Film Name: Punch
Director: Andy Edwards
Writer: Andy Edwards
Starring: Kierston Wareing, Jamie Lomas, Alina Allison, Faye Campbell, Macaulay Cooper
A young woman celebrating her last night out in her hometown is stalked by a mysterious killer in a Mr Punch mask.
‘Punch’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 21st January at 17:30pm
Q. Your film Punch has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. It’s a seaside-set slasher movie, featuring all the fun of a British coastal town, with the added bonus of a masked killer on the loose…
I’m delighted it’s playing at Horror-on-Sea as it’s pretty much the perfect festival to watch it, amongst the arcades and chip shops of Southend. I’ve been to the festival a few times before, so I definitely had it in mind as somewhere we could screen when devising Punch.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Punch?
A. The script came about from the union of two ideas I had. One was to create a “British” slasher killer – as we don’t really have an equivalent to Freddy, Jason, Michael etc here. I had a whole bunch of terrible ideas for union-jack-draped madmen and the like.
And then I’d always wanted to set something in a seaside town in winter, and try and capture that melancholy, windswept vibe. It was when I put these two separate ideas together, that Mr Punch was born. He was an obvious choice for the antagonist – so obvious I had to check it hadn’t been done before. There have been movies featuring Mr Punch as a killer puppet, but I couldn’t find any with him as a masked killer.
And lastly, there’s a little added dash of folk horror in there. It’s part of the quintessential “Britishness” I wanted to include, and also something that came from the pagan vibes of our main shooting location in Hastings, on the south coast.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I worked with cinematographer Max Williams to try and make this as visually interesting as we could on our low budget. The film takes place over the course of a single day and night, so for our daytime scenes, we went pretty naturalistic. And then once the sun goes down and the neon lights of the amusement arcades come on, we go much more colourful and dramatic.
Visually we looked at other films in a similar setting, such as St Maud (2021), and Byzantium (2012) – which was also shot in Hastings. For the overall feel and tone, I described what I wanted on set as “Ken Loach’s Halloween”.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. We didn’t make too many dialogue changes as far as I remember, but there were plenty of changes to the action beats due to the nature of our locations. The whole film was shot on location – (mainly in Hastings, with a few days in Clacton-on-Sea), and pretty much every day we were in a different place. One day on a beach, one day in a chip shop, one day in an arcade etc. We were able to recce some of the locations beforehand, but not all of them, so there was a lot of figuring out of blocking and action on the day.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. It was a tough shoot, but a fun one, thanks to a great cast and crew. My favourite day was probably the house party scene. We didn’t have many extras turn up, so the majority of the party guests were the crew. We opened some beers, cranked up the tunes, had an actual mini-house party and filmed it.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Plenty – this was a low-budget independent film shooting on location, often in public places, with night shoots, stunts, blood, and the works. Every day throws up new challenges and issues that you can’t just throw money at to make go away (because we didn’t have any). Luckily my co-producer Rebecca Matthews is very experienced in these kinds of shoots and fixed everything!
Well, everything bar the weather which is always a constant threat. Shooting in the UK in March means you experience every kind of weather – often on the same day. On our night beach shoots, it started snowing, which wasn’t much fun.
Q. What makes Punch stand out as something different in the horror genre?
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. Punch combines the very American formula of the slasher movie, with the social realism, characters, and setting of a British movie, to create a hybrid that people won’t have seen anything quite like before.
A. First and foremost I hope people enjoy it as a slasher film and feel it delivers on scares, kills and gags. But we’ve also worked hard to give some depth to the characters and performances, and the social commentary. So if people do want to engage with it on a deeper level, they will get even more out of it.
And lastly, I hope they’re intrigued enough that they want to see a sequel!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m currently in post on a film called “Custom”, which I produced for my production company, Paranoid Android Films, and was written and directed by Tiago Teixeira. The film is a psychosexual horror thriller, and stars Abigail Hardingham (Nina Forever.) We’re hoping that will hit festivals early in 2024.
And then there’s Punch 2 -and beyond – of course. The intention was always to create a franchise that expands on the mythology of Mr Punch, takes him to exotic locations, and goes back in time to explore his origins. By Punch 10, I want him in space!
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. For the sake of their sanity I’d say “don’t”, but anyone mad enough to want to do this won’t listen to that advice, and good on them!
What I will say is that if you’re writing and directing, then from the day you scribble that first idea down in your notebook, to the day you see the film is ASDA on DVD, that is a LONG process. With a feature film that could be years of your life, so make sure you have a strong idea and script that you believe in, and can get others to believe in too.
That and invest in a big coat for night shoots.
‘Punch’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 21st January at 17:30pm
You can find out more about Paranoid Android Films on the website and following Social Media: Twitter – Instagram
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here. Punch is available on UK digital platforms on 22 January.
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!
