Cleavers: It Runs in the Family (2019)

Director: MJ Dixon

Writer: MJ Dixon

Stars: Georgie Smibert, Gemma Louise Troughton, Paul Rogers, Jessica Michelle Smith, Holly-Anne Dodkins, Derek Nelson

Deputy Jody Ann Howells, a survivor of the Still Rivers Massacre, is on the trail of a young woman, on the run after being found on the scene of a horrific murder, a young woman who may be connected to her past. As Howells closes in on her she discovers that the killer she faced all those years ago may still be alive and kicking and he has his sights on a family making a cross country road trip, only this time he’s not alone.

Following the world premier of Cleavers: It Runs in the Family at the Horror-on-sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask actor Derek Nelson a few questions about what people can expect.

Q. You are in the new horror film ‘CleaverS: It Runs in the Family, what can people expect from the film?

It takes everything from the first one and expands on it. It opens up the world a lot! Especially as the first Cleavers is in that house and now, we are in multiple locations and everything is just bigger, sequel style!

Q. You play Artie in the film, can you tell me a bit about your character?

Artie is party of the Harvey family and they are on a road trip across the southern states of the US and he is the typical older brother. He teases his sister a lot, gives her a hard time; but even though he gives her a hard time, he’s the only one who can do it because he’s the older brother. He is very defensive over his sister, loves his sister Tanya (Jessica Michelle Smith) very much and if somebody else who isn’t part of his close family tires to come in and cross that line with her, he’s got a big problem with it. He’s the big brother. He may come off as a bit mean, but he does love her.

It’s well-meaning with what he’s doing?

Yeah, it’s like you are if you have siblings yourself, it’s just how you are with them. You are the one who can tease them, push them, but if someone else comes in it’s like no, back off. He’s very protective. I drew inspiration for Ardie from my relationship with my sister.

Q. Did you make any changes to the character from how it was written in the original script?

What were some of your favourite moments whilst filming CleaverS?

To be honest I had such a good time in the whole shoot. It was really cool to do the sequence for Sunny Farm, that was really fun because as you see in the film we split off, my character goes one way and Chase who is played by Olivia goes another way. I was there the whole day, so I got to help out in that set, it was cool to see them bring that place together. I also really like the scene where Jodie, Georgie’s character finds Hatcher. That whole sequence in the hallway was really cool, because we ended up getting everything, we could find to fill up the space. So, we were literally going around this abandoned school going, ‘That will work, that is something Cleaver would have’. Every day on that set was such a good time.

Did you experience any issues on set?

Me personally no, I had no issues. We got pizza twice so that was amazing! I was staying over with them (Director MJ Dixon and producer Anna Dixon) and I know we did run into a few technical hiccups, but nothing major, there were just a few things getting in MJ’s way, but you find workarounds.

But that’s independent filmmaking, you haven’t got the budget for everything and you work with what you’ve got.

Yeah, if you don’t have a certain bit of kit you wanted you find something else, jerry-rig it to make it work.

Are there any other projects which you are working on at the moment?

There are quite a few, although there is only one which has set dates right now. A sequel to The Legend of Halloween Jack (2018) called The Curse of Halloween Jack, in which I will play Halloween Jack. That’s quite exciting. Then there’s a werewolf film called Werehouse. We launched a kickstarter last year, which was going to be a short film, but we didn’t reach our budget. So, we went back to the drawing board and said, well let’s do a feature. Shorts are great, but it is so much better to invest in a feature and that was after I worked with MJ. They were like do a feature! It doesn’t matter, get what you can get and then go for a feature, because that is something people can have for a long time. The group is Viral Films UK, they went back to the drawing board and said let’s expand on this idea. We are planning to launch the Kickstarter later this year, so hopefully we will start filming that next year.

There is a Mad Max (1979) type film called Apocalypse Highway, there is a western film called Vengeance at Yellow Creek, a pirate film called Blackbeards Wolf, a gangster film called Death Promise and a haunted house movie called Blood River.

So, you are covering all genres here, right across the board

Yeah, but I am really happy that a lot of these films have a horror theme, but unfortunately these don’t have dates at the moments and are projects in pre-production, but it should be exciting.

If someone was looking to get into acting what advice would you give them?

Go for it. Start anywhere you can, find a friend who has a cool idea and don’t be afraid to say no. The worst thing you can do is not try or not go for it. It’s good to go to school for it, but it’s not necessary, the best way to learn I find is just on the job, and just be open.

Derek has several projects being released in 2019 on DVD and VOD in the UK including:

Alcatraz – 21^st January 2019

D-Day Assassins – May

The Massacre in Cielo Drive – June

The Utah Cabin Murders – August The Curse of Halloween Jack – October

You can keep up to date with project from Derek Nelson by following him on Twitter and Instagram

Philip Rogers

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!