pinch of ‘Lost Highway’, a dash of ‘Fight Club’, industrial electronic beats, the thrashing of Hermann-esque strings against a John Barry guitar line, along side the ‘secret sound of the Hairy Hands’. It’s still coming together, but I think I’m starting to see it now…” Mick Grierson

The film has been written and will be directed by Ashley Thorpe; director of ‘The Vampire, ‘Scayrecrow‘ and ‘The Screaming Skull’. The film was originally planned to be part of the portmanteau feature ‘Hell-Tor’. Scripting was actually under way on ‘Spring heel Jack’ when an offer for funding came through. “‘Spring heel Jack’ was just far too ambitious and complex to try and make under the time demands made by South West Screen, I never would have finished it, the finale is six months work on its own… So I looked to the material that I had that was in development and this just fit perfectly: It  had a limited cast, was set in one location and had a hook that intrigued me – a horror film set in a car, a mobile haunted house if you will.…the original idea has been compromised a little bit, in that the protagonist was going to be an everyman driven to theft because he was desperate, not that he was a ‘villain’.

It was a ‘credit crunch’ morality tale, showing what desperation will drive people to…y’know, as Burroughs said – the face of evil is always the face of total need…Due to the re-writes it’s now a bit more ‘EC Comics’, very ‘Tales from the Crypt’ –  which is not necessarily a bad thing. ” – Ashley Thorpe

Carrion film animations ‘Scayrecrow‘ and ‘The Screaming skull‘ have been officially selected to be shown tonight (Friday 5th June 2009 at 6pm) as part of the ‘Fangoria weekend of Horrors‘ Manhattan, New York.

“Quite literally moving art. I have never seen anything like them…truly original.” – Marla Newborn, Fangoria.

The films are to be shown ‘back to back’ in the film room as part of a 30th Anniversary event that has toured across the United States.

This years guests include Italian horror maestro Dario Argento – ‘Suspiria‘ and ‘Deep Red‘, Tobe Hooper – Director of the legendary ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘, make-up superstar Tom Savini and a signing session with the visionary  Guillermo del Toro – director of ‘The Devils Backbone‘, ‘Hellboy‘ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. There will also be a cast reunion of  Wes Craven’s original ‘Last house on the left‘, ‘Hellraiser‘ – with  Doug Bradley and Ashley Lawrence in attendance and a rare treat to meet a selection of the actors that have donned the mask of Jason Voorhees (Friday 13th)!

“In our continuing efforts to make these events the best that they can be we are introducing our latest cutting edge programming, SINISTER SEMINARS. This is where you can sit in with some of the Industries heaviest hitters for limited attendance 2 hour courses. We intend on covering topics such as writing, directing, scoring, and creating special effects, to name a few. The seminars will be taught by some of the biggest names in the industry, many of whom are currently working on new projects. So don’t miss out!” Some of the filmmakers confirmed for these seminars are Tobe Hooper, Herschell Gordon Lewis and regular Stuart Gordon screenwriter Dennis Paoli.

This is the first time that the animations have been screened as a double-bill and is also the official premiere of the films in the United States. Director Ashley Thorpe had this to say: – “I am absolutely thrilled by the selection. It really is a dream come true I have to say. I’ve read Fangoria since I was about 15 years old …I used to hide them in my English folders, ha ha,  so to have these films screened at such an event is truly amazing. I think it’s incredible how the films have been so utterly embraced by the magazine. I feel very honoured and very lucky. It’s an amazing achievement. These are British independent films after all; films with no distribution, no major stars or advertising, it’s all been word of mouth so far. Incredible. Perhaps the British horror revival really has begun.”

The films, after Marla Newborn’s recommendation, have also been sent to Chicago for a possible future screening and also to L.A for entry in the Fangoria ‘Midnight Madness‘ event. Each week in L.A  a horror feature is shown preceded by a short film. Both ‘Scayrecrow‘ and ‘The Screaming skull‘ have been entered. As soon as details are available about these screenings they will be posted here.

Both films are also contenders to be shown in the ‘Fright Fan Film fest‘ – an online festival currently under construction and due to be launched on www.fangoria.com later in the year.

Ashley Thorpe is currently concluding pre-production on the 4th Penny Dreadful animation – ‘The Hairy Hands’, which is due for completion Halloween 2009. Excerpts and interviews from the ‘Weekend of Horrors’ will be streamed live via www.fangoria .com for the duration of the festival.

FANGORIA WEEKEND OF HORRORS UPDATE 10/6/09

Reaction to the double-bill screening in NYC has been extemely positive, and this time the greatest crowd pleaser proved to be the sombre M.R James / Lovecraft / Poe inspired ‘The Screaming skull‘. Marla Newborn of ‘Fangoria‘ magazine reports: –

“People LOVED your work. The response to ‘The Screaming skull‘ was a notch more intense but you could have heard a pin drop when I ran the first one (‘Scayrecrow‘) because frankly Ashley they are beautiful.” – Marla Newborn, Fangoria magazine.

Ashley Thorpe, and all cast and crew at Carrion Film would therefore like to extend their heartfelt thanks to Marla and to all the organisers, staff and attendees at the festival for their time, dedication and enthusiasm.

To read Marla’s blog visit : http://www.fangoria.com/blogs/marla-newborn.html

Carrion film director Ashley Thorpe is to be interviewed today on the BBC Devon ‘Review show‘ .

Due to the recent flurry of  interest in the animations, namely ‘Scayrecrow‘ ; the Media Innovation Award and it’s entrance in the ‘Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner‘, Review journalist Joe Loosemore will be talking to Ashley regarding the film and his plans for the ongoing ‘Penny Dreadful’ project. The  broadcast has yet to be aired so tune in between 6 and 7pm today (7th May 2009) or visit the website – BBC Devon Review – to hear the full interview.

The following comes from the BBC Devon site: “Radio Devon raises the curtain, strikes a chord, paints the picture and finds the beat with its weekly arts show. The Review showcases the arts in Devon, reflecting everything from film to theatre, dance to music and the visual arts”

“Presented by Jo Loosemore, The Review is BBC Radio Devon’s hour long arts programme – broadcast each Thursday evening between 6pm and 7pm. It focuses on emerging talent in the local music scene, while previewing all the county has to offer at theatres and other venues.”

“We want to give performers and artists a chance to share their work with the widest possible audience,” said Jo.

“If you have an upcoming exhibition or are about to stage a performance please get in touch so we can consider

Jo Loosemoore-BBC Radio Devon

featuring details of your event in the programme.”

The Review takes a look behind the scenes at both professional and amateur theatre productions being staged locally plus mainstream and art-house cinema screenings.

The BBC Radio interview is the culmination of media interest in a week that saw the ‘D & C Film show interview’, an article in the ‘Express & Echo’ and also a piece in Saturday’s  ‘Western Morning News’.

BBC Radio Devon – ‘The Review’ 103.4 FM | 95.7 FM

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LOCAL NEWS UPDATE

On Monday the 18th May the Express & Echo ran an article on the recent UK Film Council winners – Ashley Thorpe and Toby De Burgh, who  curiously enough are both Exeter Phoenix ‘proteges’ and good friends.

The article focuses upon Toby (scientist and engineer and winner of the jury prize in the 2008 ‘Two Short Nights festival‘) and his upcoming production, tentatively titled ‘Undertow‘ and his search for a location.

Toby De Burgh -“The type of place we are looking for is a rural setting with a river that is deep enough and slow moving enough to take a rowing boat.”

“There would need to be  a characterful house, not modern, with a garden on the river with a woodland around it and we would be shooting on set for four days.”

To suggest a suitable location (or answer Toby’s call for actors / extras) email toby@cineonproductions.com

Ashley Thorpe’s UK Film council funded project is to be Penny Dreadful 4: ‘The Hairy Hands‘ – also due to commence filming in June 2009.