The Daisy Chain (2008)

Director:

Aisling Walsh

Writer:

Lauren Mackenzie (writer)

Release Date:

16 April 2010 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

She just wants to play.

Plot:

A grieving couple move to a remote Irish village in the wake of their baby daughter's death. They soon take in an orphaned autistic girl, only to become involved in a series of strange occurrences.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Drowning | Hospital | Car Crash | Evil Child

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Samantha Morton	...	Martha Conroy
Steven Mackintosh	...	Tomas Conroy
Mhairi Anderson	...	Daisy Gahan
David Bradley	...	Sean Cryan
Eva Birthistle	...	Cat
Brendan McCormack	...	Shay
Zoe Sheridan	...	Eva
Flora Montgomery	...	Orla Gannon
Orlaith Macqueen	...	Lucy Gannon (as Orlaith McQueen)
Ron Donachie	...	Doctor Ferguson
Valerie O'Connor	...	Jenny Gahan
Patrick Moy	...	Jim Gahan
Barry Barnes	...	Sergeant Riley
Maire Hastings	...	Trish Carter
Gary Murphy	...	Matt Brennan
Siobhán O'Kelly	...	Margaret Lindsay
Karen Ardiff	...	Joan Byrne
Fionnuala Murphy	...	Helen Devine
Elunid Jones	...	Care Home Worker
Joanne Thomas	...	Girl at Care Home
Hilary Reynolds	...	Social Worker
Yvonne Scanlon	...	Social Worker
Fiona Condon	...	Miss May
David Keating	...	School Boy
Matthew McDonagh	...	Cowboy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anthony Murphy	...	The Gard
James Thomas	...	School Boy

Directed by
Aisling Walsh

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lauren Mackenzie		writer

Produced by
Graham Begg	....	executive producer
Jamie Carmichael	....	executive producer
Bethan Cousins	....	executive producer
Michael Henry	....	executive producer
Linda James	....	executive producer
Tristan Lynch	....	producer (as Tristan Orpen Lynch)
Aoife O'Sullivan	....	co-producer
Meinir Stoutt	....	co-producer
Meinir Stoutt	....	line producer
Dominic Wright	....	producer

Original Music by
David Julyan

Cinematography by
Simon Kossoff		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Chris Gill
Bryan Oates

Casting by
Victoria Beattie
Orla O'Connor

Production Design by
Padraig O'Neill

Art Direction by
Michael Moynihan

Set Decoration by
Cos Egan

Costume Design by
Alison Byrne

Makeup Department
Linda Mooney	....	chief hair designer
Linda Mooney	....	chief makeup designer
Sioned Lloyd Williams	....	assistant hair stylist
Sioned Lloyd Williams	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Rozenn Le Pape	....	production manager
Ashling McGrath	....	post-production supervisor
Peter Tighe	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Padraig Farrell	....	trainee assistant director
Andrew Hegarty	....	first assistant director
Iolo Rhisiart	....	trainee assistant director
Jonathan Shaw	....	second first assistant director
Lisa Skelding	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Sian Bundy	....	stand-by props: Wales
Cos Egan	....	production buyer
Andrew Freeman	....	construction coordinator
Alan Jones	....	carpenter
Daithi Magner	....	dressing props: Ireland
P.J. McGinty	....	dressing props: Ireland (as PJ McGinty)
Sarah McLoughlin	....	assistant art director
Paul Newman	....	chargehand dressing props
Alyson Simkins	....	dressing props: Wales

Sound Department
Niels Arild	....	sound re-recording mixer
Niall Brady	....	supervising sound editor
Emma Butt	....	foley editor
Forbes Edward	....	sound trainee
Phil Edwards	....	sound mixer (as Phil Edward)
Nick Foley	....	adr mixer
Ken Galvin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Hugo Jeffreys	....	adr recordist
Dave McMahon	....	sound editor
Richard Philip	....	boom operator: Ireland
James Seddon	....	dolby consultant
Marc Walters	....	boom operator: Wales (as Mark Walters)

Special Effects by
Paul Byrne	....	special effects technician

Stunts
Peter Dillon	....	stunt safety
Wayne Docksey	....	stunts
Donal O'Farrell	....	stunt coordinator
Donal O'Farrell	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Adam Coles	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Steve Evans	....	key grip
Steve Finberg	....	gaffer
Martin Foley	....	camera operator
Stephen Janes	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Elis Wyn Jones	....	grip
Tim Neill	....	best boy
Andrew Nolan	....	electrician
Warren Orchard	....	still photographer: UK
Robert Zyborski	....	camera trainee (as Rob Zyborski)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Emma Bevan	....	costume assistant
Maggie Scobbie	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Warren Dowling	....	digital intermediate finishing artist
Alan Freir	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Dana Niu	....	orchestrator

Transportation Department
Martin Jones	....	driver: camera car (as Martin 'Len' Jones)
Iwan Sion	....	driver: props van

Other crew
Sonia Ajlani	....	accounts trainee
Glenn Delaney	....	location manager
Warren Dowling	....	title designer
Rob Gadd	....	production assistant
Lloyd Glanville	....	production assistant
Pam Humphreys	....	script supervisor
Ashifa Lalani	....	production accountant: Ireland
Paddy McCarney	....	location manager
Anna Merritt	....	script editor
Beatrice Neumann	....	production executive
Yseult Orpen	....	credits design
Yvonne Scanlon	....	production assistant
Arno Seagrim	....	assistant accountant
Craig Stoutt	....	production coordinator: Wales
Fergus Sweeney	....	production assistant
Sarah Teboul	....	production accountant (as Sarah Teeoul)
Nikki Wichmann	....	production coordinator: Ireland

Production Companies

• ContentFilm International (presents)
• Wales Creative IP Fund (as The Wales Creative IP Fund) (in association with)
• Limelight Communication (as Limelight) (in association with)
• Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (as The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland) (in association with)
• Irish Film Board (as Bord Scannán Na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board) (with the participation of)
• Subotica Entertainment
• Daisy Chain Films
• Investment Incentives for the Irish Film Industry (as Investment Incentives for the Irish Film Industry provided by the Government of Ireland) (produced with the support of)
• Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) (made in association with)
• BBC Films (made in association with)

Distributors

• Wild Side Films (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• EuroVideo (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• Filmes Lusomundo (2009) (Portugal) (all media)
• Image Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Pro Film Distribution (2009) (Romania) (all media)
• Monolith (2009) (Poland) (all media)
• Officine UBU (2010) (Italy) (all media)
• Paradox Entertainment Group (2010) (Canada) (DVD)
• PlayArte Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Spentzos Films (2009) (Greece) (all media)

Special Effects

• Team FX

Other Companies

• Broadcasting Commission of Ireland  funding
• ContentFilm International  funding
• Film Finances  completion guarantor
• Fuji Photo Film  motion picture film supplied by (as Fujifilm)
• Irish Film Board  developed with the support of (as Bord Scannán Na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board)
• Irish Film Board  funding
• Limelight Communication  funding
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne  developed with the support of (as The MEDIA Programme of the European Union)
• Screen Scene  post-production facilities
• Shoot NI  cell phones and walkies
• Sound & Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme  funding
• Technicolor  color
• Wales Creative IP Fund  funding

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and disturbing content,

Runtime:

UK:89 min

Country:

Ireland | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45795) | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland

Company:

ContentFilm International

Horror That Creeps Rather Than Jumps.

Horror movies, such as they are, remain a fairly uniformed experience. Despite the buckets of viscus and brains that are unashamedly tossed around the screen they typically conform to certain expectations; 15 jumps minimum, casual brutal violence and characters so wooden they have to chop them to pieces to prove they're homosapiens.

Horrors that have stood the test of time, The Fly, The Shining, Don't Look Now, The Exorcist, The Wickerman all have one thing in common; they shied away from quick thrills. Using relatively few easy jumps and the bare minimum of bloodshed, they work on a purer level of dread. Daisy Chain does just this.

The first thing that impresses is the direction. Aisling Walsh, best known for 2003's Song for a Raggy Boy, may not be working from a script of her own but the direction is calculated and assured. The imagery retains a painterly quality, the sets are draped in a muddy colour scheme which makes the outside grim and the inside soft and warm. Images such as the removal of the cross from the wall (only to have left an impression on the wall) and the barren wasteland quality to the setting (shot in County Mayo) leave each shot with a resonant bleakness that is nearly as harrowing as the story itself.

The acting from the entire cast is solid but the highlight must be newcomer Mhairi Anderson, playing the eponymous Daisy. The child actor shifts between menace, and adorable with impressive subtlety. Between playfully skipping around to suddenly kissing Samantha Morton directly on the lips, the kid manages to scare the bejesus out of you by doing very little.

And while people do get killed in this film we usually only see the end of the event rather than the beginning. The characters don't delve into hysterics, nor do they stupidly allow themselves to be a vulnerable for long. Instead life is shown to be normal despite the abnormal circumstances. The mayhem surrounding the main characters is only a by product of the strange intangible fear that exists within the (albeit hazard free) household. Shots are longer and issues are more repressed- living with Daisy proves to be more scary than living without (in the greater sense of the word).

Trust independent film making to lean toward the aforementioned classics above (Daisy Chain even features one or two nods to The Wickermna) and having the understanding to know what really affects in horror. Daisy Chain doesn't make you jump out of your seat, it instead creeps under your skin and lasts for days.