Exclusive Horror-on-Sea interview with ‘Killer Party, Vicious Valentine and Ghost London’ writer/director Nina Romain
Film Names: Killer Party, Vicious Valentine and Ghost London
Director: Nina Romain
Writer: Nina Romain
Starring: (Killer Party) Aoife Hogan, Erina Jamila Nordin (Vicious Valentine) Nick de Lillo, David Matthew Dooner, Malcolm Modele (Ghost London) David Matthew Dooner
Killer Party – Two friends are making their way through a deserted forest to a burlesque event, dressed as a latex-clad Little Red Riding Hood and good-time 80s party animal. But will they arrive at the party in one piece…or at all?
Vicious Valentine – Two young film makers are in Los Angeles shooting a docu about the creepiest place to have a Valentine’s Day date. When they find themselves exploring a deserted zoo, despite the warnings of their friend in Venice Beach (LA actor Nick DeLillo), things start to go wrong. Is someone stalking them on the Valentine’s Day from hell? Malcolm Modele and David Dooner play two filmmakers shooting a docu in Griffith Park Zoo on LA’s outskirts, closed since 1966. It is now is a wasteland of abandoned cages and deserted fake “caves” that the animals had been kept in, littered with rubbish and covered in graffiti. Malcolm and David’s characters find some Valentine’s Day style gifts – as David’s character uneasily asks: “Who leaves random roses in a place like this?” – and they start to realize they are in fact being stalked in the zoo by their own killer “date”.
Ghost London – In another interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask writer/director Nina Romain a few questions about what we can expect from her 3 horror shorts; Killer Party, Vicious Valentine and Ghost London which will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 15th January at 12:30hrs
Q. Your short horrors Killer Party, Vicious Valentine and Ghost London have been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the films?
A. It’s going to be great to just be back at Horror-on-Sea again and see the horror fam once more! Hmm, not sure what to expect from my micro horrors, maybe just something unexpected, hopefully? Killer Party and Ghost London were both shot in my hometown London during lockdown, and Vicious Valentine was filmed in Los Angeles just before.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for the three films?
Vicious Valentine was wonderful to shoot. I was working with Brit actors David Matthew Dooner and Malcolm Modele as well as LA actor Nick de Lillo, who were all incredible. The idea behind the script was that David and Malcolm’s characters are shooting a docu in LA about the weirdest place to have a Valentine’s Day date. They decide to visit Griffith Park Zoo which closed in the 1960s but has been left open. The former animals’ cages are still open to the public, so we just walked in, the walls scrawled with graffiti, empty dead-end passageways covered with litter and decaying scraps of rotting clothing. The perfect horror set doesn’t need props or dressing, you just go in and start shooting.
Killer Party is a three-minute micro horror about two friends heading for a costume party, thinking they’re going to have a great time, but they take an ill-advised short cut through a forest and strange things start happening…as you’d expect! I think I just wanted to show how you should never assume you know what’s going on in anyone’s life. Just because you know someone as this fun, lovable party animal type, doesn’t mean that’s what’s really going on beneath the surface.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the films?
A. Ghost London was inspired by 28 Days Later (2002), probably one of my favourite horrors. I’ve always loved Danny Boyle’s classic; it’s nearly 20 years old now and still really disturbing in the opening shots of a deserted London. So, when lockdown first hit and central London was pretty much empty, my actor friend David Dooner agreed to meet me at Piccadilly Circus really early when hardly anyone was around, and we shot this tale of a businessman who’s been on a spa-style digital detox so has no idea what’s happened. So, his character arrives in an abandoned London – completely unaware the entire city is closed down and his whole life has finished.
I wanted to try to recreate some of Doyle’s take on an empty city, only in my case drenched in sunshine and with an air of eerie peacefulness at first. For the poster, I worked with the talented designer Maz Faccini; I mentioned wanting a blurred, almost hallucinatory look to the city, to demonstrate David’s character isn’t sure about what he’s seeing any more, and she did an amazing job. Horror fans will pick up my homage to 28 Days Later in the poster as well!
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script for any of the films during filming?
I didn’t plan it, but one weird thing is that I actually ended up making an appearance (of a kind) in Killer Party. The character in the ‘80s outfit is voiced perfectly by Erin Jamil Nordin, but the body we see wearing a terrifyingly 80s frilly dress is actually mine, right down to the fingerless red gloves and matching bubble-gum pink nails. What can I say, I love ‘80s outfits! In complete contrast, Aoife Hogan gets to wear a very cool latex dress as she plays the nemesis nightmare who attacks Erin/me. Bad girls get the best clothes!
Q. What were some of your favourite moments when filming the shorts?
A. With all three micro horrors, I wanted to create a sense of fear in broad daylight, both in London and LA, where everything disturbing is in glorious sunshine, rather than the more traditional creeping towards you out of the darkness. All the characters aren’t tormented and evil – they’re just normal 20 something girls-or-guys-next-door types. Do they actually deserve what happens to them? I guess that’s up to you to decide.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Well, in Ghost London one memorable moment happened when I wanted to reference the 28 Days Later scene where Cillian Murphy’s character Jim finds a bag of cash in the empty streets. The money was dropped by someone who grabbed all their money and was trying to bribe or barter their way out of London when the infection hit. But then the situation is hopeless, so their cash means nothing.
I happened to be able to borrow a friend’s prop of an ingot, as they worked as a jeweller once and when they left the industry, they melted down their rings and necklaces into a solid silver ingot, weighing a kilo. It’s not actually that valuable, but David’s character finds this ingot which I reasoned some poor soul thought they could use to bribe their way out. As David realises this and what’s happened, and how desperate the situation is, he drops it in panic and starts running. At this point in the shoot, a couple of cops walked around the corner and saw a silver ingot and two people running away at top speed, and they asked diplomatically what might be going on…
Another time David’s character realises in Chinatown there’s no one left alive in London, and he freaks out, kicking over a nearby rubbish bin and scattering newspapers across the deserted street. A street cleaner suddenly arrived out of nowhere, saw what we’d done in his freshly tidied street, and gave us a complete bollocking! We promised to tidy up everything immediately after the scene, but don’t think he believed us though…
Q. What makes Killer Party, Vicious Valentine and Ghost London stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. How about a triumph of enthusiasm over a limited budget in lockdown? It’s probably the actors, who all were amazing to work with.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film? If someone was looking to write their own film, what advice would you give them?
A. Um…You can make a short out of anything if you try hard enough? Just start with an idea, no matter how small or crazy it might seem, that makes sense to you, and centre your script around it. Work with what you’ve got and make any drawbacks an integral part of your story as well.
You can find out more about the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on the website https://www.horror-on-sea.com/
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!
