Once Upon a Time at Christmas (2017)
Director: Paul Tanter
Writer(s): Christopher Jolley, Simon Phillips, Paul Tanter
Stars: Simon Phillips, Justin Gordon, Yana Gold, Paul Thomas Arnold, Sayla de Goede
Santa and Mrs. Clause go on a killing spree in Woodbridge, 12 days prior to Christmas.
Date & Venue: 19th January 2019 at 17:30pm
Park Inn by Radisson Palace Southend-on-Sea, Church Rd, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2AL, UK
Once Upon a Time at Christmas is a new festive horror from director Paul Tanter which has been selected to play at Horror-on-sea. I got a chance to ask Paul Tanter a few questions about what we can expect from his latest film.
Q. Your Christmas themed horror Once Upon a Time at Christmas has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. What can we expect from the film?
An insane horror that sees a psychopathic Santa (Simon Phillips) and Mrs Claus (Sayla de Goede) murdering their way through the 12 days of Christmas in an isolated American town that’s been cut off from the outside world due to snow. The small-town cops work with the FBI to track down the killers but find themselves one step behind, and a local family find they may have a link to the killers so try to piece together the clues. The distributor Lionsgate described it as “bonkers” when we pitched it to them – which we loved! There’s a real Joker / Harley Quinn element to the killers which was incredibly fun to do, not to mention the scope their insanity gave us for the violence.
Q. You are known for your gritty action crime-dramas, why did you decide to do a Christmas horror?
I’ll happily work in any genre if I can tell a good story and make something, I’m proud of. I’ve made a lot of action and hooligan films but dipping into other genres is exciting. I made a spaceship-set sci-fi called the Last Scout (2017) that was one of the best experiences and Shame the Devil (2013) was kind of horror mixed with police procedural, so this time I decided to go out and out slasher.
Q. What are your influences for the look and style of the film?
The feel of the town is very Twin Peaks (1990-2017) – snowy, mountainous, isolated. Other influences were a mix of horror films, but also elements of Natural Born Killers (1994) for the relationship between the two killers. The days leading up to Christmas are marked like a calendar in the film and for this I used music box-type Christmassy music that adds a sense of suspense and dread – the inspiration for which was the musical pocket watch from For A Few Dollars More (1965). For the tone and the score, there’s an influence from Silence of the Lambs (1991) there too.
Q. Are there any elements of the finished film which are different to the original script?
Actually yes, one fantastic moment that came about when Sayla, who plays Mrs Claus, revealed that she’s double jointed, meaning she can bring her handcuffed hands from behind her back, over her head and down in front of her. When she showed me that trick, I knew I had to use it and there’s scene where it works perfectly.
Q. Did you encounter any difficulties during filming?
We filmed in Ontario, Canada in the middle of winter, much of it at night, with a lot of exterior scenes, so the main difficulty was the cold! For some shots I was operating my drone, which required taking my gloves off. It was about minus fifteen but with wind chill that went down to about minus thirty, so I couldn’t operate it for too long before getting severe frostbite.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
There’re two sequences that were done entirely in one take, one that involved a lot of actors, props, blood work, etc. I was proud of how both went but especially the more complicated of the two. A lot of the scenes with Simon and Sayla as Mr and Mrs Claus were a hoot to do – one scene in a club where they wreak havoc amongst the patrons was great as they just throw themselves totally into it – as performers they hold nothing back and just embrace the carnage
Q. Christmas horrors films are becoming quite popular, what makes Once Upon a Time at Christmas stand out as something different is the festival horror sub-genre?
I don’t think we’ve seen a pair of antagonists quite like this before. Santa and Mrs Claus are fun, crazy, in love pair of cold-blooded killers who love what they do. It’s also a very enjoyable detective story in the conventional sense in terms of the small-town cop’s story.
Q. Are there any plans for a sequel or prequel to the film?
Actually, we are shooting the next one right now! It continues the story in the same universe and explores some of Santa and Mrs Claus back story – so there are prequel elements to it too. Suffice to say there’s more action, blood, set pieces, victims and body parts that before!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are working on?
We’re shooting The Nights before Christmas right now – more long and cold nights out knee-deep in snow. Then we’re into pre-production on the second season of Age of The Living Dead (2018 – ) – a TV series about a near future where vampires have tried to take over the U.S. but reached a stalemate with the humans and agreed a truce, while the rest of the world has walled in the United States to contain the vampire threat.
Q. What advice would you give to someone who is looking to write and direct their own movie?
Practice makes perfect. The more you write; the better you’ll get. The more you shoot; the more you’ll learn. Professional grade filmmaking equipment has reached consumer prices now but if you don’t have a DSLR, shoot short films on your iPhone with like minded friends at the weekends. Read other scripts and watch other films to see what works and what you like. Above all; keep going and don’t give up!
You can find out more about Paul Tanter and Once Upon a Time at Christmas on the following social media pages:
http://twitter.com/paultanter
http://twitter.com/christmaskills
http://www.facebook.com/christmaskills
You can find out more about the feature films playing at Horror-on-Sea Film Festival and details of tickets on the website.
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!
