Film Name: Surprise!
Director: David Gardner
Writers: David Gardner, Jo Overfield
Starring: Dodie Finamore, Jonathan Cobb, Ross Henson
Produced by ARK Pictures
A working class mum discovers a terrifying secret at the surprise party from hell
In a new interview on Blazing Minds ahead of the world premiere at Horror-on-Sea, I got a chance to ask co-writer/director David Gardner a few questions about his film Surprise!.
Surprise! will play at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday 19th January at 15:00hrs
Q. Your film has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect?
A. A surprise? I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s a film about a working-class mum who learns to become a winner.
Q. You co-wrote the script with Jo Overfield. What were some of your influences when writing the script and what was your process for writing together?
A. We came in with a lot of influences, but the main ones were: ‘The Sink’ (BBC Radio 4), ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, and ‘Blue Jam’. Probably ‘Inside Number 9’ as well. Writing with Jo was one of the best parts of the project. We would get together once a week and bounce ideas around and then each go away and have a go at writing some pages and then keep the bits from each that we liked. A lot of reading drafts aloud as well.
I’m the big horror fan and Jo is mostly a comedy writer, so we working on making something that paid tribute to the horrors I mentioned above, but also would be funny.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Aside from the ones I just mentioned, ‘The Shining’ for the central composition, ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ for the close-ups and ‘Punch-Drunk’ for the one take element. I also wanted lots of pastel colours and folksy arts and crafts style decorations for the set.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Not too many – because it was one take, we had to have the script as tight as we could get it before the shoot. There were A LOT of revisions of the script prior to filming and we were still tinkering with it a couple of days before. But during the shoot, I’d say there were 2 or 3 very minor changes at most.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Recording the kids was fun, getting them to do all the sound effects. Getting the cast and crew to say ‘Hail Satan’ for our group photo instead of ‘cheese’, hearing the cast say some of the ridiculous lines out loud and finally seeing the blood effect look so good on the last take of the day.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. We did. A lorry drove through some power cables up the road just after we finished our first take and we had no power to carry on filming. For a moment, I thought it really was going to be a one take film in the truest sense of the word. The first take was actually a pretty good one, so it wouldn’t have been a disaster, but luckily the power came back on and we could get a couple more takes filmed.
Q. What makes stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I’m not sure about different, but I think the films that stand out are the ones where the filmmakers are fearless and not embarrassed to articulate something that is deeply personal/embarrassingly revealing, and simultaneously taps into a universal primal dread and fear.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they enjoy themselves. I hope it makes them laugh.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m writing a sci-fi horror comedy musical feature film in the vein of films like ‘The Fly’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and a short horror film about being cold in bed.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Be kind to yourself and don’t feel bad if you aren’t immediately the greatest filmmaker of all time. Write lots, and then and ask some nice people whose opinions you respect and trust to read your scripts and give you feedback.
Make lots of cheap films – you don’t have to show the first ones you make to anybody, but make them anyway – even if it’s about something dumb like not being able to find a shoe – and learn from the mistakes, because you will definitely make some if you have never made a film before and know that that’s okay. And then just keep going and do your best to be better. And only make stuff you care about and that you would want to watch.
Surprise! will play at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday 19th January at 15:00hrs
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!
