Film Name: Burnt Flowers
Director: Michael Fausti
Writer: Michael Fausti
Starring: Laurence R. Harvey, Amber Doig-Thorne, Dani Thompson, Ayvianna Snow, Sean Botha,
Annabella Rich
A visit from a mysterious femme fatale leads Detective Franc Alban to a 1960’s serial killer who was
never caught, a violent gangster and ultimately herself. Past crimes and obsessive love collide in this
haunting and surreal Horror-Noir.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask writer-director Michael Fausti a few questions about the film ‘Burnt Flowers‘
‘Burnt Flowers’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Saturday 20th January at 20:00pm
Q. Your film Burnt Flowers has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Burnt Flowers is not your standard Horror film and indeed is very different to our previous feature EXIT (2020). It follows a detective, Franc Alban played by Amber Doig-Thorne Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), who after a visit from a mysterious femme fatale, played by Ayvianna Snow How to Kill Monsters (2023) is tasked with finding a Missing Person named Austin Kyteller.
“Burnt Flowers” is heavily inspired by Sixties cinema, and again we use our characteristic playing with narrative time periods. The film switches between the 1960s and the 1990s, with a brief 1980s interlude. Essentially it’s a Neo-Noir, mixed with Slasher and Giallo elements. We describe it as “Gangsters, Guns and Go Go Dancers”. What’s not to love?
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Burnt Flowers?
A. “Burnt Flowers” is influenced by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by way of “The Wizard of Oz” and Little Red Riding Hood. The more observant viewer will see references to all of these in both costuming and some of the dialogue… but that’s all I’m going to say right now!
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Aside from the writing inspirations, I also wanted to make a film that had the feel of the 1960s. So guess I’m also influenced by many of the films of that period, both in terms of style, colour, palette and the 1960s London scene. With the colour palette, we wanted very strong reds and oranges and so that was the inspiration for a lot of the costume and Mise-en-Scene. I think I’ve said this before, but I’ve always been influenced by the films of Michael Powell, Nicholas Roeg and Jean Rollin. An unusual mix of influences! But I really hope we pulled it off. I guess we’ll see…!
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Actually, yeah, quite a few. I’d asked director and actor Andy Elias Tales From The Great War (2023) of Ciao Handy fame to come on board for a small cameo role. He agreed to play Danny Varda. However, during shooting it became obvious that the character of Danny, and the character I play, Tony Rose, had some great, on-screen chemistry! So we wrote additional scenes for the character, who became a more principal character than he’d initially been in the original script. Andy is an incredible screen presence and a great supporter of our work, working with him and also Kemal Yildirim as cinematographer, really made it a dream. I think basically I just wanted my mates on set!
We were also struck by storm Eunice during filming, we actually had a Red Danger to Life Weather Warning, and so we ended up losing a day of filming. Unfortunately, that also meant that we lost a day with the vintage cars that appeared in the film’s final act. As a consequence of this, one of the deaths had to be changed. SPOILER ALERT. During the course of her Missing Persons investigation, Franc Alban uncovers evidence of a 1960s serial killer who was never caught. Consequently, there are a number of deaths depicted in the film. So we basically had to significantly change the last death due to the storm. This in turn affected elements of the ending of “Burnt Flowers”. But I guess these changes worked out for the best. I’m really happy with the end result.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I think one of my favourite moments, if I’m being honest, is actually filming with a young, really talented actor called Michal Szpunt, who plays Dave Hazel in the film. We do a catalogue of horrendous things to Michal’s character on screen! We’ve been joking with him that we’re not sitting next to his Mum during the screening of “Burnt Flowers”! Michal is an extraordinary talent and completely threw himself into the role. He was really up for all the terrible things that we did to him! Which I won’t say because… spoilers…!! He was a pleasure to work with, as indeed was Roe Haven who plays Kathleen Alban in the film. Again, Roe is brilliant to work and totally up for anything. I remember her infamously shouting “more blood, more blood” during one particular scene! Well, quite a few actually! Working with indie horror royalty like Dani Thompson, Laurence R. Harvey and Ayvianna Snow, was a genuine pleasure and I hope to have the privilege of working with each of them again. They’re all consummate professionals, but really easy to work with. Beyond that, some of my favourite moments…? Well I guess filming with Andy Elias, I’m really pleased with the way the scenes between our two characters play out.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Well, as I previously mentioned, we had a Red Danger to Life Weather Warning which stopped a day of filming. We also actually experienced quite a bit of paranormal activity whilst filming. I know this sounds somewhat convenient publicity, but it actually happened!
We were filming in a manor house in Hertfordshire, which has a long history and we had all kinds of creepy goings on. One day we had Laurence R Harvey on set and all of our electrical equipment died.
Everything…! Cameras, sound equipment… Nothing would actually work. Alice Stevenson, who plays a psychic, Iris Young, in the film is actually a psychic medium. She intervened and asked the entity or whatever was interfering with our equipment, to leave us alone and let us finish the job. I’m pleased to say it worked. Yeah, we’ve got various creepy stories about the building and hearing strange stuff on the audio. So yeah, storms, ghosts… I mean beyond that the rest of it was a breeze!
I also have to add, and he’ll probably kill me for this, that the first day we had Cinematographer Kemal Yildirim on set, he had created a particularly atmospheric scene and used a significant amount of haze. For various reasons the smoke alarms in the building we were in, hadn’t been isolated and so we evacuated not only the Manor House that we were filming in, but also many other buildings in the vicinity. This meant a large crowd of people basically had to wait outside whilst the maintenance crew tried to turn off the fire alarms and prevent the Fire Brigade from turning up. Yeah, that was a fun moment! We have some hilarious behind-the-scenes footage of the exact moment the alarms went off which makes us giggle every time we see it.
Q. What makes Burnt Flowers stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I think that Cinematographer Kemal Yildirim has captured some incredible visuals and created a world that, hopefully, the viewer becomes totally immersed in. Kemal is amazing and I’m extremely pleased with the look of “Burnt Flowers”, which is not typical of today’s horror films. In terms of genre, I think that “Burnt Flowers” is also atypical, in so far as it doesn’t neatly fit neatly into a horror film sub- genre. Whilst we draw on some horror genre tropes, particularly from Italian Giallo Films, there are also overt stylistic borrowings from Film Noir and the Gangster film.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I want people to feel like they’ve actually watched a film from the 60s, and that they’ve been immersed in a surreal and strange world with its own rules and values. I would like to leave the audience with an uneasy sense that the world of “Burnt Flowers” is leaking into ours and I hope that the visuals and characters of the film will stay with the audience after the screening.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes I do actually … I’m not going to give too much away because that’s not my way!! … but I have a completed script and we’re currently in Pre-Production. We’re hoping to be in Production with our third feature this summer (2024). This film will be different from “Burnt Flowers”, and indeed our previous films. Yeah, it’s gonna be an interesting one… No hints or spoilers though, not even for you!
I’m also going to be working with Andy Elias and Kemal Yildirim on some of their upcoming projects.
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking, what advice would you give them?
A. Surround yourself with a good team of people, who both share in your vision and believe in the project: Negativity is the enemy of creativity. Ensure your script is solid and achievable. Your script will change during filming, so be open to new and alternative ideas, and different pathways which you didn’t initially envisage. Avoid rigidity in your thinking, at all stages of the project, from script to final edit, be open to new possibilities. Finally, never give up, no matter what is thrown at you.
You can find out more about Fausti Films and purchase their previous film Exit on the website www.Faustifilms.com and keep up to date on the following social media Twitter – Instagram – Facebook
‘Burnt Flowers’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Saturday 20th January at 20:00pm
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!
