Hey folks, Harry here - sorry about that warning - but... this story requires it! I love low-budget foreign horror - usually because the accent work is so accomplished. Other times because they're free-er with their nudity and gore. But this time - them damn foreigners have stolen one of the gods of low budget American horror... TOM SAVINI! Raretown grabbed the story for us, here ya go...
A TIDBIT FROM THE BRITISH HORROR SCENE.
Hey peeps, long time reader and chatfly, here’s a taste of strange and horrific things going on down in the British New Forest.
Gatlin Pictures have produced several low budget horrors under the confident helming of director Johannes Roberts, who has consistently done what all dedicated horror directors start out doing, which is to produce the best film you can using the all-too-often limited budget at your disposal, and these guys are experts at doing just that. Forest Of The Damned is their second feature, and appears to be their first footstep into the heavier currents of the mainstream, employing a time-honoured, tried and tested formula that has never failed in this genre; namely naked chicks and inventive gore.
The story revolves around a number of fallen angels that, having been cast out of heaven due to sexual corruption, have taken up residence in a secluded forest, where they pass the time luring travellers to one horrific demise after another. Cult british schlock novelist Shaun Hutson both stars and numbers among the victims; that’s his head you can see in the picture, lovingly and painstakingly created by Nathan Mclaughlin, head of recently spawned make-up and prosthetics company M-FX.
Nathan also got to spend several weeks applying make-up and gore to the gorgeous bodies of the naked models playing the fallen angels, on a daily basis… pretty raw deal for his first major gig, wouldn’t you say?
That’s him applying bullet wounds to Tom Savini too, who looks about as comfortable as one can be whilst working on a film in the south west uk during the FREEZING early hours. Tom, I’m told, plays a nutcase who has been studying and hunting these demonic razor toothed honeys. I’ll repeat that; a nutcase who has been studying and hunting these demonic razor toothed honeys….how’s that for a perfectly suited hardcore role?
The movie has recently wrapped and is due for international release this summer. The trailer can be seen on www.gatlin-pictures.com; and from what I can tell they’ve managed to create a seldom seen, shudderingly creepy rural atmosphere that’s completely devoid of gloss and glamour, two things that repeatedly piss over the credibility of most horrors that we have to sit through these days. I’ve seen their first movie, Darkhunters, and to be honest, it’s a sterling effort, featuring worthy performances from Jeff Fahey and everyone’s favourite little French dude, Dominique Pinon.
Johannes actually came to the premier of a zombie short that Nathan helped us with last year, and is a thoroughly approachable and likeable bloke to boot. I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing bigger and better things from Gatlin in the future; they are traditionalists when it comes to the art of conception, and faithful to the oft-defiled church of good old fashioned scares. I’d love to see them collaborate with Eli Roth in this respect.
If you print this; call me RaretowN.
