Month: December 2008

‘Spring heel Jack’ has been announced as the next animated short to be produced by Carrion film. As with previous Penny Dreadfuls ‘Scayrecrow’ and ‘The Screaming Skull’ , it will be written and directed by Ashley Thorpe with Mick Grierson providing score and sound design.

Initial teaser art suggests that like the previous entries ‘Spring heel Jack’ will simultaneously faithfully adapt essential aspects of the legend whilst embracing often surprising thematic elements drawn from the period.

“The thing that got me excited about ‘SHJ’ is that the character represents for me a shadowy blend of the Jack the Ripper mythos, Mr Hyde and everything good and gothic about Batman. He’s a character that started off as a Victorian boogeyman and then ironically ended up being transformed by the Penny Dreadfuls into a embryonic superhero. It’s at once a classic piece of English gothicism and a template for pretty much every comicbook character that followed. What I’m attempting to do with this telling is to take aspects of SHJ as boogeyman and hero and present a kind of complex ‘super anti-hero’; a man at the mercies of his darker self.”

“SHJ also gives me the chance to create a set-piece on the rooftops of a city, something I’ve been looking for an excuse to do since discovering ‘The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari’ as a teenager…When I was a child I was convinced that there were these shadowy creatures that lived on the roofs of our street, and when I walked home at night these things would chase me…sprinting across the terrace roofs between the chimneys…and those images, those fears came back to me when I started researching this character…the super hero aspect will definitely be there, it will still have that pulp penny dreadful aspect but I guarantee this to be the darkest, most gothic interpretation of this legend so far…  “ Ashley Thorpe.

Spring-heeled Jack was a popular figure in the nineteenth and early twentieth century and was characterised by his ability  to evade capture by making extraordinary leaps; over walls or across open spaces. The initial attacks occurred between 1837-1838 and eyewitnesses described him as an ‘unearthly warrior’ with ‘spring shoes’ and ‘clawed gloves’. His eyes were described as ‘burning like hot coals’ and once confronted he would breathe blue flame at his victims. The attacks captured the publics imagination and as the complaints poured in to newspapers and local officials, vigilante groups were formed and police patrols set up but no-one was ever apprehended.

In fiction he remained a villain until in the 1870’s when George A Sala radically reshaped the legend making him a nobleman cheated of his inheritance, a ‘caped crusader’ using his superhuman abilities and gadgets to bring the wicked to justice.

For further information on the Spring-heeled Jack legend see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Heeled_Jack and http://www.blackcatpress.co.uk/Spring_Heeled_Jack_Page.htm

The third animation in the Penny dreadful project ‘The Screaming skull‘ has had its UK premiere at the seventh annual ‘Two short nights‘ festival, hosted by the Exeter Phoenix arts centre.

Seven films were screened in total, each written and directed by film makers based in the south west. The films screened were : ‘Man-cub‘ by Tom Austin, ‘The Simple lies experiment‘ by David Salas, ‘The Surrogates‘ by Vicki Smith, ‘Untitled Dystopia‘ by Martin LeJeune, ‘Making the difference‘ by Andrew Oxley and the nights showcase winner the powerful ‘Distraction‘ by Toby and Lucy DeBurgh. For further details visit: www.phoenixmedia.org.uk/twoshortnights08/commissions.php

The evening was full to capacity, selling out weeks in advance and was attended by Director, Producer and writer Don Boyd. Described by Alexander Walker as a “one man film industry” Don Boyd has significantly influenced the face of British cinema since the mid-seventies. After entering the industry as a director, at the age of 26 he formed his own production company which he made a bastion for young British talent.

He has been involved, in various capacities, with such projects as ‘Scum‘ by Alan Clarke, ‘The Great Rock n Roll Swindle‘ by Julien Temple and numerous collaborations with Derek Jarman. Boyd has gone on record as  saying that he likes to see himself as ‘a director-orientated audience-conscious film-marketing editor’, and has proved himself to be unquestionably committed to indigenous British cinema.

‘The Screaming skull‘ played top of the bill, making a chilling finale to the nights screenings.

For ‘Screaming Skull’ trailer click here: screaming-skull-trailer B