Film Name: for ‘Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge’
Segments: Invasion of Studio 69″, “Liz’s Low Price Lifeless Parlour”, “Striptease Massacre 8: Stripping Away the Patriarchy”, “The Guvnor”, “Trashed”, “Video Dungeon II”
Director(s): Alex Churchyard – “Invasion of Studio 69”, “Liz’s Low Price Lifeless Parlour”, “Striptease Massacre 8: Stripping Away the Patriarchy”, “The Guvnor”, “Trashed”, “Video Dungeon II” Tony Mardon – Invasion of Studio 69″
Writers: Alex Churchyard – “Trashed”, “Video Dungeon II”, “Striptease Massacre 8: Stripping Away the Patriarchy”, “Liz’s Low Price Lifeless Parlour”, “Invasion of Studio 69″ (Story By) – Lauren Jane Barnett – “Invasion of Studio 69″ (Story by, Written by) – Tony Mardon – “Invasion of Studio 69″ (Story by) – Mark Lawrence – “Trashed” (Additional dialogue) – Hannah Paterson “Liz’s Low Price Lifeless Parlour”
Starring: Dani Thompson, Charlie Bond, James Hamer-Morton, Annabella Rich, Cy Henty
Synopsis: Dig out your membership cards, as it’s time to rejoin the Video Dungeon in this sequel to the retro VHS horror ‘Video Shop Tales of Terror’. There are such sights to see – four tales of terror,
a myriad of trailers, and a few surprises too. Come on in and see what’s on the video racks for your
entertainment – if you dare!
In a new interview on Blazing Minds ahead of the world premiere at Horror-on-Sea, I got a chance to ask co-writer/director Alex Churchyard a few questions about his segments of ‘Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge’
Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge will have its world premiere at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 18th January at 20:00hrs.
Q. Horror anthology ‘Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge’, has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film and some of the segments which you have directed?
A. You can hopefully expect lots of laughs throughout, especially from the parts I made, as I really only do silly shit. Generally I think this film is a lot lighter than the first, which is good as the world seems to be continuously getting darker.
We have aliens, puppets, miniatures, Giallo parodies, a gangster trailer written by one of our producers Pete Hurren and lots, lots more.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the various scripts?
A. Writing the Video Dungeon II Wrap-around I really thought a lot about the first film – things that worked and things that didn’t, things that I couldn’t fit in last time and also how we could expand the world we created and try and dig down into the lore of it all.
Studio 69 was interesting as I had originally come up with a very basic idea for it for VS3. At some point Lall said maybe we could bump it up to VS2 because a director had dropped out. Really the only progress that had been made was that Jay had started to mould the aliens for us. My idea consisted of a crew making a film and being visited upon by aliens – I wanted it to be styled a bit like The Twilight Zone with a Rod Serling-type presenter.
At some point I decided to ask my friend Tony Mardon if he wanted to Co-Direct with me as I know he is a massive Twilight Zone fan. We did a writing session at Lall’s house and Tony’s partner Lauren Barnett joined us – she’s a fantastic writer and had so many ideas on the day. We all pitched in ideas but when Lauren provided some sample pages it was clear she should write the actual script so it had one distinct voice – she did such an incredible job with it. The whole thing turned into an amazing collaboration.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film and did this change for each segment?
A. Without giving too much away I think aspects of the film are influenced by David Lynch (in particular Twin Peaks), Giallo films such as Tennebrae, The Twilight Zone, Stay Tuned, and even Beetlejuice.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Because we started the project some time ago, it allowed me to expand on some of my ideas later on in the process. So the opening, for example, is bigger than it was on the page I was able to add an entire vignette centering around a zombie employee to be placed halfway through the film as well.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Probably my absolute favourite was on a day that I wasn’t actually directing. I produced Hannah Paterson’s trailer which is titled “Amityville Pancake” and all I had to do on the day was puppeteer a pancake that was created by Jay Lowe. It was a really fun day in one location and was really lovely seeing Hannah take the reins on her idea and our crew rallying around her to bring her vision to life.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. One sort of issue we faced was that we felt we needed a new final segment quite late in the process (August last year) so I ended up writing Trashed which we started shooting in September and completed the following month. I want to keep it a mystery, but it encompasses some ideas that I had in my back pocket and I think it really ties in well with the overall film and sets up the final reel of the wrap-around nicely.
Q. What makes it stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I think you still have lots of unique voices in this one like we did last time (with the segments from Debbie Lane and Richard Rowntree and trailers from various other amazing filmmakers) but also we really get to hone in on the world of the video dungeon, which I think is quite unique. I love world- building and though doing it on a small budget is difficult, I think we really managed to pull it off this time round.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they can appreciate what we have managed to pull off on a tiny budget with a small team of people. Some incredible cinematography from Andy Boothby, great music from Dee Clark, Craigus Barry and Peter Lewington and some fantastic animation and FX from the maestro that is Mark Stewart.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Working on a documentary titled “Shoestring” with Michael Holiday which explores this world of DIY indie horror in the UK. I’m also in the early stages of writing ‘Video Shop Tales of Terror III’ and my next feature as well.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Gosh. I think surround yourself with a great team, seems to have worked for me.
Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge will have its world premiere at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 18th January at 20:00hrs.
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!
