Film Name: Terrorise
Directors: Jason Impey
Writers: Jason Impey
Starring: Rami Hilmi, Amber Lee, Nick Stoppani
Quaid and Kurk escape from prison and kidnap a pretty woman to ensure their protection. Kurk
dislikes the way Quaid treats her, and the two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game with two corrupt
police officers Doug and Charles are hot on their trail.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask writer-director Jason Impey a few questions about his film Terrorise which has been selected for Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 13th January at 22:30pm
Q. Your film Terrorise has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us
what we can expect from the film?
A. I am delighted to be premiering my film at Horror-on-Sea, It is a fantastic supportive film festival and have enjoyed my time there in previous years with my VIPCO documentary & short film Poison Lover. Terrorise is kind of my Blade Runner (1982) and Apocalypse Now (1979) It started life in 2007 and has been through many shapes and forms and have finally got the film to where I want it and what suits it best. It’s a love letter to old classic video nasties & exploitation films, with big nods to Jess Franco – a director who was a big influence on my younger filmmaking years. It’s a mixed-genre movie covering crime, thriller, and drama all wrapped up in some horrific horror.
Q. What were you inspirations when writing the script for Terrorise?
A. The original I Spit On Your Grave (1978) had a big impact on me when I first saw it, and one of my favourite films from the video nasties list. It was definitely influential on my original script. I was trying to blend extreme cinema and underground film with a slight pretentious spin on it! Not an easy combination. I love arthouse cinema, particularly the works of David Lynch and Lars von Trier and films that do not feed you the story and information on a spoon. I tried to add a lot of subtext to Terrorise.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I wanted to capture the rawness and gritty feel of a dirty crime story, shooting in an independent manor does help this, classic B movie vintage look, almost like the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), a film you can literally smell!
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
I originally shot the film exactly to the script. After the first edit and screening I realised it was very niche and was lost on some audiences. So in 2010 I wrote additional scenes and did a big re-shoot, changing the timeline, taking sub plots out and adding new ones in, but still missed a trick! I went too far down the Grindhouse root, the resurgence of that style of film was quite strong at that time. I started the whole edit from scratch and reworked all the footage, so it went on quite the journey!
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. The original shoot was a tough shoot! However the re-shoot was a lot more upbeat. Due to budget restraints and resources I ended up playing the role of Charles – a bit like Abel Ferrara in Driller Killer (1979). Filming the finale battle with myself, Rami Hilmi and Kemal Yildirim was quite a blast. We were all doing our own stunts for the fight sequence and lots of contact was made, but we were all tough big boys and had fun with it.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. The original shoot and a lot of high tensions, I was pushing the content, working on a very tough
schedule. I had a house with a sea of bodies in sleeping bags across the floor. We were doing 20
hour days, it was a bit like the Big Brother house, personalties were clashing, I was desperate to get
the footage I needed, many tears were shed.
Q. What makes Terrorise stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Terrorise deals with real life horrific issues and does not rely on supernatural elements to create
the scares. Things that can happen in real life and looking at the corrupt authorities dealing with it is
much more terrifying than zombies coming out of the ground.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they can have a bit of fun with it to a certain extent. It has some very dark humour and
over the top exploitation performances, but also hope to highlight not too always trust the
authorities are doing the best job, plus relieve some classic not so done these days Jess Franco esq
trash.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I am currently starting the editing after just this week completing filming my new experimental
non narrative arthouse feature film Existence – which is very much in the same vein as Koyaanisqatsi:
Life Out Of Balance (1982).
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking film what advice would you give them?
A. Go out there and shoot a short film, even if its on your phone. Try a few little festivals, and upload
and get it out there via YouTube, you do that and you have become a filmmaker! Don’t let anything
take that away form you.
You can keep up to date with news regarding Terrorise on Facebook
You can follow writer director Jason Impey on the following social media: Twitter – Instagram
Terrorise has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Saturday 13th January at 22:30pm
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!
