So here we are on the other side of the Panic Button world premiere at London's Film4 Frightfest 2011.
climbing the stairs to FrightFest 2011 - it all starts with the poster...
i mean the screenplay, yes the screenplay dammit!
My crazy schedule of late meant I could only duck in to Empire screen 1 to check out one other movie during the weekend. And anyone who knows me won't be surprised that movie was 'The Wicker Tree', with Robin Hardy's 70s original being something of a lifelong obsession of mine. The man himself gave the film a fantastic and funny intro, full of the camp humour one would expect from him. The film itself is a curious mash-up of bawdy comedy, religious diatribe & country evangelistic music that (unlike the original) never quite gelled for me. I did get goosebumps during a brief cameo from the one & only Christopher Lee, but even that felt shoehorned in for shareholder value. The eclectic movie was strengthened by a smashing performance from Honeysuckle Weeks as 'Lolly' - she delivered some killer lines and moments ("all the way to 7," hehehe) and is definitely one to watch.
Oh Chriiist! Oh Jeeesus Chriiist! - The Wicker Tree
A brief interval gave me the chance to catch up with some old friends & to make a few new ones, then it was time to head on in for the World Premiere of 'Panic Button'. Frightfest founder (and erstwhile Panic Button supporter - thanks Alan your cheque is in the post!) Alan Jones and producer/co-writer John Shackleton introduced the movie to a packed auditorium. My thanks to John for giving me a shout out during his intro, I was touched (your cheque is in the post too!). It was fun seeing the film on huge screen with a full-on sound mix, amidst a crowd of likeminded horror fans. There was lots of applause, laughs (in all the 'right' places) & a palpable feeling of rising tension during the finale (either that or my Premiere trousers were on too tight). Mr Shackleton took to the stage again for a Q&A after the end credits rolled, accompanied by the main cast members and director Chris Crow. My favourite moment was when an audience member asked (in all seriousness) if the film would be used in schools as an educational tool about the dangers of social networking. "We might have to tone Michael Jibson's dialogue down a bit," came the reply (Michael plays pottymouthed 'Dave' in the film :-)
Panic Button Q&A:
L-R Chris Crow (director), Joshua Richards (Rupert Turner), Elen Rhys (Gwen),
Jack Gordon (Max), Scarlett Alice Johnson (Jo), John Shackleton (producer)
The Empire foyer afterwards was buzzing, and cast and crew took to the red carpet for a press junket of photo calls and interviews - you can see them shine in the Frightfest Day 3 report below (coupla mins in to the video). It was a pleasure to finally meet some of the cast members & to catch up with some of the production team - also to meet the lovely Louise of UK distributor Showbox & raise a glass with some FrightFest friends before hometime.
A slew of reviews has since appeared online, with people Tweeting, Blogging and Facebooking about the movie. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with a few naysayers out there (but you can't please everybody). One negative Twitter response bemoaned the movie's 'unbelievable' premise - i'd love to hear their thoughts on the premises for 'Troll Hunter', 'Fright Night' and of course... 'The Wicker Tree'! Sorry, but I go to festivals like Frightfest year in, year out, expressly to see films with unbelievable premises - leave banal reality at home on the telly where it belongs. Rant over!
I have tons more films to check out that I didn't get time to see at the festival, including The Kill List, The Woman, The Theatre Bizarre and Troll Hunter, but for now they'll have to wait cos that deadline looms. Until next time...
Hot on the heels of my last post about 'PANIC BUTTON' (see Ain't It Cool News review in previous blog entry below), distributor Showbox Media has released the DVD + Blu-ray disc artwork for the November 7th 2011 UK release.
the following extra features are listed on Amazon:
"Makes 'Catfish' look like 'Cats and Dogs' - a gripping modern horror movie that is very much a product of our times. Just excellent"
(read full review HERE)
And a heads up that there are few tickets left for the World Premiere of the movie FrightFest is calling: "The Social Network of Shocks - a chiller so timely, gripping & smart"
(#1 in Alan Jones' Top 5 FrightFest Picks)
Click HERE for last minute World Premiere tickets if you wanna see it on a huge screen at the Empire Leicester Square!
"British horror at its bloody best" Four Stars (Sky Movies)
And last but not least, am thrilled to tell you that 'Panic Button' has secured UK DVD/Blu-ray distribution thru Showbox Media (who you'll know as the good people behind the fan-favourite Shameless & Cine-Asia DVD imprints). UK release date for the 'Panic Button' discs is Nov 7th 2011.
More (Much more...) from me soon dear readers. Meantime, hope to see you at FrightFest!
Been thinking about my all-time fave author J.G. Ballard of late. I mean, feral gangs smashing and grabbing amidst the tower blocks? How very 'High Rise'. A graphic designer arrested for looting? How very 'Kingdom Come'.
I first read Ballard's latter novel a couple of years ago, while still living in LondonTown. It resonated deeply with my innate hatred of, and perverse fascination with, shopping malls and rampant consumer culture in general.
As parts of London, and Birmingham, and then Manchester burned behind the cool indifference of my tellybox screen, I reached for Ballard on my shelf again. The terrifying prescience of his writing is at times a peculiar comfort.
In particular, I found myself recalling an exchange between the protagonist Richard Pearson, and wacky psychiatrist Dr Maxted (thanks to Laura Hird's excellent book review site for saving me the effort of typing this extract) :
”Elective insanity is waiting inside us, waiting inside us to come out when we need it. We're talking primate behaviour at its most extreme. Witch-hunts, auto-da-fes, heretic burnings, the hot poker shoved up the enemy's rear, gibbets along the skyline. Willed madness can infect a housing estate or a whole nation.'
'Thirties Germany?'
' Good example. People still think the Nazi leaders led the German people into the horrors of race war. Not true. The Germans were desperate to break out of their prison. Defeat, inflation, grotesque war reparations, the threat of barbarians advancing from the east. Going mad would set them free, and the chose Hitler to lead the hunting party. That's why they stayed together to the end. They needed a psychopathic god to worship, so they recruited a nobody and stood him on the high altar. The great religions have been at it for millennia.'
'States of willed madness? Christianity? Islam?'
'Vast systems of psychopathic delusion that murdered millions, launched crusades and founded empires. A great religion spells danger. Today people are desperate to believe, but they can only reach God through psychopathology. Look at the most religious areas of the world at present - the Middle East and the United States. These are sick societies, and they're going to get sicker. People are never more dangerous than when they have nothing left to believe except in God.'
'But what else is there to believe in?' I waited for Maxted to reply, but the psychiatrist was staring through the picture window at the dome of the Metro-Centre, fists gripping the air as if trying to steady the world around him. 'Dr Maxted?'
'Nothing. Except madness.' Maxted rallied himself and turned back to me. 'People feel they can rely on the irrational. It offers the only guarantee of freedom from all the cant and bullshit and sales commercials fed to us by politicians, bishops and academics. People are deliberately re-primitivizing themselves. They yearn for magic and unreason, which served them well in the past, and might help them again. They're keen to enter a new Dark Age. The lights are on, but they're retreating into the inner darkness, into superstition and unreason. The future is going to be a struggle between vast systems of competing psychopathies, all of them willed and deliberate, part of a desperate attempt to escape from a rational world and the boredom of consumerism.'
'Consumerism leads to social pathology? Hard to believe.'
'It paves the way. Half the goods we buy these days are not much more than adult toys. The danger is that consumerism will need something close to fascism to keep it growing. Take the Metro-Centre and its flat sales. Close your eyes a little and it already looks like a Nuremberg rally. The ranks of sales counters, the long straight aisles, the signs and banners, the whole theatrical aspect.'
'No jackboots, though,' I pointed out. 'No ranting fuhrers.'
'Not yet. Anyway, they belong to the politics of the street. Ourstreets are the cable TV consumer channels. Our party insignia are the gold and platinum loyalty cards. Faintly risible? Yes, but people thought the Nazis were a bit of a joke. The consumer society is a kind of soft police state. We think we have choice, but everything is compulsory. We have to keep buying or we fail as citizens. Consumerism creates huge unconscious needs that only fascism satisfy. If anything, fascism is the form that consumerism takes when it opts for elective madness. You can see it here already.'
'In bosky Surrey? I don't think so.'
'It's coming Richard.' Maxted pursed his lips, as it to shut out all possibility of a smile. ‘Here and in the towns around Heathrow. You can feel it in the air.'
II believe we are living in the Age of Greed. A society built on the 1980s culture of me-me-me consumerism, and blended with the entitlement culture of the 1990s & 2000s (under a Tory 'coalition' government intent on squeezing the British Isles tighter than ever) is liable to burst. To tear apart at its sweatshop-stitched seams.
Colour me chuffed. Huge congrats to the cast & crew!
If you're in London in August and fancy seeing 'Panic Button' on one the largest screens in the cinematic universe, individual tickets for the FrightFest World Premiere (with Director & Cast in attendance) are selling like hot potootees.
This blog entry title seemed apt, what with all the gutter press controversy kicking off over here in the UK. Please allow me to divert you for a few moments, dear reader, with some choice web-links as there's been a bit of a frightfully freaking Frazer frenzy these past few days.
First off, Horrorworld.org announced the Samhain Horror Publishing line-up for October-December of this year. The new line is headed by genre publishing legend Don D'Auria, with new and backlist titles by such luminaries as Ramsey Campbell along with new blood including yours truly. I'm honoured to be in such esteemed company.
My horror novel 'The Lamplighters' is published November (in ebook, with paperback due 3 months later). Very exciting! In addition to the Horrorworld splash, check out Don D'Auria's interview over at Fangoria, in which he talks up the Samhain Horror offering.
Horror/thriller feature film 'Panic Button', on which I served as screenwriter, got a lot of love following the announcement about the World Premiere at Film4 Frightfest London this August with coverage on Dreadcental, Bloody Disgusting and more. Frightfest's very own Alan Jones gave 'Panic Button' the #1 spot in his Top 5 Frightfest Picks, and Brutal As Hell carried a glowing advance review by Nia Edwards-Behi. The film is lining up more festivals, including Wales' brilliant Abertoir in November. More news as it comes.
That about covers it for now, meantime if any tabloid hacks would like to tap my phone, please be so good as to delete all the spam messages so I don't have to... thanks ;-)
Following the successful Market screening at Cannes in May, horror/thriller feature film PANIC BUTTON (on which I served as screenwriter) soars to new heights with the announcement of a World Premiere screening at Film4 Frightfest in London.
The premiere is set for 27th August at the Empire, Leicester Square and tickets go on sale tomorrow (full festival passes & tickets for individual screenings are available). Hope to see some of you there!
Needless to say, the Frightfest website collapsed under the sheer volume of horrorheads trying to access the site. Fear not, the full programme can be viewed here and you can keep up with Frightfest news as it happens via the festival's Twitter feed.
Meantime, check out the Panic Button Facebook page for a tagline poll, behind-the-scenes photos and a brand new poster design (see above).
Just make sure you check the Terms & Conditions, muah hahahaha...
Happy Friday the 13th! Have you donated $5 to Scares That Care yet? All proceeds go to sick children and their families. Cool prizes will be given to donors at random (but it's not about the prizes, it's about helping needy kids, right? Right!)
Now the producers at Movie Mogul Films have confirmed the Market Premiere of 'Panic Button' will happen in Cannes at 2pm on May 18th at the Palais Riviera (2k Digital screening, 5.1 Dolby Surround).
Meanwhile, a series of concept posters (see the first - a 'horror-themed' design - above) and behind-the-scenes photos have been revealed - check out the official Panic Button Facebook page for more interactive shenanigans!
I'm thrilled to be able to announce that my first horror novel 'The Lamplighters' is to be published by Samhain Publishing.
More details (cover art, dates, etc.) as and when I get them.
Needless to say, I'm bloody excited by the prospect of working with Don D'Auria, one of the genre's very best editors, to make the manuscript the best it can be.
The Samhain Horror line launches this Hallowe'en and I'm pleased as pumpkin punch that 'The Lamplighters' will be part of the line up... Cheers dear Readers!
Movie Mogul Films today unleashed the first trailer for social networking horror/thriller 'PANIC BUTTON.' Kudos and congrats to cast and crew! So, welcome aboard, put your seat-back tray in the closed position and prepare for some turbulence... Please reTweet/Facebook share/Blog the trailer link - and as always, love to see your comments.
Good morning dear readers, and a Happy New Year 2011 to you all. So, what's happening? The UK Government wants to sell off all of Britain's ancient forests, my horror fiction anthology is available on Kindle (reviews and ratings are always welcome dear friends, HINT HINT), and Shockerfest award-winning short chiller SIMONE is getting the love again in the form of this ace review from the nice chaps at Enter the Man-Cave. You can also get a director's perspective on Simone in an interview with helmer Joops Fragale here, and read actor Jennifer Ward's insights (on making a film crew vomit!) in her interview here. Now it's back to my own man-cave for the time being...
2010 was mostly awesome ~ among the highlights... Short shocker 'Simone' was unleashed by the good folks at 386 Films to a slew of favourable reviews and awards, not least the Audience Choice: Best Short Award at Shockerfest (well done cast & crew!). Horror/thriller feature 'Panic Button' went into production in Cardiff with the dynamic Movie Mogul Films crew, and is now in post-production. Supernatural horror feature 'The Reformatory' was optioned by the wonderful producers at Freeze Frame Entertainment (keep an eye on www.thereformatorymovie.com for updates on this exciting project). My fiction got some (in)decent exposure thanks to ebook editions of my short stories, and I made a couple of sales to paying markets too. Dark Mills and Abertoir both thoroughly rocked my world (cheers to Marcus and Gaz and their brilliant teams). And a really cool way to round off 2010 came in the form of an interview by Keri O'Shea for the brilliant Brutal As Hell (my thanks to Keri and Marc). Now it's time to look forward to 2011, when I hope to have such frights to show you... Dear readers, I wish you all the bloody best ~ see you on the other side!
Seasons Bleedings dear readers, I have a gift for you. Please share it with family/friends/followers.
TINSELis a creepy Yuletide tale that will give you festive chills, and warns of the dangers faced by curious children who sneak downstairs in the dead of night... to squeeze their Christmas presents beneath the tree.
You can download 'Tinsel' as a FREE ebook fromSmashwords. (all formats including Kindle, text file for your PC/Mac etc)
"Frazer Lee gives us a Christmas present nobody would ever want in 'Tinsel'. Don’t look up the chimney..." (Mathew F. Riley, Bookgeeks.co.uk)
I urge you to check out his blog, because (other than a Z-lister like me) Maarten has posted interviews ranging from well-known movie celebrities to porn stars - in addition to his wide-ranging DVD reviews. You'll find dozens of goodies in the sidebar.
Thanks again to Mr Bouw for his excellent questions!
THE REFORMATORY 'Bad behavior will be corrected'...
(but good behavior will be rewarded - see below!)
A few links for supernatural horror feature project The Reformatory have surfaced on the interwebs, and I just wanted to share them with you guys.
Kickstarter offers you the chance to 'get involved with The Reformatory' and you can also show your support at Indiegogo. You can check out a teaser trailer and see some background info on the project at both these sites. If you wish to get involved (and help the project into production!) there are a series of reward schemes ranging from cast-signed photos right up to premiere tickets and the chance for a walk-on role.
Listen, I don't want to twist your arm off about this. But please do visit the links, and if you're suitably impressed by The Reformatory's potential then please also consider digging deep to help out...
ITV Wales has a report from the set of horror/thriller Panic Button which also includes the teaser trailer for the movie. Probably accessible by UK viewers only, the footage starts around 2mins into the clip. Enjoy! And do post your thoughts in the comments below, would love to hear what you guys think. Here's the vid link: http://www.itv.com/wales/the-wales-show44832/
Short shocker SIMONE scooped a couple of awards this Hallowe'en season.
The Shockerfest 2010 audience bestowed the film with the honour of 'Audience Choice: Best Short', so huge congrats to the cast and crew who worked their asses off on this movie production.
If that wasn't enough cause for celebration, Reel Terror Festival 2010 named Simone as the rcipient of their special 'Best Girl on Girl-who-turns-into-a-monster Action' Award. Way to go ladies, well done! You can watch the awards ceremony here.
A couple more Simone interviews/reviews have surfaced on the Interweb too - hit up the 386 Films website for links.
Elsewhere, Anne Billson gave ON EDGE a mention in her cool article about movie dentists on The Guardian website. The tooth is out there...
Last October, groovy London film society Crystal Palace Pictures screened my short 'On Edge' before the main feature ('Let The Right One In') and I did a Q&A, with some really excellent questions from the film buffs in attendance.
This time around they are showing the Ealing classic 'Dead Of Night' - a portmanteau of chilling stories from a time when the mere suggestion of atmospheric chills was enough to frighten the wits out of cinemagoers. If you haven't seen this gem, I suggest you seek it out. Or the ventriloquist's dummy will seek you out...
I'm 'Dead pleased' (...sorry for the awful pun) that my short 'Red Lines' will play before the main feature tonight. And if there are any 'Q's, I'll hopefully be providing some 'A's. See you there, if you dare.
Frazer Lee is the writer/director of award-winning horror shorts 'On Edge' and 'Red Lines' (Robber Baron Productions UK, both starring Doug Bradley of 'Hellraiser' fame), and is screenwriter of 'Panic Button' (horror/thriller feature, Movie Mogul Films/Film Agency Wales UK), 'Simone' (horror short, 386 Films USA) and many more optioned and commissioned screen works. Frazer's fiction is published in print and digital by Samhain Publishing, Bloody Books and others in the UK and USA. Master of Horror Tobe Hooper ('Texas Chain Saw Massacre') said of Frazer's work, "Gave me the total creeps...he knows how to do it guys!"
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