There is something about the gritty and grim setting of Old Blightly that is just begging for malevolent monsters. THE TORMENT, released on DVD on 9th August 2010, brings these monsters to what would have been a dull low budget kitchen sink drama, adds in some fake blood and an unexplained supernatural presence, to tell the tale of a modern day haunting.
The film focuses on David, who takes advantage of his friends Alex and Katie when he turns up at their flat in the middle of the night with a story about his girlfriend leaving him. Feeling sorry for him they let him stay, but as his behaviour becomes stranger and stranger the truth behind his sudden arrival is exposed. The consequences lead to a battle to survive the demons that haunt David.
SCI-FI-LONDON was lucky enough to grab a few minutes with the film’s Producer and Co-Director Steve Isles to ask a few questions about this new British supernatural shockumentary.
Steve Isles: The film was actually written a few years ago as a narrative feature, a horror thriller. The filming technique owes more stylistically to films shot in a documentary-like way rather than being "found footage". So it's more like Hidden or Gomorrah than Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity. Specifically it's all hand-held, to add immediacy, plus the use of POV, to put the viewer into the experience.
SFL: How much research did you do into other mockumentaries and first-person films? Do you have any favourites?
SI: Stylistically films like [REC] are very exciting, but The Torment uses some more conventional cinematic grammar as well as the first person POV shooting, so research was pretty broad. We used no CGI, just special effects, since we wanted the actors to really react to things, not a green screen. It was really "old-school".
SFL: How do you pick projects?
SI: A compelling story, and a great script. It was a super scary script, that reminded me of some of the classic horrors I love, and that was do-able within the budget I envisaged.
SFL: Are you a massive horror fan? What is it about the genre that appeals to you?
SI: Yes, it has always appealed. I like stories about the supernatural; I'd like to believe in an after-life. Also it's the only genre that really provokes a visceral reaction: heart racing, pulse pounding, you can make people scream!
SFL: Picking the supernatual as a theme for your work - I hear you're skeptical about the supernatural, so why pick something "inspired by true events"?
SI: Real "inexplicable" events are a great source on which to base fictional ones.
SFL: Have you had any direct experience of supernatural phenomena?
SI: Once I was staying in a friend's old house in Kent, I was woken by a loud rustling sound in the bedroom. I froze, as you would, and listened. The rustling moved about, and carried on for about 5 minutes, then suddenly stopped. In the morning I told my friend, and he said "oh we've not heard that one in years, but people say there's an Elizabethan lady who walks in that room at night".
SFL: How did you get the performances you wanted out of the cast?
SI: They all brought their experience, and really got into the story and the characters. Rehearsing prior to filming was important. One of the actors lived at the set for the entire shoot!
SFL: We all heard the stories about Blair Witch and how they treated the cast - did you have any warm-ups, traditions or special superstitions on set during the shoot?
SI: They watched a steady diet of Japanese, Korean, French, and US horror movies for several nights in a row. We shot at night, to get them in the mood. It's all in one location, so it got pretty intense at times.
SFL: Giles Alderson, who plays David O'Reilly was an actor on Lonelygirl15 - a YouTube series that went viral in 2006 and gained some controversy when it was outed as fictional. Did his participation in that particular project influence you when casting?
SI: No - he auditioned and just really nailed it. Super-talented! They all came through auditions, and I have to say they were the only people who could have delivered those performances. They were just tremendous!
SFL: At the moment film-makers and internet distribution is something of a sticking point, mainly due to piracy. Music distribution is becoming more grass-roots through bypassing studios and alternative models of distribution like 'pay what you think it is worth'. Do you see film going the same way? Is this a model you will ever adopt?
SI: I think the music biz is different because they have a live market to help them. CD's, and music downloads are really a marketing tool to shift concert tickets and sell merchandise. With film, it's one watch and it's over, there's no live equivalent. I'm sure people generally don't watch a DVD then go to see the same film at a cinema. Some people are trying crowd-sourced funding to make films, but not many. Pay what you like seems very fair, but as mentioned it's really more a marketing tool.
SFL: With the UK government’s announcement about the UK Film Council being abolished, how confident are you in the UKs independent film industry?
SI: I read somewhere recently that the UK is a leader in Europe in music and book publishing, neither of which have a government-funded council, whereas film languishes behind. The Film Council funds films the committee likes. It's a government body, not a market. I believe that films that have commercial appeal will get made, sold and seen. As companies have success that way, the film industry in general will grow, and the resources generated can then fund other less commercial endeavours.
SFL: What you do see as the future for filmmakers like yourself?
SI: I think the desire to create is always going to be there, so filmmakers who are tenacious and inventive will succeed on a big or small scale. Coming up with stories that people really want to see is still going to be the trick!
Join the official Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103092416412533
Follow THE TORMENT on Twitter @TheTormentMovie
Watch the US trailer at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF3XrzI9ROA
Running Time 87 Minutes.
Directed by Andrew Cull and Steve Isles.
Starring Giles Alderson, Zoe Richards, Nicholas Shaw, Francesca Fowler.
THE TORMENT is available now on DVD from www.play.com