We Wait In the Woods (2020)
Director: Joe Duncombe
Writer: Joe Duncombe
Starring: Marian Elizabeth, Jamie Evans, Céline Beran, Henry Morris, Pandora Ind
A group of friends go for a weekend away, to mourn the shock passing of one of their own. Haunted by ghosts and the malicious spirits in the woods, will any of them get out alive?
In a new interview in the series leading up to Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask We Wait In the Woods Director Joe Duncombe a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. Your latest horror film We Wait in the Woods has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
An honest film with a strong message and some uncomfortable deaths.
Q. What were your influences when writing the script for We Wait in the Woods?
One of my oldest friends committed suicide and I wanted to write something about that, something that was personal, that he would like and that told a message. So the film is influenced by my friendships.
What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
We wanted it to have an old style slasher feel. So Halloween (1978) and Friday 13th (1980)
Q. Where there any elements of the original script which were adapted during filming?
Loads. We had a lot of issues trying to make the film, the major change to the script, came just the day before shoot, where one of our actors had to pull out. With not enough time to find someone that could commit to the shooting schedule, and dealing with other issues, we took that character out and had to do a bit of a re-write, luckily it was a character that we could merge with two others.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
Two weeks before shoot, one of our lead actors broke his eye socket, ruling him out. Then a few days later his replacement burnt his face with cooking oil whilst frying. Two days before shoot another actor pulled out. During filming our lead actor got an infection in his leg from a mosquito bite, had to go to hospital, one crew member had to be hospitalised with a long term condition that they had. Two days before the weekend when we were doing all the FX, our FX person was involved in an accident (hospitalised). I ended up having to learn how to do the FX and build prosthetics pretty quickly…oh and our camera person was attacked by bees.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
Killing people…it’s always fun. But I was very happy and proud with how the team worked considering all the troubles we had.
Q. What makes We Wait in the Woods out as something different in the horror genre?
It’s an honest film that deals with a hard subject.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
I hope people take away it’s central message that we need to talk to one another and that it’s ok to ask for help.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
I’m currently looking for funding and a producer to a one location Victorian monster movie called Dolls in the Attic and I have just released my book of horror poetry Reflections of Fear on Amazon.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
It’s the same advice for both, push through. Keep on going, get that first draft done, it doesn’t matter what’s in it, make it better on the 2nd, but get to the end.
You can find out more about Mangled Media on the website https://mangledmedia.co.uk/ and following social media Facebook – Twitter
Reflections of Fear is available on Amazon here
Dead Air will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Sunday 19th January at 12:30
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets for the festival 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!
