Video Shop Tales of Terror is a new horror anthology that brings together some of the UK’s best indie horror filmmakers. An idea which was originally conceived by Singh Lall, the Curator of the Horror on Sea Video Club.
With the Indiegogo now coming to an end on 1st December, Blazing Minds have been talking with the directors of each segment and are giving you a sneak peek as to what you can expect from each segment.
In our first breakdown of the series director, Alexander Churchyard talks about his horror segment Mary Whitehouse, you’re a… and the wraparound story Video Dungeon.
About the director Alex Churchyard
My first feature (which I co-directed with Michael Holiday) was I Scream on the Beach! (2020) which starred Dani Thompson, Martin W. Payne and Lloyd Kaufman. It’s an 80s throwback that really embraces the look of old VHS, i.e., we deliberately made it look awful! It’s done pretty well on the festival circuit and even picked up some awards along the way. It has now been released via Darkside Releasing.
My second feature (which I again made with Michael) is now in post-production and is titled Mosaic (2022) – it’s an anthology with lots of different slasher villains and stars Simon Bamford (Hellraiser (1987))
Horror Segments: Mary Whitehouse, you’re a… and Video Dungeon
I initially got involved with the project earlier in the year when Lall mentioned it to me, at that point, it was quite vague, and I know he mentioned it should have some link to certification or video rentals. I came up with an idea about some youngsters who are obsessed with The Evil Dead (1981). deciding to conjure the spirit of Mary Whitehouse, to then be subsequently terrorised by her when she takes on some type of dead-ite type form… It’s essentially The Evil Dead with Mary Whitehouse…
The Video Dungeon aspect was a more recent thing; we shot some of Mosaic at Lall’s house and he asked me if I’d be interested in writing and directing the wrap-around for the film. He had made some decisions like that it had the video shop setting, that Martin W. Payne would be the sort of owner of the shop and that day he also asked Hannah Paterson about being in it.
I then started to construct a script and looped Lall in for his feedback etc and the writing process went quickly, to be honest. I knew Lall really wanted Dani Thompson involved so I decided to bring her character of Paula Valentine back; Dani plays that character in I Scream on the Beach! and in Mosaic and because the character is an actress, it means Dani can appear in multiple segments. I also decided to put The Sinister Nun (played by Andrea Rose) who has appeared in both of our films and to bring back Paula’s No.1 fan from Mosaic with Tony Mardon’s Mr Daniels.
The Cast
So, for Mary Whitehouse, you’re a… we have James Hamer-Morton and Charlie Bond who we have worked with on Mosaic and who have been in a number of great projects, and we also have Jamie Evans who has again been in both of our films. We haven’t cast Mary yet though.
In Video Dungeon we have a great cast of returning actors such as Hannah Paterson, Martin W. Payne, Dani Thompson, Peter Tilley, Tony Mardon and Andrea Rose. We also have some newbies such as Kimberley Findeis-Sparkes, Callum Day and Laurence R Harvey of The Human Centipede 2 (2011) fame, though personally, I’m a huge fan of a film he was in, titled The Editor (2014).
You can find out more about Video Shop Tales of Terror on the Indiegogo campaign here and the following social media Instagram – Facebook
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!
