Film Name: Senseless
Director: Sam Mason Bell
Writer: Jackson Batchelor, Sam Mason Bell
Starring: Jackson Batchelor, Simon Berry, Amanda Bourne, Ryan Carter, Julia Darley
When Jason storms out on his wife he seeks refuge in a nearby forest. Little does he know the forest is plagued with lost souls manifesting in his darkest desires and innermost fears lost in the forest.
In my first interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask ‘Senseless’ writer-director Sam Mason Bell a few questions about what we can expect from his film.
Senseless will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 12:30 pm on Saturday 14th January
Q. Your film Senseless has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Senseless is a surrealist nightmare, mostly dialogue-free with a fantastic score from Craigus Barry and full of strange sites, sit back and take the journey!
Q. What were some of your influences when co-writing the script for Senseless with Jackson Batchelor and what was your process for writing together?
A. I personally really wanted to tell a tale of a man stepping into an “evil” woods but when the pandemic occurred we wanted to find new ways to tell stories with minimal cast and crew this led us to Senseless. I was influenced by the primal idea of fight or flight within panic attacks, and we wanted to find a way to mould that into an evil dead survival horror.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. After seeing Day of The Stranger by Tom Lee Rutter we really wanted to explore different surrealist landscapes as Tom does so brilliantly. We decided for this film to use a lot of green screen work creating strange ghostly imagery and allowing more of the indie horror community to be involved when we were all in lockdown. For our monsters we wanted them to have the manic energy of enjoying the violence and chaos they are bringing upon Jason. Jackson was keen on the monsters to reflect Jason’s anxiety, we also both decided would be easier if we played the monsters! For our animation sequence we were lucky to work with an awesome local artist India Kim Animations I really wanted that bit to feel like the animated scenes in Pink Floyd’s The Wall, to continue that surrealist journey throughout the film.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Not so much during filming but more during the edit. Production took 6 days in total with 4 in the woods night to day but the post-production took 2 years. In particular, it took me a long time to be happy with some of the ethereal ghost world, we added Simon Berry and Chris Mills a year later after production to add some depth to that section and for me, it made it a lot stronger.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. I loved watching Ryan Carter performing, those were always my favourite moments once he got used to not expressing emotions through words and instead through physicality, I knew it was working! He is a fantastic actor who brought a lot of soul to Jason. Also, I loved seeing Jackson as a monster, it’s the only scene which I shot instead of him, it had loads of setups but it worked so well, he was bloody terrifying!
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. As we were shooting mostly at night during August 2020, we were fortunate to be left alone to get the job done. We quickly learnt that Ryan was every bug in the woods’ favourite food which he did not enjoy. I also don’t think he enjoyed being buried, but hey all in the name of art!
Q. What makes Senseless stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I always think this a hard question to answer because horror offers so much uniqueness in every film, but I do feel with Senseless we found a way to be incredibly fantastical on a minimal budget, which thankfully was supported via Indiegogo and our awesome producers. It’s rare to see an actor carry an entire film and barely speak but Ryan does it perfectly. Also, I adore the music score, it is its own art in itself.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. Everyone who has seen the film takes a different interpretation and as I kind of see the film like a walking nightmare I just hope they go along with the experience!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. This year we’ve currently been in production on two features, Incessant and I Curse This Land. Incessant is my first body horror about a sound parasite that lives in the woods unfortunately for a couple on the rocks turning their life into a living hell. I Curse This Land is Jacksons’ second feature after Monstrous Disunion and is a folky witchy horror. Incessant is currently in post-production, and I Curse This Land will finish shooting in December.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. The most obvious advice is the best advice. Do it, go out there make a film learn from mistakes and support your indie community. Horror is your best friend, it can really see the world for what it is, indie film lives and breathes horror.
Senseless will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 12:30 pm on Saturday 14th January. You can purchase tickets and merchandise for the festival on the website 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!
