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Horror legend Barbara Crampton needs no introduction to STARBURST readers, and we jumped at the chance of catching up with her ahead of the UK TV premiere of the film Sacrifice, which debuts on Horror Channel this December. We quizzed Barbara on Lovecraft, Norway, and being a producer…

STARBURST: What drew you to Sacrifice?

Barbara Crampton: I first got an email from Sean Knopp, who’s one of the producers. He and I worked on Replace [2017]. I feel like, in the independent horror scene, you tend to work on movies with your friends a lot, so he reached out to me and said, “We’re doing this movie. We don’t have all the financing yet, we’ll probably do it in a year or so. Would you be interested in reading it as we have a part in mind for you?” I said, Yes, I’ll read it. He said it was kind of Lovecraftian, although it wasn’t really based on any particular story from H.P. and it’s a little bit of a pagan horror story. So I read it and I thought my part was great and really thought the story was interesting and I didn’t know at the time that we were going to be shooting in Norway. When they finally did get the financing together and said, “Oh, we’re gonna shoot this Norway”. I was like, I’m totally in. send me the plane ticket, I’m there! It really started because of my relationship with Sean and my friendship with him. And he’s moved into producing as well as myself. I’ve moved into producing and acting and so I always want to look at things that my friends are working on. That’s how it all began.

And what was it like shooting in Norway?

Ah, it was pretty amazing. I’d never been to Norway, it’s gorgeous. You don’t know where the water begins and the land starts, because there are all these different fjords and there are bodies of water with these mountainous landmasses that are seemingly growing out of the water. And then on top of the mountains, there’s water that’s coming down the side of them and filling up the fjords and it’s really incredible, really beautiful. There are a few dotted little towns where we were, but no real major, big, big cities, and it’s so full of nature and I think it was a perfect spot for a movie like this.

As you said, it touches on the pagan as well, are you a fan of folk horror?

Yeah, I like folk horror; The Wicker Man is one of my favourite movies of all time and Midsommar came out a couple of years ago, which was another riff on folk horror. I think in times of strife and uncertainty, folk horror is really big, because you’re trying to make sense of your world and understand it and it’s hard to understand what’s going on in society, especially today. There’s a lot of anger and frustration in the world right now, more so than ever before, also because of the pandemic. Movies like this grapple with the human condition and try to find your place in the world. I think folklores are making a comeback. People take solace in the journeys that they see on screen while trying to understand life and the human condition.

What were Tor Mian and Andy Collier like to work for as directors?

They’re so funny together. They both have a great sense of humour. And there’s a lot in the script even though things that happen are horrible. They worked really well together. Andy was more on the camera side of things, he was our DP and Tor was working with the actors more but after we would shoot a scene, they would both confer: “What did you think of that, Andy?” “I thought it was good too”. “That was pretty good, but maybe we should try this or maybe we should try that”. They’d confer and then say, “Okay, let’s do one more take”. They got along great together and were of the same mind and kept us all laughing, so we had a very good time together.

How did you approach your part since you’ve essentially got two roles in this in the film?

Well, in the first part of the movie I’m working under pretence trying to find out some more information and being sort of the Constable of the town. But is that really who I am? Not really. I don’t want to give things away but because there’ll be people that haven’t seen the movie, but I’m the head of something and I think for my character, I had to be steeped very much in the society of the community of where we were, and who we are. We shot the movie in Norway, so for me, I felt like I had to be the most Norwegian of anybody there. I hired a Norwegian language teacher, she was an instructor at the Scandinavian School of San Francisco and she came over to my house for about eight weeks, once a week. And we would work on the dialogue a little bit and we talked about Norway a lot. I said that I want to have a really thick Norwegian accent, I want to be more Norwegian than anybody because I’m the head of the whole thing. I actually use some accent on certain words that an old-timer would use. That was important to me, to hold on to the traditions of our community and where we were and just be really steeped in this society, as unforgiving as our society was to everyone else that comes in contact with us, and people from the island and Ludovic [Hughes] and Sophie [Stevens], the two actors who played the two main parts, to welcome them to the community but also showcase the difference in who we were on the island to who they were coming from the outside.

As you mentioned earlier, this film has a Lovecraftian element. Do you feel you get offered a lot of the Lovecraft type films because of your past history?

Yeah, I guess it was because of the first movie I worked on with Stuart Gordon, Re-Animator. I did a few adaptations with him. And then I did one short called The Evil Clergyman based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, which Charles Band directed. I do keep getting offered these types of roles, but I think there’s more of an interest in Lovecraft than ever before. A lot of other people have also adapted his stories for the screen. I just helped produce a movie that is going to be announced soon, which has the Lovecraftian feel to it, but it is really based on any particular Lovecraft story. I also have in development another movie that looks like we’re going to go into production next year of an actual Lovecraft story. Lovecraft keeps following me around or I keep following Lovecraft around, I don’t know! It’s just I do love his stories. I love the atmosphere and the dread, and the energy that they seem to provoke in a viewer. I think that his writing is really particularly inspiring lots of different horror stories. So whether it’s a true adaptation or whether it’s something that is Lovecraftian feel, a lot of people more so than ever are using his stories to tell their stories.

What was your favourite part of filming Sacrifice?

I have to say, I really enjoyed any of my scenes working with Sophie. As the lead character in the film, I think she was particularly great as Emma Pickman. She’s a very naturalistic actor. I think Ludovic Hughes was also good at as her husband, but Sophie had to carry the film. She really connected to a deep part of her own fear and humanity in her characterisation, and to me, it’s just really thrilling to work with other really good actors. I feel like those two were particularly good. I hope she gets many more roles after this because I think she’s really good. I think working with the other actors is usually my go-to and connecting with them. That’s what it’s all about for me as an actor – making a connection with another performer and I feel like I really connected to her and really loved working with her.

So you’d be open to working with her again?

Oh my gosh, yes! In fact, we were talking about shooting something recently with another company. I work a lot now with AMP films, who produced Jacob’s Wife and we’re developing some movies together. And there’s a movie that we were thinking, “Oh, we’ll shoot this in Eastern Europe”. And I said, “Well, we have to get some people from England. I know a few people”. And she was one of the ones that I thought of in particular.

Sacrifice is screening on Horror Channel in the UK, what would you say to people who were channel hopping to get them to watch?

First of all, I want to say I love Horror Channel, they’ve been very supportive of me and loving towards me and showed a lot of my movies. I would say this is a movie about a family and a longing for one’s self and looking for identity and your place in the world. That’s kind of a question that we all grapple with throughout our whole life, I think it’s an ongoing, eternal question. I think the movie is scary and tense, and has beautiful, beautiful landscapes and photography and is also a fun movie. Sort of! In a strange way! But anymore into horror will know what I’m talking about, something that’s scary is also fun. So I hope people enjoy it.

And what’s next for you?

I have a couple of movies coming out next year. One that did well on the festival circuit, called King Knight.

We’ve seen it, as it played FrightFest, and it’s brilliant.

Yes! I play Matthew Gray Gubler’s mother. That’s coming out, I think in February, so the wider audience will get to see that soon. I don’t get to do comedy very often – like a straight comedy – and this is more of that. I appreciated being a part of that film. Ricky Bates, Jr. is the director and a writer that I’m a big fan of his and I became good friends with him. I really loved working with him. And then there’s another movie that I did Alone With You, where it played a girl’s Mom, it’s very more of an arthouse horror film. It’s really interesting, beautifully shot during the COVID pandemic and the filmmakers shot it mostly in their apartment, and then I did a Zoom with them. And I was the camera person! They sent me a camera through the mail, and I had to set that up and be my own DP, sound person, makeup artist, and actor. That’s something coming out very soon as well. Then as a producer with AMP Films, I’m in development on a couple of movies that we’re hoping to shoot this coming year so you’ll know more about that later. But I’m always looking for stuff, always out there reading material. Since I became a producer, I really love developing stories and matching scripts with directors and other actors. So I’m really enjoying this later phase of my career moving into producing

Do you prefer producing rather than go into directing?

I don’t think I’ll move into directing. If I could direct a short, maybe I would consider that, but I feel like my personality is much more like a dabbler. And if you’re directing a movie, you really have to be with that one film for a year or two really. Probably two years developing it and then shooting it and everything, then going on the film fest circuit with it and I prefer to divide my time among a few different projects as a producer and also I love acting. I have really fallen in love with acting again. In this latter part of my career, I’ve gotten so many really great roles and I want to continue being able to do that. So I think the producing and the acting is really the place for me right now.

SACRIFICE has its UK TV premiere on Horror Channel on December 12th. You can read our interview with directors Tor Mian and Andy Collier here.

For more information, head over to http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk

Tune in on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 68, Freesat 138.

 

Composer Stefan Wesolowski’s work for Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf is a stunning score, “inspired by the beauty and complexity of nature itself and the desire of staying true to oneself,” which winds itself all the way through the film itself. We spoke with Wesolowski about his score for Wolf, in which Jacob (George MacKay), “believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf – much to the shock of his family. When he’s sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of ‘curative’ therapies. However, once he meets the mysterious Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), and as their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, Jacob is faced with a challenge: will he renounce his true self for love?”

STARBURST: Where in the production process did you come in and start working on the score?

Stefan Wesolowski: Well, it was at the very beginning, even before shooting. It took quite a long time to actually start composing the score. First, we talked a lot on the ideas for the sound, sharing playlists, etc. and just before the shooting was scheduled, COVID restrictions destroyed all plans. We had to wait and wait until it was possible to continue working on the film. But when the crew finally started shooting in Ireland, I started working on the score. It was simultaneous work. I received new scenes every day, plunging deeper and deeper into the story and the whole aesthetic of the picture, trying a lot of different things to find a perfect way to illustrate with music.

For a film that relies so much on visuals rather than a lot of dialogue, what are the challenges for you as a composer?

I think the challenges are always the same. The score should help the story grow, and I believe every story has its own needs. For a film like Wolf, which is very ambiguous, it was clear for me that I should find a musical language dedicated only to this story. Something that would pulsate together with the blood in the character’s veins and sway with the branches.

Wolf walks this interesting line between drama and nature film in terms of its visuals. Were there any particular genre-specific boxes you were trying to tick?

No, definitely not. My goal was the opposite – I was trying to escape from the genre-specific boxes and find my own way to illustrate this story, as I believed that is exactly what this story needed.

Did your experience in scoring documentaries lend any help to working on Wolf?

I think every experience in scoring is helpful, but every film I work on, no matter if it’s a documentary or feature film, finds me naked and unarmed. Every film is a whole new journey for me. My craftsmanship as a composer is growing, my skills are growing, and it is definitely helpful. But I never know what to expect, how my brain and my spirit will handle with every new story. I’m always excited and always a bit scared.

How does one balance the musical mix of synths and traditional acoustic instruments?

Of course, there are some facts about the instruments which are good to know when you try to mix them. One of the major facts is that you should be careful with crossing the frequencies. You want everything to be heard, the mix should sound clear. But at the end one of the things that gives you a possibility to find your sound is breaking the rules. It’s always worth experimenting and trying new things.

What are you working on next?

There is a Netflix original animated series called “Kayko and Kokosh” which is a lot of fun and something completely different. It has just been released worldwide. There are also some feature titles coming soon, but it’s too early to talk about it.

Wolf is out now from Focus Features.

After the dust settled on six movies of zombie action mayhem in 2016, the time arrived for a fresh cinematic approach to begin. Honouring the legacy of the games with iconic throwback scenes, detailed costume design and sets, this new era comes under the title of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City! STARBURST talks with director and writer Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) to uncover how he approached merging the first two instalments into one story, his lifelong love for the games, and just what it was like to create within those legendary Resident Evil locations!

STARBURST: How did the initial idea come together for this movie, and how did you also want to make it different to anything Resident Evil fans have witnessed before?

Johannes Roberts: The real key for this was just to go back to the games. I’m a huge gamer. We wanted to go back to the first and second games and do a horror movie. It was a completely different thing, it was just starting over again, and telling a scary story. Just falling in love with the games once more.

We must ask, were you a fan of the Resident Evil games before you got involved with this movie, and if so, what memories do you have from playing the games?

Yeah, I started playing the games as a student. I really got in to them, in terms of they were really in love with the same kind of horror movies that I was in love with. I really responded, and connected with them. I just had a lifelong affiliation and attachment to the games, and then when the reboot of the second game came out, it just kind of blew my mind. That game was so important to me.

When you first started working on the screenplay, was there a particular moment where you realised that what you were working on was going to look really awesome on the big screen?

There were certain things that were hugely exciting, like writing the police station and the mansion. Knowing that we were going to build those, was very exciting. Then there were scenes like the gun flash fire sequence in the movie where it was like “That’s going to be awesome!” There was quite a lot of fun zombie action moments. I was like “This is going to be great!”

What were the challenges behind merging the first two games into one film, and what were your influences for achieving this approach?

It was pretty tricky, because there are so many characters, and it’s quite a big ensemble piece. Obviously, they are all canon characters. So it was a little tricky to give everybody their own space, airtime, and individuality. But I sort of really used Assault on Precinct 13 as a benchmark, and approached it almost like a Western, with all of the characters coming together. It just felt right.

You see a lot of classic Resident Evil shots in the trailer alone, the biggest one maybe being the zombie turning its head right from the start of Resident Evil 1! Was that one of the main goals for the movie, to have a more fan-service approach, especially for the fans of the Resident Evil games?

It was! I’m a big fan, so I very much wanted these moments in there, and I was having a huge amount of fun putting them in there. So I really hoped people would dig it.

The Resident Evil games are known for its scary as hell gameplay. When you open a door to a room, you can just hear a zombie in the distance, out of sight. It’s disturbing. As a director who has worked in horror before, how did you go about capturing some of that feeling from the games within the movie?

I really tried to lean into that open the door, who knows what’s in there feeling. We went quite retro with the sound design as well. So you would just hear zombies in the distance. We really tried to play with what’s off screen.

You’ve created amazing versions of the police station and the mansion! How did you go about bringing those detailed sets to life, and for you as a director what was it like to just be really submerged in those classic Resident Evil locations?

It was a lot of fun as a geek, to walk onto the sets of the game. We built them from the blueprints that we got from Capcom, and we worked hand in hand with them to make this as faithful as possible. We really tried to match the games perfectly at times. It’s a proper nerd’s delight.

Capcom is obviously top secret, can you elaborate on what were they like to collaborate with?

They were really fun. It’s so weird, I guess I just assumed that they’d be like Umbrella – this faceless corporation. In fact, they’re nerds, geeks, and they just got super excited. It was really fun.

Each character within the Resident Evil realm is legendary, and each one could probably have their own movie. How did you go about displaying the legacy of so many classic characters within the movie?

It’s tricky, I tried to tell a small-town story of this dying American town. Setting the iconic characters within that, in an almost Deer Hunter way. You had Jill [Hannah John-Kamen], Wesker [Tom Hopper], and Chris [Robbie Amell] as these small-town people, who’d never left home. Then you’ve got Claire [Kaya Scodelario] coming into town, a drifter. It was fun, and like I said it was tricky to give them their own airspace. However, it was a lot of fun to try to bring them to life.

As well as the sets, the actual costume design overall has a video game style to it! Can you tell us about how you personally wanted the characters to look and come across on-screen?

I tried to keep it faithful to the games, but I tried not to make it too cartoony. It was a difficult balance to achieve. I wanted to make them feel real, but also it’s a hyper real story.

Also, leading on from that, were there any other elements from the games that you were really excited to bring to the big-screen, which we maybe haven’t discussed just yet?

I really enjoyed bringing the monsters to the screen. Having Lisa Trevor [Marina Mazepa] for the first time in one of the movies. Having the Licker, and all of the other creatures. It was fun to have some of the side characters like Chief Irons [Donal Logue] and William Birkin [Neal McDonough], and to really go and have fun with them. To let them chew the scenery a bit.

You’ve worked on some really cool horrors in the past. From The Strangers: Prey at Night to 47 Meters Down. Was there anything you learnt from putting those movies together that you applied to Resident Evil?

Just building atmosphere. Keeping it dark and scary. I really wanted to embrace the communal horror experience of sitting in a dark room with a group of people, who are jumping and screaming. It was all about having a fun roller coaster ride.

Tough question time. As you yourself are a fan of the games, and as we’ve said, some of the shots are clearly pulled right out of the games, what was your favourite moment that you got to put into this movie, and why?

I loved doing the turnaround zombie, because it was just so iconic. Oddly the most awe-struck I was when making this was just standing on the police station set, just being there. I was like “Wow, this is the game!” It was really fun. So yeah, some of those moments were just really cool. I felt like this was exactly what I wanted to achieve.

Finally, why should STARBURST readers check out Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City?

It’s just a great fun ride, a scary ride that’s just so totally in love with the games and John Carpenter movies. It’s a proper old school ‘70s horror.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is in cinemas from December 3rd.

 

STARBURST had the absolute pleasure of speaking with two action screen legends, who both can’t stop producing films. We spoke with them about their recent collaboration Castle Falls, their work ethic and, of course, Rocky IV’s Sico the Robot!

STARBURST:  Both of you are very hardworking, and speeding up if anything! You have a combined 10 movies coming out in 2022. How do you do it, is it just work ethic?

Scott Adkins: Greedy!

Dolph Lundgren: Divorce! [Laughs]… well It’s a combination of things

SA: I love to work, man. I’ve been in the business for 20 years. For the first 10 years, it was really hard to get a job and I spent months not working. So when things kicked off for me, I just want to keep working. I love my job.

You guys have worked together a lot, this is your fourth film together. Watching Castle Falls, there is a bromance going on. Do you enjoy working together?

DL: Ummm no, we love working together

SA: [Laughs] He had to think about it…

DL: Part of the whole concept is, I knew Scott was easy to work with, and he’s a great fighter and he can help with the fights. I had such a tough schedule, 17 days to do a feature in Alabama. Some of that comes across on screen, I like the fact we don’t start out as friends, we start as enemies, so there is an arc to it.

 

 

Did you also direct the fight scenes as well?

DL: Scott handled most of the fight scenes and I supervised. Scott choreographed with his operator and edited the fight scenes as well, so he was in there. 

Did you have any influences as a director, there was a little Steven Soderbergh feel, with the split scenes, and even some Tarantino, with people’s names appearing on screen?

DL: No, you’re right, there are some directors I really like, and you pick things up from films you like. I’m trying to do character-driven action movies now, like this one. I guess Clint Eastwood is someone I looked up to, he keeps things simple and his movies are entertaining and fun, but with a lot of depth. He manages to do both. For instance in Unforgiven when he rides into town and Morgan Freeman is dead, and it hits you, fuck! This is serious shit! He walks into the bar and goes; ‘who’s the fella that owns this shit hole?’ And then he blows away the bartender and you have to smile at that. That’s the one thing I want to do next time, mix the action and drama. It’s difficult. My favourite part is working with the actors and their characters.

What were your influences for this film, it has some similarities with the French parkour film District 13, in terms of fighting on a building, about to be blown up?

SA: I’ve seen that film but I don’t think that influenced it. The first thing that I thought of when I read the script was Trespass made in the ‘90s. There are a lot of influences but wrapped up in a different way.

DL: As a director, you also try things out. I’m not directing Aquaman for Warner Brothers, where they expect to make a billion dollars or you’ve fucked it up. So I can use split-screen, try things out, no one is going to argue. There is a certain freedom to making these kinds of movies. It’s not fun to do Aquaman, it’s interesting but there’s a lot of pressure from above. I don’t know how James Wan [Aquaman’s director] does it.

Is it right you have a fifth film coming out together? [Scott and Dolph looked confused] Section Eight?

SA: Oh yeah! [Smiles] forgot about that

DL: I filmed my section separately so I didn’t know about it. Who do you play Scott?

SA: [Laughs] I am… I can’t think at the moment. The assassin at the end [covering his mouth, as he doesn’t want to give away the ending].

[The film about a former soldier being recruited by a shadowy government agency, is out next year]

Is it right Scott, that you are going to be in John Wick 4?

SA: Yes, filmed that in Berlin last summer. I’m a big fan of all the John Wick movies and Chad Stahelski, the director. I first met him on The Expendables 2 actually, those films are great, I am a big fan, so it’s a great honour to be involved.

Well, we can’t wait for that one. Dolph, the most important question for you is – how did you feel about Paulie’s robot being cut out of the Rocky IV director’s cut? [The odd robot butler known as Sico, was jettisoned from Stallone’s recent new cut]

DL: Oh shit, I thought he was going to cut out Brigitte Nielsen, but he kept her in! [Eruption of laughter from all involved]

Castle Falls will be available in cinemas, on-demand, and digital on December 3 rd in the US  and December 20th for digital in the UK, as well as Blu-ray/DVD on January 10th.