FAQ

Our overriding aim was to create a very good film, one whose worth vastly outweighed the sum of its parts. We had seven weeks and a production budget of £5000 to create something of substance and stature - two words so closely associated with B-movie horror flicks!

There was a natural predisposition towards the cult horror genre on account of the popularity, accessibility and cost of the films. Directors such as Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson made their marks with productions of this ilk, huge footsteps to follow in- though we like to think we tried!

Tough. The shooting schedule was demanding and exhausting, cast and crew working a minimum of 12 hour days in harsh and often uncomfortable conditions. Until one is covered from head to toe in sticky fake blood, set at an impossible angle on the floor and told to lie still for an hour at 4 a.m. after 10 hours of shooting, one hasn’t quite grasped the concepts of harsh and uncomfortable! But if Bruce Campbell could do it, so could we!

The production was coordinated in as professional a manner as possible. It was our express intention to create a film with real style and crispness, one that looked far more impressive than a £5000 budget would suggest. There was a huge amount of begging, borrowing and stealing and we relied heavily on the benevolence and good will of others in aiding us. Exhaustively, we got our hands on props and effects make-up from Creature Effects and the Reel-Eye company, an incredible camera operator and a DSR 500, a black box studio space in London in which professional set carpenters and set designers worked round the clock to build 4 magnificent sets for free, a huge old house in the North West London suburbs for location shooting, not to mention calling in as many favours as possible from friends and family to fill our party scenes and take on necessary roles. The number of people who went out of their way for us is very humbling and we wish to extend our heart felt thanks to them. It wouldn’t have been possible without them.

Shooting was split into a preliminary two week shoot on set, followed by a gruelling two week night shoot on location, another two weeks on set and a final week on location in a public school who lent us the use of their woods

Bearing in mind that only a handful of professionals worked on the production, the dedication and commitment of the cast and crew was second to none, working six and seven day weeks to keep to schedule. Why they didn’t lynch us is a question we ask even now! Vaughn (the A.D.) broke his toe three weeks into shooting and hobbled round for the next four weeks with one shoe perpetually off, one of our actors was trapped inside a bed (don’t ask) attached to one of the springs and the digital camera holding all our continuity photos helpfully erased itself mid way through shoot as but a few examples of the ordeals we faced

Originally, Dan (Writer/ Director) developed the idea on a smaller scale. The original script was developed as a shorter project involving much fewer actors. It was during script development that the length and scope of the idea began to take shape and we subsequently explored putting it together as a feature, which we eventually did.

As the ball began rolling and we began to put together a budget, the cast and crew grew accordingly, though there was a great deal of compromise and make do due to the limitations we had to work with. The crew learnt an incredible amount on the hoof, everyone pitching in and working in coordination so as to realise our aims. They were fantastic.

‘Dark Night’ contains many of the characteristics of the cult horror films, and all the necessary homages! But we looked to move away from a purely ‘spam in a can’ mentality, injecting more character development and what we termed ‘plausible high drama’ into the script. Also, we tried to anglicise what is often seen as an American genre. Like ‘28 Days Later’ and ‘Dog Soldiers’, films also made on relatively small budgets, the script and actors had an English flavour to them, one that we hope will appeal to an English audience.

‘Dark Night’ has been an incredible experience. We believe we have achieved a level of professionalism and entertainment value that far exceeds the facilities and equipment available - the sum being far greater than the parts. It was a massively joint effort, everyone pitching in as makeshift crew, and ideas were discussed and developed as a team. With a budget of £5000, and dreams involving millions, we believe we have created a truly entertaining and enjoyable film.

In all, 45 litres of fake blood (golden syrup and food colouring!), 3 kilograms of organs, three dismembered bodies, two severed arms one rotting corpse, one severed head, oh, and one heart