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| Charlie Steeds - you missed a bit. |
The democratisation of the film making process -
conferring the ability to make movies from the privileged few to, well anyone
with a couple of hundred quid, a decent computer and some time on their hands -
has revolutionised filmmaking in a way not seen since a group of chancers
patented movie making equipment and started churning out silent films nearly
130 years ago.
But of course, as in all things technically achievable, just
because you can make films doesn't always mean you should. The 'pages' of this
website are testament to that, and the 'Dark Eyes of London' soubriquet in part
refers to those wee hours in which I have sat through sometimes atrocious
examples of independent filmmaking without art or purpose.
But every so often there shines a diamond in the (light)
rough, and this week's bit of movie mining presents, for your consideration,
one Charlie Steeds.
Steeds is the director of six released features and a large
number of short films, with a further two full length movies in post-production
and one announced - and, astoundingly, all in the last six years. I've been privileged enough
to see many of these and what struck me, even though Steeds is a director still
learning his craft (and working with growing budgets), is the consistency of
vision and attention to detail in his films. Shooting on locations as diverse as
Finland and France, with his band of regulars (on both sides of the camera), the
young filmmaker is a force to be reckoned with.
So join me in a survey of Steeds’ films, with comments from
the man himself taken from a recent interview I did with him.
Charlie Steeds graduated from film school at the age of 21
with a desire to make movies. Besotted with the works of Stephen King, and with
a voracious appetite for horror movies, it's perhaps no surprise at the
direction his filmmaking would take him.
Charlie recalls:
“I remember what got me hooked on horror on the small screen: many Stephen King
mini-series like Rose Red, Salem’s Lot, Storm of the Century, It… these
are what fuelled my love of horror. King’s stories are always vast, with such
depth to them, and a mini-series allows them to develop over a longer runtime.
Great horror should have great drama, so that’s why I love King and love the
mini-series format. I’d love to make one, something between 180 to 210 minutes,
that’s ideal. I think this is why my first two horror films (Escape From Cannibal
Farm and The House of Violent Desire) were so long - both over 115 minutes in
their 1st cuts - and not ideal for direct-to-DVD horror.”
I asked him about his film school years. “I went to Met Film School in Ealing
Studios. It was a very fun two years and I had a blast as a student, although the
classes were frustrating in many ways. They did their best to prevent me from
shooting films outside of class…don’t go to film school! The teachers were
awful, deluded. These days you can buy DVDs with great commentaries and behind
the scenes featurettes, everything you need to know is there, everything! Go
buy a camera and try it out, that’s cheaper than film school.”
God Will Fall
(2014)
While 2014's 37 minute short God Will Fall is popularly
recognised as Charlie's first proper film, it was actually his eighteenth. His original company, the amusingly named 'The Devil's Testicle Film
Productions', was put together while at college, under which banner he made a
range of shorts with titles like The Murmaid, Death Law, Scarlet Inferno,
InVitro and Extransensory Perception.
“God Will Fall
was shot at Ealing Studios, whilst at film school,” Charlie explains. “It’s a
revenge story about a woman who’s kidnapped by a satanic cult, but she becomes
possessed by the devil during a ritual, escapes, and returns to take down the
entire cult. I ran out of budget by the time I got to the satanic ritual
scenes, so that let the rest of the film down. This is where I started Dark
Temple Motion Pictures though, trying to establish my particular brand of horror:
I got a grip on my own writing style with the script, but ultimately it fell
short during production, like all of my short films. They were practise only,
for my features.”
Erotic Green (2015)
This was followed a year later by the 27-minute Erotic
Green, described as a 'psycho-sexual love story' with more than a whiff of
early David Cronenberg about it. A guy ends up at a sleazy invitation only
strip club after his girlfriend refuses to have sex with him, only to discover
the dancer he's seen onstage giving birth to a strange green egg like thing
from her stomach, which has the power to increase sexual attraction. The guy
takes the thing home and puts in the fridge, only for it to be discovered by
his girlfriend, with disastrous results.
Along with 2016's Deadman Apocalypse, these were Steeds' only sci fi ventures to date. I asked him if it was a genre he was keen to return to?
Charlie explains: “I’m very interested in science fiction, was
always tempted to do something in the genre but it’s so far always been horror
that gets the greenlight. I’d love to do something in space! Erotic Green is
the short film I’m most proud of: it holds together, and it's randomly gained
300,000 plus views on YouTube in the past year or so.”
Deadman
Apocalypse aka Labyrinthia (2016)
Steeds' first full feature, which he also produced and
edited, was 2016's Deadman Apocalypse. Like many of his movies, distribution
nightmares mean that it's not easy - or cheap - to get hold of it on DVD in the
UK. Charlie sums up the plot thus: "In the distant future, Jack Deadman and his
military team are the final hope to save our dying earth from its hellish
apocalypse. The mission is to enter the underground world of Labyrinthia and
retrieve the water stolen by the savage inhabitants below. Ten years later, the
mission has failed, and Jack Deadman exists in isolation, trapped and buried
deep within Labyrinthia: a lone wolf anti-hero, changed by failure and guilt.
But when the opportunity to escape arises once again, Jack will begin a quest
for vengeance and redemption in one last attempt to escape from Labyrinthia.'
Having now seen this feature, thanks to the director, in its
original cut, it’s quite extraordinary considering it cost £1500. It’s a
deliberate attempt to recall 1980s straight to VHS sci fi movies and while it
isn’t a film that has endeared itself to many people, it’s notable as the one that assembles most of the core cast and crew that Steeds would use on future
projects, namely composer Sam Benjafield, cinematographer Michael Lloyd, and
cast members Katie Davies-Speak, David Lenik and the inimitable Barrington de
la Roche, of which more later. It features one of Steeds’ now trademark stunning
credits sequences, and if nothing else is a good example of how mister De la
Roche – here playing a Mad Max style underworld overlord called Emperor
Rameses, was arguably much more effective in supporting roles.
“Deadman Apocalypse - that was its USA title –
it’s known as Labyrinthia elsewhere - was my first feature,” says Charlie. “I
didn’t know if I could make a feature, but I tried, with very limited
resources, and managed a 60-minute film. It’s a post-apocalyptic story set in
an underground world of labyrinthine wooden tunnels. I made the tunnel set out
of wooden pallets and shot it in a cow shed, which was really everything I had
available to me at the time.” Within
this claustrophobic setup Steeds films not one, but two go kart chases, which
considering that the length of the corridors couldn’t have exceeded twenty feet, was
quite some undertaking.
Steeds
continues: “In a DIY filmmaking sort of way, I’m pleased with the 60-minute
bonkers film we made, for the shockingly low (no) budget. The distributors had
me shoot an extra 20 minutes of course, which I did in one weekend with no
money, and it ruins the film. But it is still my most profitable and most
successful movie, so the cash-in with Mad Max (Mad Max Fury Road was released a
year earlier. Ed) and the misleading advertising and re-titling has some
benefits.”
Escape From Cannibal Farm (2017)
“Don’t venture near old Hansen farm,
Where blazing fire brought them harm,
For those who travel past this place
Beware the boy with the melted face.”
So reads the opening warning in the director, producer and
writer’s second feature. It’s a home counties slasher flick with a very heavy
nod to a certain Tobe Hooper movie from 1974 (the Hansen reference, the property
where the events take place, is even named after the actor who played
Leatherface).
The boy with the melted face is a young guy who, back in the
day, was accidentally set on fire and badly burned in a bullying prank which got
out of hand; his mum killed herself in remorse at being an inattentive parent,
and dad Hunt (De la Roche) swore revenge. Years later a bickering family go on
a camping weekend; Kathy Harver (Rowena Bentley, later to provide a tour de
force performance in 2018’s Winterskin) and her partner, the borderline
psychotic Wesley Wallace (Toby Wynn-Davies) are joined by Wesley’s step
children, daughter Jessica (Davies-Speak), her boyfriend Kurtis (Joe Street) as
well as Jessica’s younger brothers Toby (Lenik) and Sam (Dylan Curtis). Nobody
seems to get along, tensions which are exacerbated when the tent in which Kathy
and Wesley are sleeping catches fire, with mum receiving bad burns. Forced to walk
to the nearest property for help after their car won’t start, they come across
a farm – the Hansen farm. Bad move: Hunt and his scarred son, plus various
weird accomplices, now turned feral, still live on the premises, together with
the skeleton of mum – very Psycho. Turns out that Wesley is more dangerous than
first thought, and the family are an offering to the Hansen household, who are
cannibals on top of everything else. The Harvers must do battle with Hunt and
his freaks in a fight to the death.
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| Still from Escape From Cannibal Farm |
The movie is a definite step up from Labyrinthia. The
dysfunctional Harvers are convincingly at each other’s throats, and the
occupants of the Hansen household are enigmatic and authentically odd. This is
the film where Steeds really hones his scriptwriting talents. There’s some
almost Shakespearean ripeness going on here amidst the grunge and the gore. It’s
also great to see Lenik’s character, who starts off as annoyingly entitled,
developing his killer instincts. And he seemed like such a nice boy. There’s
perhaps a little too much in the way of plot mechanics, and it’s never a good
idea to introduce new characters quite late in a film, but this is very atmospheric
stuff.
“Escape From
Cannibal Farm is set up like a typical backwoods slasher,” explains Steeds,
“but this time taking place in the British countryside, and takes a turn into
melodrama between a dysfunctional family. In fact, there’s very little
cannibalism, which I slightly regret, but the aim was to blend heavy drama with
slasher horror, and I think there’s an interesting balance of both in the film.
People both liked and despised The Texas Chain Saw Massacre style I was
imitating: the gritty backwoods slasher look. I wanted to see what that style
would look like in my own countryside: our trailer was later mistaken for
the new Leatherface movie and went viral, with over 5 million views in a
couple of days! Technically it’s a hundred times better than Labyrinthia, but actually not much higher in budget, and now I could focus on the genre
I truly wanted to direct. In the UK our distributor was eager to pick up the
film rights and has now done nothing with it for over two years; they won’t
release it. For everyone involved in the making of the film it’s a huge shame,
they screwed us over. In the USA we’ve done great though, and in many other
countries too you can buy the DVD. On Amazon UK you can pick up the European
version, which plays fine here, so it is available. I also kept the rights to
self-distribute here and I’m working on a collector’s edition, loaded with
exclusive special features (there’s over four hours of behind the scenes footage I
need to edit) whenever I get time between shooting films. The film has its
flaws no doubt, but we were extremely ambitious with this and we pulled of
something far better than it should be."
The Barge People (2018)
The first of three (!) films Steeds made in 2018, The Barge
People opens with a note perfect eighties synth line by Sam Benjafield underscoring
the 'on point' title font. And as the movie unfolds, that opening is thematically developed in this fantastic homage to 1980s monster movies. At this point there's a
confidence and authority emanating from a director who clearly knows what he's
doing and has assembled a cast around him that is both reliable and capable.
Kat (Davies-Speak) and Mark (Mark McKirdy) have rented a
barge for a relaxing trip along the Kennet and Avon canal in the south west of
England, an area which has seen more than its fair share of missing people in
recent times. Along for the ride are Kat's sister Sophie (Natalie Martins) and
her City boy bloke Ben (Matt Swales). Ben's the kind of guy who wears a yellow
jumper over a blue shirt on his days off and proves chocolate teapot-like in
his capacity to help out on board.
But Kat and Mark are determined to make the best of it: what
they don't know is that there's something alive in the hedgerow lining the
canal; an elderly man (De la Roche) and his dog fail to notice a partly buried
skull while out on a walk, which is ominous. Ben finally takes the helm of the
boat and promptly bumps a passing craft occupied by rough and ready to rumble Ricky
(Kane Surry) and his girlfriend Jade (Mackenna Guyler). And before you can say
Eden Lake things hot up between the two parties. However, there’s a bigger
threat to both – some wild looking beasts, reminiscent of those creatures
from 1980’s Humanoids from the Deep, who rise from the canal to wreak torture
porn style havoc on the landlubbers.
The movie was for once written by someone apart from Steeds,
Christopher Lombard, which in some ways makes it feel like a different movie to
the rest of Steeds’ output. It’s extremely effective for the budget and the
casting is spot on, particularly Swales as Ben, a man you instantly want to slap.
Steeds, who comes from Bristol like some of rest of the cast, is having a bit of a side
swipe at local types; at one point Kat is asked where she’s from, and when she
responds with ‘Bristol’ the other says that she’s never heard of it.
The Barge People
was one of the hot tickets at last year’s FrightFest and I asked Charlie about
the reception.
“There was a
great crowd at FrightFest! A small crowd in a small screen, but that meant the
people who were there were the ones who really jumped in quick to get their
tickets; we sold out, but they wanted to see this film. So the response was
wonderful, the crowd really got it."
I recognised the
influences in the film, such as The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and C.H.U.D (1984), and asked him
about this.
“Most of my
films are inspired stylistically by 70s horror movies I love (usually Italian;
Fulci, Bava, Argento), so even though the story takes place in modern day - although I try to give all my films a
timeless look - it has a very retro vibe to it. The Hills Have Eyes was the
biggest influence on the script, followed closely by Eden Lake. A film that
inspired me in the look and feel was Long Weekend, along with better known
classics like The Fog and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
The House of Violent Desire (2018) (although filmed in 2017)
Steeds is justifiably proud of his magnum opus, a two-hour movie,
slowly paced and elegantly filmed, a film which is both patience testing and clearly
very personal. It’s the first to utilise a grand location, a thirteenth century French chateau whose sumptuous interiors are lovingly explored by
Michael Lloyd’s cinematography, giving the movie a distinct Euro horror
feel.
“I think it
probably still is my favourite,” says Charlie of the movie, “because this is a film made
totally for me, for my tastes. Vivid giallo-inspired lighting, an incredible
location, an overly complicated plot filled with themes of lust and sexuality
and violence. I totally indulged in the gothic and the melodrama and the blood,
the dialogue… I was just having a blast with this one, for better or worse. And
we had a fantastic shoot, it was so much fun, very relaxed, so much time free
to experiment with performances and shots.”
On the surface
Steeds’ movie feels fairly straightforward. An old dark house mystery set in
the 1940s, a stranger arrives at the sprawling Black Rock Manor. He is welcomed by the head
of the house, Eliza Whipley (Bentley again) whose husband ‘is a sick man with a
deranged mind,’ a man who has also gone missing. The stranger is given board in and free range of the house but
warned that the door to the attic is out of bounds and locked. He is introduced
to the rest of the Whipley family, daughters Agatha (Davies-Speak), Evelyn
(Yasmin Ryan) and son Adriel (Daniel McKee) as well as the housemaid, Cordetta
(Esme Sears). But, as Steeds reveals in the blurb accompanying the film, ‘perhaps
the 'stranger' is more connected to this family and to the dark unknown history
of the house than they suspect, and as the visitor begins to cultivate sexual
tensions and paranoia within the house, the devilishly erotic history of the
Whipley family threatens to lure them deep into its lustful, violent madness
once again.’
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| Still from The House of Violent Desire |
There is a
strong theme of the decay beneath the respectability of the traditional upper-class family in the
film, which also runs through An English Haunting (2019). I liked the reviewer on IMDB
who looked on the movie as an extended version of an episode of Dark Shadows (although
the writer seemed to think that was a bad thing). I asked Charlie, without wishing
to get too political, whether it was a view of the world he held more generally,
or was it just in the interests of storytelling?
“A theme that
runs through all of my scripts, I don’t quite know why, is the older generation
betraying or failing the younger generation,” he explained. “Horrible parents -
all my films seem to have them, with dark secrets or evil plots underway. In
horror, you look for the worst in characters, and the older they are the more
nasty delights there are to uncover. Younger characters are simpler, they can
only have so many secrets to them."
The ritual
scenes in the film were performed by Barrington De la Roche’s ‘Dark Theatre’
company. I ask Charlie about de la Roche, a singular chap, who crops up in all his films.
“He auditioned
for God Will Fall (where he played a satanic cult leader) and we’ve been close
friends ever since. It really doesn’t feel like my film unless Barrington’s
been on set, he’s part of my brand, we’ve been on this journey since film
school and he’s been through the experience of every film with me.”
Winterskin (2018)
The Hateful Eight mixed with Misery probably best sums up
Charlie Steed’s latest film. The first thing that hits you is that, despite the
paucity of finance, Winterskin looks like a big budget movie.
After a tense pre credits sequence, where a family in a
cabin in the USA are menaced by a strange ‘something,’ followed by some lovely
faux 1970s TV movie titles, we’re greeted with a wintry landscape and a father
and son, out hunting deer. Sustaining a serious shotgun injury the son, Billy
Kavanagh (Lenik), finds refuge in a wood cabin occupied by Old Agnes, who just happens
to have been the shooter (a terrific central performance from Bentley).
Agnes tends to Billy’s wounds and gradually nurses him back
to health. But (of course) old Agnes has a dark secret and is not the
benevolent soul she makes herself out to be, and the stories of a strange
figure seen in the woods, The Red Man, contribute to young Billy’s anxiety,
already heightened by his being a virtual prisoner in the old lady’s cabin.
While Winterskin is rather talky – Agnes gets a lot of
script to herself - Bentley never lets her character (or her American accent) drop: this is a movie worth catching for the final fifteen minutes, a triumph
of well-choreographed action and nail-biting suspense. It also has a lot of
dark humour as well – witness the scene where Billy tucks into some stew, the
contents of which answers the question about what Agnes did with the corpse of
her dead dog. Seamlessly merging the wintry exterior shots filmed in Finland
and the interiors (in less than snowy Guildford) Steed is assisted by Michael Lloyd’s
trademark evocative cinematography, and a gaggle of authentically hairy scruffs
making up the Tarantino-esque deepwoods brethren.
Steeds has
mentioned in other interviews the hardships of making the film, mainly because
of the extreme cold, but what really struck me watching this was Rowena Bentley
as Agnes. I asked Charlie how he got such a great performance out of her in
such difficult shooting conditions?
Steeds picks up
the story. “We shot almost entirely at night, which was unplanned, and it was
freezing cold, it was miserable. 26 days trapped in this cabin, mainly 2
actors…it sounded easy on paper but in reality it was hard work. It’s such a
dialogue heavy film, we just kept going until I was happy with the performance,
seeing how far I could push it. After long hours in the cold you go into a
state of hysteria, and I think that’s where Agnes came from.
Bentley auditioned
for Escape From Cannibal Farm: she’d trained at Drama School with another
actor, David (Lenik), who was already cast in the film and helping me cast the
other actors. Rowena’s bloody brilliant and utterly hilarious to have on set,
that’s how she’s ended up with three huge roles in my films. I think The House of
Violent Desire is her best work, with her eight minute monologue scene; she can
really deliver.
An English Haunting (2019) NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH HORROR FILM 2020
Steeds’ most recently released offering is a rather
different beast to the energetic Winterskin: it’s a slow burn, elegant English
ghost story with a rather dark heart.
Blake (Lenik) arrives at a crumbling English stately home with his
mother Margot (Tessa Wood). They’ve come to live with Margot’s grandfather Aubrey (De la Roche), whose
house it is, having fallen on hard times – this is their only option for
accommodation.
But their grandfather is bedridden and seemingly in a coma,
hooked up to an oxygen supply. His last carer fled suddenly and, courtesy of
the housekeeper, the strange Marian Clark (Emma Spurgin Hussey), we learn that in return for
providing a roof over their head Martha is expected to provide care. This
revelation brings out the true nature of Aubrey’s daughter: she is a mean,
pinched woman, who, once she accesses the property’s wine cellar, also
demonstrates her alcoholic tendencies. “I thought you weren’t going to do that
here,” says Blake, hinting at a history of life on the booze.
Blake meanwhile, feeling increasingly isolated, has been
having visions of a young woman in the garden, and Aubrey shows signs of
agitation. Blake also glimpses a shadowy figure in the house and has an increasing
feeling that there may be four, not three people, occupying the mansion. And as
we reflect on the film’s title, we ask who is doing the haunting, and who is
actually haunted?
An English Haunting serves another purpose as a title – it
signposts exactly what we’re about to see. The film’s events feel like the
narrative of a well-loved spook novel, best enjoyed by an open fire with a
glass of something to keep the chill at bay. The movie’s pace is deliberately
slow and leaves time for the ‘onion skin’ of the story – the truth about
Aubrey, the strange figure outside and the equally unusual one within – to
gradually present itself. Michael Lloyd’s graceful, static camerawork – for
much of the time anyway – adds to the stillness of the film.
One of Steeds’ greatest strengths has always been his scripts,
often a weak point with low budget filmmaking. Not so here: the characters are
drawn simply but effectively, with some fine performances. Tessa Wood does well
as alcoholic Margot, her life reduced to a series of disappointments and
frustrations. Steeds regular Barrington de la Roche is great here as creepy
Aubrey, whose back story recalls the dreadful Mr Abney from M R James’s story
‘Lost Hearts.’
But it’s David Lenik as
Blake Cunningham, who carries the film, an innocent man, struggling with a
terrible relationship with his mother, who becomes fixated on uncovering the
secrets of the house, even though it may cost him his life.
I asked Steeds
about his choice of casting younger and older actors together, a feature of all
of his films.
“Lots of young
indie filmmakers seem to avoid older actors, but that’s where you’ll find the
most interesting characters for your movie,” said Charlie. “I’m interested in
the different ways actors look and sound, so I’m always seeking very cinematic
faces and voices (take Barrington De La Roche for example!). I like a cast of
all ages, otherwise your characters and story become limited.
An English
Haunting is really the type of ghost story I love. I watched and read a lot, to
figure out what really scares me, and I settled on a certain atmosphere that I
wanted to create with the film, without ever aiming to reveal too much of the
supernatural. I think the film could’ve been a lot scarier, but the horror
really comes from what the characters are experiencing, and I followed the
characters to those places - haunted by their own regrets and issues. Maybe it's not as scary as a possessed doll leaping out at you, but hopefully it makes for
a more lasting impact. I made a choice to try a more subtle, quieter film,
which sometimes a story calls for, but ultimately its action that I’m
interested in; big gory action and high-adrenaline carnage! As the budgets are
increasing I’m able to include more action. Ideally my films would all be
relentless action horror, but my mood does move between wanting slower more
atmospheric films and bolder more fun movies.
And on that
subject, as you would expect of a director as prolific as Steeds, he’s keen to
talk about future projects, The Vicarage, After Dark (since re-titled Vampire
Virus by those oh so subtle distributors) and Death Ranch.
“The Vicarage is
a script I wrote before shooting The Barge People, and I’d love to make it if I
ever got the budget. It takes a relentless The Texas Chain Saw Massacre style but
blends it with British Gothic. It’s my most outrageous and violent script, but
it’s a long way off, I have 20 better ideas I’m going to do first.
After Dark is a
very sexy and colourful modern-day vampire film and it’s totally different from
my other work. I hate setting things in modern day, but it was a request from
the investors. But that did allow for some great nightclub scenes and a slick
modern style. The film is complete and out later this year.
Death Ranch is a
script I’d been wanting to make for a long time: it’s a dream project, and I
thought it was a long way off. Then the opportunity to shoot in Tennessee
presented itself. Everything suddenly came together and the shoot went so
smoothly, it was as if the film wanted to be made (usually it is a battle)! It’s
set in the 1970s and it’s a gory blaxploitation revenge movie in which three African-American
siblings go up against the KKK. I think we can all get enjoyment out of seeing
the KKK get totally obliterated, and it’s by far my most violent film; limbs
flying off, eyeballs ripped out, axes to the groin… it's currently in
post-production and I hope to play festivals with it this summer (this interview was carried out before the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Ed).
We cannot, and I mean this most sincerely, wait.
Thanks Charlie and his team, and best of luck with
everything!
Erotic Green is available on YouTube
here.
Deadman Apocalypse is available on DVD from Breaking Glass films
Escape From Cannibal Farm is available as Cannibal Farm on DVD from High Octane Pictures
Winterskin is available on R1 DVD
The Barge People will be available on Blu Ray and DVD in Germany from July.
An English Haunting will be available on DVD from High Fliers Films from 27 April.
A trailer for
Vampire Virus is available
here.
The website for Barrington De la Roche's 'Dark Theatre' company is
here.
