After several years away from directing, Pat was lured back into the filmmaking trenches after a Twitter exchange about a ridiculous title got out of control. With no warning at all, Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead went from tongue-in-cheek tweet to ‘go’ project in the space of an afternoon.
From having the #1 Kickstarter film project on the planet through to Pat unwittingly addressing over 2 million people whilst sitting in his pants, the journey to get the movie made was a rollercoaster like no other. And that was *before* the cameras started rolling…
Unseen footage and unheard anecdotes are the order of the day. Join Pat as he reminisces about a gore-soaked musical that you haven’t even seen yet, as he sets out to reclaim his position as one of the wildest indie horror directors in the country.
In another interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask filmmaker Pat Higgins a few questions about what we can expect from his latest interactive show Pat Higgins’ Masterclass: Pat Higgins vs Powertool Cheerleaders which will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 15th January at 15:00hrs
Q. You are returning to Horror-on-Sea Film Festival once again with one of the festival highlights, a brand-new interactive Pat Higgins’ Masterclass: Pat Higgins vs Powertool Cheerleaders. Can you please tell me a bit about what we can expect?
A. We’re deep in post-production for POWERTOOL CHEERLEADERS VS THE BOYBAND OF THE SCREECHING DEAD, and this year’s show is partly about shooting that movie. It’s also about screenwriting and indie filmmaking in general, of course. I bloody love doing talks at Horror-on-Sea. They’re the greatest audience in the world, with so many filmmakers and insanely talented people knocking around that it would be incredibly intimidating speaking in front of them if they weren’t so absolutely lovely.
Q. Your latest talk is slightly different to some of your previous masterclasses, as you focus on your return to filmmaking with the upcoming horror musical Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead? What influenced your decision to return to filmmaking with a horror musical, and why did you decide to make this the subject of your latest talk?
A. I’ve always wanted to make a musical, and once pitched to Jim Eaves and Al Ronald that we might make any potential third movie in the DEATH TALES series (following BORDELLO DEATH TALES and NAZI ZOMBIE DEATH TALES) a musical. So, that idea had been knocking around a while and then, when the brilliant Charlie Bond got PTCLVBBSD up and running as a ‘go’ project I suggested that maybe this one might be the one to be a musical. Thankfully, she went for it.
It seemed fairly natural to have the process of getting the movie made at the core of the talk, since the project has covered so many firsts for me (from successful crowdfunding through to filming in a pandemic) that there’s a lot of interesting new stuff to cover even if people have seen my other eight or so talks at previous Horror-on-Sea festivals!
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead and what we can expect from the film?
A. It’s set on a Britain’s got Talent style TV show, where the rivalry between a cheerleading act and a saccharine boy band bubbles over into dark magic, powertools and a body count. We’ve got blood, jokes, a dozen or so songs and hopefully everything you might expect from a movie with this title. It stars a wonderful collection of familiar faces from the UK horror scene and beyond; well-established horror people like Charlie Bond, James Hamer-Morton and Dani Thompson alongside familiar faces that might be best known for their work in other genres, like David Schaal and Paul Zenon. It’s ridiculously good fun and I think audiences and going to have a blast with it.
Q. When can we expect the Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead to be released?
A. We’re deep in post-production at the moment, so we’re still really in the thick of it. We’ll be hitting some of our favourite festivals as the year progresses and then we’ll be looking at our options in terms of how to get the movie out to the biggest audience we can.
Q. Due to the pandemic Horror-on-Sea was cancelled in 2021 so you were unable to perform your Pat Higgins Masterclass at the event. Is this the same talk you had planned for 2021 or has this now changed for 2022?
A. No, this is a whole new one. The one I’d written for the cancelled 2021 festival was called HALF DEAD and was a bit of a rant, really; it was about the way my relationship with the horror genre has changed as I’ve got older. It was my midlife crisis show, basically, and I guess it was the closest thing to stand-up I’ve written since I quit doing that in 2002. I’ll either dig it up again at some point or rip it to pieces and use the best bits in other projects. I’m pretty ruthless like that, and I never let good creativity go to waste. There are lyrics in PTCLVBBSD that I wrote nearly 30 years ago.
Q. Fans of the masterclass will have fond memories of the infamous Scissors Man. Can we expect a return of the character with your latest talk?
A. He’s sitting this one out. I suspect the prosthetic has fallen apart, but I hope we can coax Paul to resurrect him at some point in the future. For those unfamiliar, the Scissors Man was our take on the Astmosfear-style horror host. He used to pop up on the telly and interrupt me during my talks, which shifted the whole thing into some very weird territory. It also meant I had to actually rehearse properly in order to interact with him!
Q. What do you hope people will take away from the talk?
A. In an ideal world? A spark. Some kind of spark. Either a reignition of one that may have dwindled or a whole new one. Because we only get one shot through this life, so you might as well try and do the stuff you really want to do. More realistically? I hope they find a couple of bits funny, a couple of bits informative and then they go and watch PTCLVBBSD when it comes out.
Q. I would like to follow up regarding one of your previous films The House of the Witchpit. So far two versions of the film have been released, but then subsequently destroyed. Do you have any update of when a third and final version of the film may be released?
A. It’s wildly different from the other two; we had a whole load of new shooting in 2019. The final version is locked, beautifully sound mixed (by the brilliant Jai Gungadin) and all ready to face the world. I have therefore, of course, locked it up tightly in a box and not shown it to anyone.
The day will come.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are working on?
A. Oh, good God yes. Always. The focus is CHAINSAW FAIRYTALE, aka FAIRYTALE PRINCESSES VS THE HORROR GENRE, which we’ll hopefully be able to make some announcements about soon. We’ve also got PUNCTURE WOUNDS, which is a vicious little lo-fi three-hander which I hope to get into production in the not-too-distant future.
One of the best scripts I’ve ever written, a horror-thriller called YOUR LYING EYES, has also returned home to me after the US company it was optioned to were unable to get the budget together… So, we’ll have to see with that one. Any companies looking for a tight-as-a-drum thriller with a unique narrative and visual hook that can be shot for under £2m should give me a shout.
Q. If someone was looking to write their own horror movie, what advice would you give them when getting started?
A. Care. Care a lot. About the audience, about the script, about the people you involve with the project, about why you want the project to exist. Since digital production became so piss-easy, there are a million horror movies out on the market. The thing that can make a new script or feature stand out is that level of care. The project must have a reason to exist, because the marketplace is full to the brim with other movies.
If you care, you can achieve anything.
Provided you focus on what you want, treat everyone really well and then never, ever give up.
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!
