POSITIVELY HORROR INTERVIEWS LIAM REGAN

While Eating Miss Campbell is tearing it up on the festival run, Writer and Director Liam Regan was kind enough to answer a few questions for Positively Horror. Please enjoy the full interview below:

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your relationship with the genre?

I was a video shop kid, so everytime my mum took me inside the video rental store, I would be summoned to the horror section. Not sure what I was being summoned by, more than likely the gnarly video cover artwork. I remember picking up a rental VHS of A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, and admiring Graham Humphrey's artwork. 

What was your introduction to horror, and at what age?

I must have only been around five years old when I was peering down from our staircase, whilst my Mum was watching Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) the movie disturbed me, and I'll never forget that moment. 

Your new film Eating Miss Campbell is going down a treat on the festival circuit at the moment, could you tell us a bit about the film and your inspiration behind it? 

Thanks, it seems to be playing festivals all over at the moment, which I'm truly grateful for, especially in Europe, they seem to love screening the film. However, I do love reading the divisive reviews for the movie, the film certainly seems to be splitting audiences down the middle, and for me, the best type of creative endeavours (in any genre) should always strive to do that, especially independent films. I don't want to come off as pretentious by calling the movies that I make as "art", but I truly believe that independent horror/comedy should be provocative, dangerous and most of all... fun! 

The UK indie horror scene is absolutely booming with great work from people like Mycho, Charlie Steeds and Dark Rift Horror to name just a few. How does it feel to be part of this great time for UK indie cinema?

I love it! It's such a movement to be reckoned with! And it's also great when film festivals such as FrightFest in London, Dead Northern in York and The Dead of Night Film Festival in Southport champion local and homegrown talent. 

You delight as much in the bad reviews as the good for your work, which is a great attitude to have. Did it take time to get to that point or have you always had that mindset? 

I'm still wrestling with that attitude, I remember the world premiere of Eating Miss Campbell at FrightFest in London, it was a jam packed sold out screening, everyone laughing and cheering, so the general consensus was that people enjoyed the movie, it was possibly the greatest evening of my life, surrounded by some of my closest friends. I returned back to my hotel room at around 3am the following morning, sitting on the toilet seat, and decided to look at the reviews on Letterboxd and IMDb, which was a HUGE mistake! However, when the online reviewers give you sour lemons, you have no other choice, but to make the sweetest nectar of lemon juice that's ever touched a human being's taste buds!  

What is your favourite horror trope?

Hmm, my favourite horror trope? Well, I love horror movies where inanimate objects come to life and kill, so the killer doll sub-genre, which also includes puppets, etc. So the majority of movies from Full Moon Pictures and the Child's Play films too! 

What is something you'd like to see more of in the future in the genre? 

More envelope pushing, and taking risks. I think cinema can be too safe these days, I always tend to gravitate to movies that are no holds barred. 

Who are some of your favourite people working in the genre at the moment?

I'm going to forget someone, but I do wanna shout out Vito Trigo who plays Mr. Sawyer in both My Bloody Banjo and Eating Miss Campbell, the guy is a powerhouse of a performer. I've never met a talent with that much dedication and passion, in bringing a character to life, if I know Vito is in a movie, I'll watch that film, just for his performance alone, he's such a sweetheart of a human being too! 

And are there any other projects you're involved with that you'd like to talk about? 

Right now we're just working the festival circuit and screening Eating Miss Campbell at film festivals worldwide. I'm looking at launching my UK Blu-ray and DVD distribution label next year "Refuse Films", we'll be releasing My Bloody Banjo: Director's Cut domestically, along with a newly acquired feature length movie titled I Need You Dead! 

Thank you again to Liam for the great interview. Please check out the link below to keep up to date on his work:

https://refusefilms.bigcartel.com/products

POSITIVELY HORROR INTERVIEWS LYNDSEY CRAINE

I recently got the chance to ask Lyndsey Craine some questions about the genre, and the upcoming How to Kill Monsters,  which has a kickstarter running right now. Please enjoy the full interview below. 

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your relationship with the genre?

I’ve been acting in independent horror movies for a few years now and really enjoying it. I’ve been fortunate to work across all different types of horror which has been really fun and challenged me in many ways. My love of the horror genre has definitely grown in recent years, I used to be scared of almost every horror film going but having been in them, I’m a little less scared now! 

What was your introduction to horror, and at what age?

I was always scared of pretty much every horror as a kid! I think I must have been about 12 and the first horror movie I saw and actually enjoyed was Scream, it was most likely the style of that movie that made me enjoy it so much. It still scared me though! It’s my favourite horror franchise to this day. I love those films!

The kickstarter for How to Kill monsters has just gone live, can you tell us a bit about the film and the character you're playing? 

The film is based around Jamie, the sole survivor of a blood drenched massacre at a cabin in the woods, after claiming her friends were eaten by a horrific monster summon by a ritual gone wrong, she is arrested and locked up for a crime she didn’t commit. However, Jamie’s claims of innocence were of course all real and the police station is attacked by a horde of Lovecraftian monsters. Jamie teams up with a bunch of rookie cops and law breakers to fight back against the monsters. Think Evil Dead 2 meets Hot Fuzz!

I play the character of Jamie who is clearly quite naive in thinking a ritual at a cabin in the woods would go well! She has to stand up for herself against all odds and prove to everyone what she has just survived is real so you can imagine the scenarios she gets herself into. I don’t want to give too much away but she was so much fun to play and I can’t wait for you to see what she has to face in the film and the characters she meets. It’s certainly a rollercoaster of a ride for Jamie!

The UK indie horror scene is absolutely booming with great work from people like Mycho, Charlie Steeds and dark rift to name just a few. How does it feel to be part of this great time for UK indie cinema?

Firstly, thank you for saying I am a part of this! Yes it’s a fantastic time for indie horror, there are so many brilliant filmmakers out there, having been at Frightfest in London recently it was incredible to see the work people are producing for features and shorts. It’s great to see this work getting out there, I think after Covid everyone is so keen to get back to making movies. I hear that more people are wanting to jump to make their first feature films or finding creative ways to bring their film ideas to life on really small budgets and I find it so inspiring to see. To even be considered as part of this means a lot.

What draws you to acting in the horror genre? 

It’s honestly just so much fun! I think aswell, there are so many different sub genres within the horror genre so it’s great to explore those. With horror comedy for example, you can make something really scary, gory or dark but you will have that comedy aspect to pull you back to the light heartedness of the film and I think it’s fun to be able to work with both of those and almost play them off each other. It does come with a side of getting extremely messy if there’s fake blood involved, which seems to be the case in the majority of films I’ve been apart of! 

What is your favourite horror trope?

The final girl! I’ve been fortunate to play the final girl in a few of my films so it’s helped me out in terms of researching character traits. It’s always so fun to watch their journey through the film too. I also enjoy the inspecting a strange noise outside when they shouldn’t, because who doesn’t love spotting that one in movies!

What is something you'd like to see more of in the future in the genre? 

I think there has been some great strong female leads emerging in horror recently and I would love to see that continue!

Who are some of your favourite people working in the genre at the moment?

Firstly Dark Rift Horror! After their success with Book of Monsters it’s so exciting to see them back again with their Kickstarter for How to Kill Monsters. They are the most incredible team to work with, they have so much passion for their work. I always feel so lucky to work with them. I’ve recently worked with Liam Regan on Eating Miss Campbell which got to premiere at Frightfest which was just incredible. I’ve recently worked with Relic Films UK on a feature and they are a fantastic film company and definitely ones to look out for. There is also Tony Hipwell and Miles Watts who I worked with on a really fun film called Zomblogalypse! As mentioned earlier, having been to Frightfest I got the chance to meet so many incredible filmmakers and I could be writing an essay with how many I could mention that are doing fantastic work right now.

And are there any other projects you're involved with that you'd like to talk about?

My latest film Eating Miss Campbell is doing the festival run at the moment, it had its world premiere at Frightfest which was fantastic. I have a few more films coming up too which is really exciting!

Thank you to Lyndsey for the great interview.  To back How to Kill Monsters follow the link below:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stewartsparke/how-to-kill-monsters-a-horror-comedy-feature-film?ref=project_link