Film Name: Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4 / Shhhhh
Director: Geoff Harmer
Writer(s): (Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4) – Peter Hearn / (Shhhhh) Geoff Harmer, Teagan O’Brien
Starring: (Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4) – Amber Doig-Thorne, Georgie Ellis, Jake Wilmot, George Heppenstall, Katie Sainsbury, Annabella Rich / (Shhhhh) – Teagan O’Brien, Charlotte Barnes
Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4 – A small-town paranormal investigator Agnes Carmichael uses her supernatural abilities to save the possessed in her neighbourhood. With her haunted friend William Williams by her side, she decides to assist the town in her own inimitable way, using tea and toast to help remove those ghosts.
In a new interview on Blazing Minds ahead of Horror-on-Sea I got a chance to ask co-writer/director Geoff Harmer a few questions about his short film Shhhhh and Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4.
Shhhhh – A social media influencer struggles to cope with the idea that her toxicity could have caused a follower to commit suicide.
Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4 and Shhhhh will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 17th January 8.00pm
Q. You have two shorts which have been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival; ‘Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4’ & Shhhhh’. Can you tell us what we can expect from both films?
A. ‘Frightseers’ is a Web-Series that we’re working on. We’ve shot 6 episodes so far out of the 42 that are written. The best way to describe it, is to think of Miss Marple and Agatha Christie crossed with Ghostbusters.
‘Shhhhh’ started out as a short film for Video Shop Tales of Terror II, but tonally it wasn’t a good fit for that anthology, so we’ve decided to release it as a short in its own right.
Q. You co-wrote the script for Shhhhh with Teagan O’Brien. What were some of your influences when writing the script and what was your process for working together?
A. Yeah, it was mostly done whilst eating food! A lot of throwing ideas at each other down the pub, lots of note taking, and trying ideas out. Was a lot of fun.
Q. Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4 was written by Peter Hearn, who has also written the other episodes in the series. Why did you choose to show Episode 4 of the series at Horror-on-Sea and does it make a difference if you haven’t seen the first 3 episodes?
A. ‘Frightseers’ are a bunch of short stories about various “seers”. Each episode will be a standalone
tale, but there will be little elements that connect them all together as a whole. You don’t necessarily need to watch the other episodes to enjoy this one, but we really wanted everyone to get a taste for what we are making and this episode has a lot of what we want to show everyone.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the films?
A. For ‘Frightseers’ are main influences are films like ‘Extra Ordinary’, ‘The ‘Burbs’ and ‘Ghostbusters’. Especially ‘Extra Ordinary’, which is such a fun and quirky film, with some fabulous performances.
‘Shhhhh’ is influenced heavily by ‘Hammer House of Horror’ and ‘Insidious’. I wanted to make something a little creepy, as well as create a new character for people to fear.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original scripts during filming?
A. There are always little tweaks along the way, but never anything drastic. Planning well in advance, helps with waste. I don’t like shooting stuff if I know we won’t use it. But I also like to have a little flexibility in the shoot for changes to happen on the fly. Sometimes you don’t see things until you are there doing it. One example of that was in ‘Frightseers’, when our Agnes (played by Bella Rich) see’s a pentacle made out of a white powder. We shot a couple of different responses, all on the fly, just to see what worked best.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. During ‘Frightseers’, I just loved seeing Bella Rich bring Agnes Carmichael to life. When she is in the costume and embodies the character, it’s just wonderful to watch. As for ‘Shhhhh’, it was shot in a day, the pacing was quick and tight, so not a lot of room to relax during takes. The whole experience was great though, I’ve worked with both Teagan and Charlotte before, and they are both incredible. I also love working with Nathan and his crew, which is always a joy.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. The only real issue across both of the shoots was probably during ‘Frightseers’. The house we were shooting in is situated across from a church, which was hosting a wedding. With weddings comes bells! So we had to shot MOS stuff during the time the bells were ringing, and just jigged the shoot around a bit.
Q. What makes these shorts stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. ‘Frightseers’ will stand out because of the characters and situations. We’re going full on quirk! So people should enjoy the ride!
‘Shhhhh’ is a little chiller of a tale, connecting old Hammer style of films to a modern story.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the films?
A. I just hope they enjoy both shorts and want to see more work from all involved. The ‘Frightseers’ webisodes will be hitting the internet at some point this year, so fingers crossed seeing this episode
will give people and hunger to see the others.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m currently continuing ‘Frightseers’ with Peter and Candice. We currently finishing the edits on the previous episodes we’ve shot, be we also need to setup shooting the next lot of episodes too. Alongside that, I’m currently writing a bunch of scripts. Not all Horror, but I’m really excited about the projects.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Network. Network. Network. And… don’t be a dick.
You can find out more about Geoff Harmer on the Website and following social media BlueSky Instagram
Frightseers: Haunted – Episode 4 and Shhhhh will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 17th January 8.00pm
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
