Borley Rectory unleashed …

By admin October 23, 2017 March 17, 2018 Carrion Films

After 6 years of development and 3 solid years of animation our first feature length film ‘Borley Rectory’ – featuring the talents of Jonathan Rigby, Reece Shearsmith, Claire Louise Amias, Annabel Bates, Nicholas Vince and Julian Sands to name a few – has been finally released and out upon the world stage to – thus far – rave reviews.

The first screening – albeit not strictly a public event – was held at Simon Drake’s ‘House of Magic’ in London on September 23rd and was attended by the cast, crew, backers aswell as a wealth of genre scholars and enthusiasts including Paul Adams, Eddie Brazil, Stewart Evans, Peter Laws, Neil Spring, Stephen Volk and Empire magazine’s Kim Newman. The event was kindly sponsored by ‘Haunted Magazine’ and was a huge success with the film receiving a overwhelmingly positive response. The screening was followed by a lively Q & A chaired by Simon Drake.

“This film really is all down to Ashley’s perseverence and brilliant skill at creating images that you feel as if you’ve never really seen before. There’s something really ethereal about the film and it’s an immersive experience, it’s part documentary, part almost installation in a weird way, it feels very ‘ghost-like’ and by the end you do feel quite literally haunted. ” – Reece Shearsmith

The first public screening followed with a fantastic screening at GRIMMFEST, held at the Vue Printworks Manchester and sponsored by Horror Channel, wherein the full obsessive detail of the animation and incredible 5.1 surround design by Martin Pavey could truly be appreciated. Festival director Simeon Halligan: “We were proud to present the world premiere of this remarkable and utterly unique film. Over six years in the making, it’s a real labour of love for its creator, Ashley Thorpe; combining traditional filmmaking technique with an elaborate mix of rotoscoping, digital animation and compositing, using a mixture of live action, stills, paintings, and model work, to offer an immersive, atmospheric, and elegantly retro-styled exploration of the Most Haunted House in Britain. Featuring a cast including the League of Gentlemen’s Reece Shearsmith, Julian Sands and Nicolas Vince, it’s an extraordinary cinematic experience. We’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“Thorpe’s vision of the legend is elegant, meticulously cinematic, beautifully spooky, atmospherically enveloping. The detailed and seamlessly inter-woven animation and rotoscope by multi-talented Thorpe is hypnotic, shocking, visually stunning–each shot an artwork. This is a film for film noir lovers as well as haunted house and psycho-horror fans, conjuring up echoes of classic early British horror films like The Innocents, Haunting of Hill House, Psycho. Asks important and unusual questions about what we need from ghosts as well as what they need from us. This film is very, very different. Ken Russell seal of approval.” – Lisi Russell

‘Borley Rectory’ has subsequently had successful screenings at Cinemagic Belfast, Dead of Night Festival Southport (wherein the film has received nominations for ‘Best Feature’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Score’), Folk Horror Revival Edinburgh, the Telluride Horror Show in Colorado (to a packed house) and Brit genre fave Celluloid Screams in Sheffield (with Nicholas Vince also in attendance) with many more screenings to follow before the end of Nov 17 including Buffalo Dreams in New York, Night Of Horror in Sydney and HorrorRama in Toronto. Festival booking are already coming in for 2018. Celluloid Screams director Rob Nevitt: “Ashley Thorpe’s extraordinary film, which is pitched as “an ultrasound of a haunting”: a beautifully realised artifact documenting the house’s various occupants throughout its history, both living and dead. Over six years in the making, Ashley Thorpe’s visually stunning tale of “the most haunted house in England” is unlike any horror film you’ve seen in recent memory. Combining live action, rotoscoping and digital animation techniques, Borley Rectory is a fascinating and enthralling experience that is as haunting as the events it depicts.”

“Those tired of the same old same old from the lower-budgeted end of British horror will find much here to restore the faith. Richly textured, with an extraordinary attention to detail, it’s the kind of film that haunts the memory long after the end credits have rolled in much the same way as the ghosts stalked the real life Rectory.” – Kevin Lyons

“Borley Rectory is not exactly an easy sell – a purposely slow, ponderous unconventionally animated film about a dense narratively convoluted narrative spanning 60 years – so I’m thrilled not only to have got to the end over great adversity, but to be receiving such overwhelmingly positive reaction is a great relief,” says Ashley. “I’m sure that there will be many that won’t like it – it’s certainly a Marmite piece – but the response we’ve received so far is incredible. Due to various issues – including Steven’s health – we only finished the film a few days before that first VIP party so we’ve barely had time to catch our breath before the thing went out into the world, so for it to be so in demand and antiscipated is incredible. We’ve barely started to even push it to a wider audience but it’s already had a dozen screenings lined up. This is just the beginning and I’m excited for the projects future. A victory for everyone involved and all that had the faith to suport it from the start.”

Ashley Thorpe BBC Spotlight Borley Rectory

Director Ashley Thorpe interviewed on BBC Spotlight

On November 6th 2017 Ashley Thorpe was interviewed for BBC Spotlight and the subsequent primetime feature broadcast both insights into the projects creation and its hardships, projected festival appearances aswell as a selection of clips from the film bringing further exposure to the much antiscipated feature. ‘Borley Rectory’ has already clocked up an impressive 7 award nominations (including Best Director, Best Feature and Best Score) and won ‘Best Animated Feature’ and ‘Special Achievement in Cinema’ at the Buffalo Dreams Festival New York as well as ‘Best Documentary’ at MidWest WerdFest Wisconsin in March 2018.

With the film now touring International festivals Carrion Film will now also be looking into sales and distribution, and with a number of offers already received, we are quietly confident that Borley Rectory will available for wide release / retail sale in 2018.

Borley Rectory – Trident & Beyond

By admin September 26, 2016 September 27, 2016 Borley Rectory, Carrion Films

The narration for ‘Borley Rectory’ has concluded at the world famous Trident Studios in London, home to recordings by David Bowie, Queen, Frank Zappa and The Beatles.

The recording session featured VO work for key sections of the narrative by Julian Sands, Reece Shearsmith, Jonathan Rigby and Steve Furst and featured dialogue culled from genuine newspaper articles and accounts contemporary of the haunting’s investigation. The recordings also mark the end of the cast audio recordings leaving essentially only the final animation, sound mix (by Ben Wheatley’s regular sound artist Martin Pavey) and score (composed by Seven Severin) remaining before the long delayed production will finally see the light of day.

Production update

Originally ‘Borley Rectory’ was destined for completion around February 2016. Reasons for the ongoing delays this past 12 months have been numerous (including Steven Severin’s serious illness during the first half of the year) but are explained here by Director Ashley Thorpe as posted recently via social media:

“I’ve had a number of messages from various interested parties (well wishers and not so well wishers) as to the progress of Borley Rectory and the situation is essentially this:

I was initially hoping for the animation to be finished early 2016 but redundancy at the beginning of the year followed by serious family illnesses (in both my 2 year old daughter and then my Father) and subsequently a huge downturn in my income over the following months has put great pressure on me to turn my focus towards paid work of any kind just to financially survive. The project has been scuttled by circumstance and austerity. But not sunk. Life gave our family a good fucking kick in this year but we’re not beaten yet.

I’m still working on Borley each night (once my young daughter is asleep) but progress has sadly slowed the past few months. The situation hasn’t gotten any better so for the time being – though animation continues (in fact seeing it crawling to completion is one of the few things that maintains any semblance of morale) – I still can’t give a definite date as to when Borley will be complete. I can only apologise for the ongoing delay and hope you can sympathise with the reasons behind it. I will get there.

As Julian Sands once said to my Dad “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.” – Ashley Thorpe

So for the foreseeable future the animation continues (albeit at a slightly compromised rate) so to be ready for the sound mix and scoring later in the year or early next year. All available perks have been despatched with only the production reliant perks remaining (ie the vinyl scores and links / DVD’s of finished film) remaining. All updates can be found via the Carrion Film Facebook page.

Thank you for your patience and support!

Borley Rectory Returns!

By admin October 30, 2014 November 2, 2014 Borley Rectory, Carrion Films

Happy Halloween…It’s time to raise a few more ghosts! Yes, deep into production, we are once again calling upon the kindness of strangers to secure the remaining budget to finish the shooting of Borley Rectory.

A great deal has happened since the previous crowdfunder in 2013. The films cast is now all but complete and what a cast it is with new members Steve Furst, Sally Mortemore, Richard Strange and Sabrina Dickens joining Reece Shearsmith, Jonathan Rigby, Nicholas Vince and Julian Sands.

“Looks wonderful – Neil Gaiman”

We’ve had huge support for the film from a variety of sources none perhaps more prestigious than the recent affiliation with the curators of the British Library and the ‘Terror and Wonder’ Gothic exhibition no less (look out for a number of fantastic and exclusive videos from the exhibition to be released throughout the campaign!). If you’ve ever wondered how serial killer aficionado Reece Shearsmith would react to being face to face with an original Ripper letter…stay tuned!

“Absolutely beautiful … mesmerising” Reece Shearsmith

Exclusive clips from the completed scenes have been leaked (well…mailed out like Ripper kidney parcels) to a number of major Horror Festivals (so keep your peepers peeled folks as they won’t be announced…) and a lengthy section will be hosted online by Fangoria. International festivals are already begging for the film (or sections of it) to screen and an upcoming indie studio has been in contact with us to seriously discuss the possibility of turning Borley Rectory into a feature…

“Absolutely STUNNING!” Axelle Carolyn

But first we need to get these shoots financed and to do that we need you! Have a look at the campaign page, watch the video, drool over the phenomenal perks (be warned devoted supporters we will be rolling out a wealth of special feature rewards throughout the campaign) and have your heart melted by Carrion Film’s newest member – little Lily Wednesday.

Borley Rectory is rising…Campaign runs from Oct 31st until December 14th. Help us raise a few more ghosts! SUPPORT NOW!

Great British Horror are also printing 2 exclusive t-shirts to support the campaign. The 2 designs (both original artwork by Fangoria cover artist Ashley Thorpe) are in full colour and feature a back print!

Profits from the sale of the T-shirts will go towards the Borley Rectory Indiegogo campaign.

Terror & Wonder at the British Library

By admin October 9, 2014 October 30, 2014 Borley Rectory, Carrion Films

As part of the new Borley Rectory Indiegogo campaign (launching Halloween 2014) Carrion Films were invited ‘VIP’ to explore the new fantastic ‘Terror and Wonder’ Gothic exhibition at the British Library.

In attendance were Director Ashley Thorpe, Producers Tom Atkinson and Alice Bonasio and two of the film’s stars – Reece Shearsmith and Jonathan Rigby. Within a number of interviews were conducted; a discussion with curator Tanya Kirk on the Borley Rectory exhibits and the legends influence on supernatural literature in the 20th century, a focus on the notorious ‘Dear Boss’ Ripper letter and finally an informal discussion with Reece and Jonathan on ghosts stories and their personal fascination with the genre.

The first videos will premiere on Halloween with subsequent short films rolling out throughout the Indiegogo campaign so be sure to keep an eye on the campaign for exclusive content!

First Borley Rectory Shoot complete!

By admin May 23, 2014 October 30, 2014 Borley Rectory, Carrion Films

It’s been a long time coming but thanks to everyone that supported the 2013 Indiegogo campaign cameras finally started rolling today on Carrion Films latest venture – BORLEY RECTORY!

Budget shortfalls necessitated revisions of the production plan and calls for further funding / sponsorship but shooting commenced May 23rd 2014 at the VFX Co London with primary cast members Jonathan Rigby (who will be portraying Harry Price), Reece Shearsmith (portraying journalist Vernon Wall) and Claire Louise Amias (portraying the wife of the Reverend Smith) capturing such iconic scenes as the discovery of the skull in the library, the first ghostly stakeout and the writing of the first newspaper report that led to the Rectory’s notoriety.

The day was a fantastic success finishing on budget and on time and – as the on set pix are testament to – the day was a lot of fun aswell. Now the long process of animation begins!

Invest in Borley Rectory

By admin April 15, 2014 June 16, 2014 Borley Rectory

We’re looking for local businesses to invest in the production of ‘Borley Rectory – The Most Haunted House in England’.

We’ve raised the funds to facilitate the initial shoots – commencing on the 20th May in London – but we need further funding to carry this ambitious production to completion.

Be part of a film starring Reece Shearsmith

The film will star Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No 9, The Widower and forthcoming ITV drama Chasing Shadows), Jonathan Rigby (Kenneth Horne in BBC production ‘Round the Horne Revisited’, Horror Historian, author of English Gothic), Richard Strange (Batman, Inkheart, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Claire Louise Amias (Provoked, Telling Lies, Women of Twilight), Sally Mortemore (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, A Cake for Mabel) Steve Hurst (Little Britain, Legend of Dick and Dom, Wuthering Heights), Sabrina Dickens (Night of the Living Dead Resurrection, Silent Night Deadly Night) and many others yet to be announced.

The film will feature a narration by Julian Sands (Naked Lunch, Warlock, Smallville, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and an original soundtrack by Steven Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Vampyr).

We raised enough via an Indiegogo campaign in 2013 to begin production and shoot key scenes but will still need to source further sponsorship / investment to facilitate the completion and post-production of this ambitious project. We’re reaching out to potential investors. Could you join us at the most haunted house in England and raise a few ghosts?

“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 repertoire…” Julian Sands

Reach a global audience with Borley Rectory

“You’d be investing in a film with guaranteed international exposure. Our previous animated films were screened at major events such as the Cannes Film Festival, Raindance, the National Media Museum, various horror festivals across the United States and Canada, Sydney film festival and the Animacam animation festival in Rio to name just a few. You’d receive a prominent credit; your name seen alongside such industry names as Reece Shearsmith and Julian Sands. It’s a great opportunity to support a local creative venture while reaching a global audience, and we’re welcoming contributions from both small and large companies, so if you’re interested in participating please contact either myself or my producer Tom Atkinson.” – Director Ashley Thorpe

Teaser trailer for ‘Borley Rectory’

Contact us

Reece Shearsmith and Jonathan Rigby join Borley Rectory

By admin September 1, 2013 October 25, 2013 Carrion Films

The ‘Borley Rectory’ Indiegogo fundraiser is over…the project is just beginning.

It’s been an amazing journey aboard the ghost train the past few weeks hasn’t it? Although we may not have reached the target goal, for a Devon based tiny production unit we’ve had phenomenal support across the horror and film community, all keen to see the story of the most haunted house in England finally told on film.

“The project oozes as much quality as it does evil. Borley Rectory is one of the great ghost stories. I needed to be part of it.” – REECE SHEARSMITH

We’ve talked the ‘Business of Ghosts’ with multi-award winning writer Stephen Volk. We’ve talked ghost tours with Best British Horror editor and Pan Horror historian Johnny Mains. We’ve been the talk of both Fangoria and Rue Morgue radio and had donations and sincere support from luminaries such as Neil Gaiman, Derren Brown, Neil Marshall, Axelle Carolyn, Richard Stanley and Britian’s greatest living poster artist Graham Humphreys. But among the leaps of faith to come out of the campaign there were a number of astonishing yet rather natural bits of casting. Fistly actor / writer Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Psychoville, next years Inside No.9 and most recently Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England) has joined the cast of BORLEY RECTORY.

Reece Shearsmith will be portraying V.C Wall, the Daily Mirror journalist that broke the story of the haunting to the world. Director Ashley Thorpe – “I’d been in correspondence with Reece (third party) for a Fangoria article to support Paul Davis’ ‘Him Indoors’ (featured at Frightfest 2012). He’s someone that I’ve always had enormous admiration for. He’s a damn good actor. Although he’s mainly known for his comedy grotesques with LOG he’s a natural performer. Just look at his performance in ‘Eric and Ernie’ as the father. Great subtlety and emotional resonance. When I launched the campaign I saw that Reece had been retweeting messages and so I thanked him, then knowing that he was a huge fan of the subject plucked up the courage to ask him if he’d like to actually be in it. Reece to my astonishment said that he’d be honoured. “

“Haunted houses are always worth supporting, especially the big one!” – Jonathan Rigby

Any film about Borley Rectory wouldn’t be complete without Harry Price , the casting of whom could have been something of a nightmare and yet Ashley explains the solution came easily. “I was watching ‘Tales from behind the crypt’ a documentary on the League of Gentlemen and how their Christmas specials were heavily indebted to the Amicus portmanteau and Jonathan Rigby was just there and was just perfect,” explains the director, “I suddenly thought, that’s it! Jonathan would be an amazing Price. Once again I just asked him and miraculously he said yes! It’s incredible really. It’s been a huge amount of effort and mucking around to try and raise a bloody production budget and yet an A-list cast are coming together effortlessly!”

Hammer horror / Amicus historian / enthusiast and author of the seminal study of English horror ‘English Gothic‘ Jonathan was also a consultant on the Mark Gatiss BBC productions ‘A History of Horror‘ and ‘Horror Europa‘ and is a regular presence on Hammer releases. “I know that Jonathan will be amazing as Price, in fact when I told Reece Shearsmith that I’d approached him Reece simply said ‘Perfect.‘”

Although the Indiegogo didn’t reach its ideal target the production will be going ahead and all perks most assuredly honoured. “When I initially searched for funding I created three budgets; an ideal, a midway and a sticky tape and brown paper – no frills ‘Screaming Skull’ kind of budget. We’re already looking at a budget greater than both ‘Skull’ and ‘Scayrecrow’ so I know through experience that we can make something, although as a far more ambitious project production – not quality – will be compromised to a certain extent. Ideally we could do with more, so I will be looking to source extra ‘top-up’ funds privately. The Indiegogo campaign may be over but we’re certainly still open to contributions and investment. I’m keen to get started!”

So from everyone at Carrion Film HUGE thanks to all the backers, thank you for every tweet / shared FB update, to everyone who sent messages of support or covered the campaign via interviews etc. You’ve all been ‘PHENOMENAL’!

If you have any questions regarding subsequent donations towards the film or investment options please contact the production team via info at carrionfilms dot co dot uk.

Steven Severin joins Borley Rectory

By admin May 12, 2013 October 25, 2013 Carrion Films

Now that the official launch date for the BORLEY RECTORY fundraiser has been revealed – 27th June 2013 – we can proudly reveal that legendary artist STEVEN SEVERIN has joined the project.

STEVE SEVERIN – 1st. Banshee, Film composer/silent movie accompanist – is best known for being the founding member of hugely influential group Siouxsie and the Banshees, being an essential contributor to the bands output from their very first single ‘Hong Kong Garden’.

Taken from director Ashley Thorpe’s recent FANGORIA article on Severin: “Siouxsie and the Banshees never belonged to the comic book world of punk. Their iconoclasm was no mere pose. Indeed by 1978, when the so called ‘movement’ had imploded, The Banshees revealed themselves to be perhaps the most inventive group to have emerged from the punk undergrowth. Constantly leap-frogging their contemporaries they defied easy definition; influenced by Hitchcock (Hermann’s shower scene score was famously used to audition guitarists), the introspective fractured personalities of Poe and avant-garde cinema as much as Bowie and Iggy, The Banshees created an assured exploratory knife-edge culture of their own.

It is perhaps no surprise then that founding member Steven Severin should ‘post-Banshees’ return almost exclusively to his love of cinema (‘Voices’ Severin’s haunting B-Side to ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was influenced by a viewing of ‘The Haunted Palace) and compose a series of alternate scores to the obscure and wonderful performed live, a project initially christened ‘Music for Silents’…“

Director Ashley Thorpe – “Steven and I has been talking about the possibility of the score since we first met during a review of his ‘Vampyr’ tour. I’ve always worked with Mick (Grierson) on pretty much everything I’ve made since University, so it initially felt very strange to even entertain the notion of working with anyone else. Even though The Banshees are absolutely one of my favourite bands. However Steven remained dead keen even after the long production hiatus and a combination of circumstances and Micks academic responsibilities just really made this partnership at this time an obvious choice. I couldn’t be happier really, it’s very exciting to be working with Steven and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can create together.”

The INDIEGOGO campaign will begin on the 27th June 2013, the anniversary of when Harry Price made his initial investigations. The scheme will run for a month and will feature a wealth of exclusive incentives, autographed items and feature a series of short documentaries examining both Borley itself and the tradition of British hauntings featuring a variety of very special guests.

Tag: harry price