Fredi Nwaka is looking forwards to his first feature film screening in the UK’s biggest horror festival – Arrow FrightFest.
His horror-comedy Are We Dead Yet?, will premiere on Saturday 24 August in Leicester Square.
Starring rapper Professor Green as well as actor Charles Venn from Casualty and EastEnders, the film sees a gang of bank robbers taking on one last heist before they go straight.
But their robbery has a curse attached to it – so when the motley crew hide from police in a deserted castle, they realise things are about to take a turn for the ghostly worse.
One shooting challenge was that the film was shot in Caversham Castle in Berkshire and Standon Hall in Staffordshire, as well as London.
Fredi Nwaka explains: “I’ve always loved horror, so for my first directing role I wanted to try something different with an urban horror. It was very challenging as it was my first feature film and working in many locations with little or no budget. And as it was my first feature I made a load of mistakes!”
“But I had a great team of about 80 cast and crew who were really productive, and I couldn’t have pulled it off without all their help and positivity, they supported me through and through and I couldn’t have done it without them. I learnt a lot from making that and now I’m in my element and ready.
The 48 year old actor-turned-director adds: “Caversham Castle is said to be haunted, so it had an eerie feeling the whole time we were shooting there. It really added to the overall performance – none of the cast and crew wanted to be alone in any part of it!”
Despite the creepy surroundings, Fredi had family support in the film, with his young sons acting in a playground scene and his mother playing a churchgoer in their London location.
Fredi has just finished shooting a rom-com and is looking forward to writing a psychological horror as well an Are We Dead Yet? sequel.
He adds: “I think secretly everyone loves a good horror as well as a good laugh, so you can’t go wrong if you combine the two as we do.
“I got into directing mainly because I was tired of seeing the same old representation of black actors and directors. All I ever saw was guns, drugs, prison and crime so I wanted to change the narrative in all the things that I write, direct and produce. Hopefully by making something like “Are We Dead Yet?” it will inspire other black writers and directors to produce content that is not stereotypical and non challenging.
“The great thing about FrightFest is that it’s the biggest gathering of horror fans in the UK, so it will be a real honour to play in front of so many fans next month.”
FrightFest horror festival runs from 22-26 August and screens horrors from all over the world, with “Are we Dead Yet?” screening on Saturday 24 August at 8.30pm.
For more information on FrightFest, please visit http://www.frightfest.co.uk/
You can find out more about Fredi Nwaka on IMDB and the website www.fredinwaka.co.uk
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!
