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The Richard Driscoll Experience “If I knew what makes a good horror movie, I would be making good horror movies.” This started out as a long news story but eventually it seemed worth a page on its own. Who knows, maybe this will grow over time into a full tribute to the anti-genius of Richard Driscoll and his alter ego Steven Craine. Driscoll's main website is houseoffear.co.uk. 18th April 2008 Also new on the site is this poster for the long-threatened Kannibal 2, now subtitled Tales from the Red Dragon, just in case any of us were starting to think this one might be less of a Thomas Harris rip-off than the first one. (‘Hannibal vs Kannibal, Which one of the doctors will survive?’) And check out the cast list: Tom Savini and Sylvester McCoy. I wonder if they know they’re attached to the project. Savini is allegedly also in The Raven 2. Speaking of which, the HoF news page reckons that Wolfman went into pre-production on 7th April and will start principal photography in July. The HoF team may have their Raven 2 pick-ups out of the way by then but how will this schedule work around The Raven 3? And where does Kannibal 2 fit into it all? 9th April 2008 3rd April 2008 29th March 2008 House of Fear - are now working on the second Raven Film! Check out this cool synopsis: Following the intense action of Evil Calls, The Devil’s Disciple throws Carney into the world of Alister Crowley, as he desperately attempts to unravel the mysterious events that occured in Harrow Woods. His search for the truth leads him to New Orleans where Alister Crowley’s daughter now lives. Unfortunately the truth can often be hidden in the most unlikely of places and Carney must search through Strip Bars and Fight Clubs dealing with all the dregs of society. Meanwhile, Crowley’s Cult will stop at nothing to protect the dark deeds of their master and Carney soon finds his allies dying around him. As desperation consumes him, Carney will stop at nothing to uncover Crowley’s plans. Though what he finds, may well stand to be his undoing. In fact, most of The Devil’s Disciple was shot under the title Raven 2 in late 2006 and what is being filmed now is a few pick-ups and inserts much like the additional shoot for Evil Calls that was done over Christmas and New Year. And of course, Crowley’s first name was Aleister. Also, Richard Driscoll (or someone working for him) has created Wikipedia entries for both Driscoll himself and Evil Calls: The Raven (sic), the latter of which is fascinating for its synopsis. Apparently Norman Wisdom and Rik Mayall are not in fact playing the same character at different ages; Wisdom plays Mayall’s father. Really? The Wikipedia entry claims that the film had a “limited theatrical release” which is not strictly true as it had only two screenings, predominantly for cast and crew. And I love this bit: “The film pays homage to, amongst others, The Shining, Reservoir Dogs and The Blair Witch Project.” Well, it quite royally rips off The Shining and I can see a Blair Witch influence. But Reservoir Dogs? Am I missing something? Finally, who won that competition? The one that had a prize of a £10,000 short film budget and guaranteed distribution and which was due to announce a winner on 14th March. According to the House of Fear website: “The winner of this competition will be named shortly! We are currently waiting for the submissions from Gore Zone Magazine. As soon as these are recieved [sic] we will draw our winner.” Meanwhile, I am still working on my epic review of Evil Calls which will be even longer than my infamous 10,000-word deconstruction of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (not on this site but it can still be found if you Google for it). Whereas that caused serious problems for Disney (a Buena Vista representative admitted this at a conference), I suspect that my review of Evil Calls may have the opposite effect. I’m certainly urging people to buy the thing. (As with HHGG, there will be a shorter summary review too.) 13th March 2008 19th February 2008 Now the Jason Donovan fans, I’ve got more time for them and not just because their site is more professional looking. They keep their discussions on a members-only forum, they understand how the internet works (ie. they don’t throw a paddy-fit when someone links to their site) and they admit their unfamiliarity with low-budget horror films rather than blustering hilariously about their fine art degrees. So anyway, there’s a short, well-written, honest review of Evil Calls on the Official Jason Donovan Website which calls the film “rather confusing” with “a very abrupt ending”, a movie for fans of JD or low-budget horror “but everyone else may struggle to see the appeal.” Also, someone who caught one of last week’s screenings has posted a short review on the Empire forums which sums up the film as “like The Shining mixed with every other Kubrick film but directed by Ed Wood's grandson. And I say this in a good way.” 18th February 2008 HOUSE OF FEAR will also be offering a free monthly e-magazine with in-depth interviews with people within the world of horror through this website. First publication will be emailed free from Friday February 8th 2008 to everybody enrolled within the HOUSE OF FEAR fan club. However, I’m enrolled with the fan club and I’ve seen nothing except this ‘February newsletter’ on 14th February which basically reiterates what’s on the site’s news page. Surely this e-magazine must be stuck in a broadband cable somewhere. I can't believe that it doesn't exist. Ah, maybe it's just late, delayed at the e-printers.
The competition is the most intriguing bit and in fact there’s a whole page on the site about it. The prize is £10,000 to make a short film which will be produced and distributed by House of Fear. Hmm, that sounds too good to be true... The catch is that you have to buy and watch Evil Calls first so that you can answer three questions about the plot - plus you must include valid e-mail addresses of two other people, which I’m fairly sure contravenes the Data Protection Act. It’s actually really funny - you don’t have to have any film-making experience or talent (never a requirement at House of Fear of course!) and you don’t even have to have a script. You just have to want to make a short film for ten grand. But the biggest warning sign (apart from: it’s Richard Driscoll, he made Kannibal, run!) is that there is No Small Print. Nothing, zip. Watch a film, answer three questions, send in your contact details and those of two friends by 13th March - and on 14th March your name could be plucked from the hat and you could be given ten thousand pounds and a parking spot next to the llama field at Nanpean Farm. Ask yourself: when did you last see a competition with a prize worth ten thousand pounds which had no rules, no terms and conditions, no small print whatsoever? I will resist the temptation to enter the competition, even when my copy of Evil Calls arrives, but I will be posting a detailed, honest, fair critique of the movie on this site and I shall probably also use that as an opportunity to explain why I find Richard Driscoll so fascinating as a film-maker. Watch this space. In other news, the psycho stalkers on that little Rik Mayall site have finally realised that, if they don’t want other people reading their masturbatory fantasies about their favourite actor, maybe they shouldn’t post them on a publicly accessible forum that’s indexed on Google (duh!). I must give special mention to an Australian bimbo named ‘kat-rant’ who gave me a tremendous laugh by not only thinking this site is praising Richard Driscoll (irony not yer strong point there, kat!) but issuing this hilarious challenge which I feel is worth reproducing here because it’s just so entertaining: “MJ Simpson, if you're reading, I have a distinction degree in contemporary arts with major in Media Art and Drama and I'm a qualified teacher in these subjects as well as English, what are your credentials?” Ooh, you have a degree! In ‘contemporary arts’! Well la-de-da, that’s put me in my place. Tell you what, Sheila, when you’ve been a professional film journalist for thirteen years, come and find me. ‘Contemporary arts degree’ - what a dick. 14th February 2008 Fair play to Driscoll for snagging this coverage. Of course the BBC news people have absolutely no idea of the vast number of such films produced in this country every year so they’ve picked up House of Fear’s PR under the impression that making low-budget horrors is something unusual (whereas the creation of a self-contained studio complex is certainly unusual). Driscoll said that he wanted to produce one film every month, because soap operas can churn out several episodes a week. Interesting, but in the seven years since Kannibal he’s made only two films, the first only being (self-)released now and the second still on the shelf, so a monthly schedule seems a little ambitious. (By comparison, Pat Higgins’ Jinx Media has made four features in three years, none of which have been self-released and even the worst of which is much, much better than Kannibal. Johannes Roberts has managed six features since 2001. There are plenty of other examples.) Meanwhile, I have ordered a copy of Evil Calls and will be watching it as soon as it arrives. I hope it’s better than Kannibal or The Comic - we shall see. And I think I’ll leave the fanboys and fangirls of the Rik Mayall forum alone now. They are increasingly apoplectic that someone else is reading their comments and finding amusement in their naivete. (I don’t know what the Jason Donovan fans think - their forum is private.) 13th February 2008 Apparently there were about 30-40 people at the screening including the prize-winners from the Rik Mayall and Jason Donovan fan-sites. Everyone was given a copy of Gorezone and some film stills. A video crew was there which was almost certainly Emily Booth and her team covering the event for Zone Horror. Comments about the film itself on the Rik Mayall Board from those in attendance include “awful” and “quite the worst film I’ve ever seen, but a bloody good laugh” (to be fair, I doubt if these people have seen many films...). The most descriptive account is: “It wasn't nearly as scary as I had imagined - there were some gory scenes - (and quite a lot of unnecessary female nudity!) but it was mainly just...... boring! The acting was quite bad, as were the American accents, and it was one of those films where you're straining to see your watch in the dark to see how much longer you have to suffer!” A second screening tonight at the Royal Cinema in St Ives is a charity event in aid of Kidz R Us, a local youth theatre group (although there's no mention of it on their website). And you know, all credit to Richard Driscoll for that. Here’s some coverage on BBC Cornwall and This is Cornwall. 27th January 2008 The ‘Internet Gore Memorablia Shop’ will be open for business on 29th February selling autographs, props and movie collectables. And finally, Jaeson Finn, currently working for House of Fear on Evil Calls pick-ups as 'Assistant Production Designer', has thrown a tizzy and asked me not to mention his MySpace page on my site again. So I won’t. 19th January 2008 By the way, check out the latest trailer for the film on the HoF site (or slightly more clearly on revver.com and numerous similar sites). Not only does it pretentiously compare this movie to: “Night of the Demon ... The Omen ... The Exorcist ... Now a new breed of terror arrives...” but they actually get one of those titles wrong. Apparently Evil Calls is comparable to Richard Donner’s The Omen, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist and... Kevin S Tenney’s late 1980s B-movie Night of the Demons! You couldn’t make this stuff up. I’m entertained already and I haven’t even seen the damn film. Evil Calls also has a MySpace page. Oh and the latest addition to the Internet Gore site is a promise (well, a threat) that if you buy the Evil Calls DVD you will also receive a free six-track Marylin Manson CD. Interestingly, despite Alone in the Dark having been filmed six years ago, Evil Calls will probably carry a 2008 copyright date because some new scenes were filmed last month and indeed this month, as recounted on the MySpace blog of Jaeson Finn, who is helping with the effects (he previously worked on Neil Marshall’s newie Doomsday and reckons that The Witches Hammer ripped off some of his comics work). These include the death of a character played by Richard Waters (The Killer Tongue) for which Jaeson doubled the actor in some shots, although Waters and Vass Anderson were both around for the reshoots. It should be stressed that Evil Calls has no connection with Johannes Roberts’ When Evil Calls which is out on R1 DVD next week.
Driscoll is still planning to release all three films theatrically in June and this poster design has appeared on the site. What more recommendation could you need than ‘From the special effects creators of The Shining’? The House of Fear online TV station is still planned to launch at the end of May but now, as well as www.houseoffear.tv and www.screamqueens.tv, there will be a third channel, www.grindhousemovies.tv. Whereas the other two URLs remain empty, this one actually has a front page and a movie clip montage that plays when you enter the ‘cinema’.
And how do you enrol with the House of Fear fan club? No idea. The new ‘fan club’ page of the HoF site just says: “As a member of the HOUSE OF FEAR fan club you will be entitled to Premier tickets, posters, soundtracks, merchandise and the free monthly e-magazine with in-depth interviews with many of the people now involved within the world of horror as well as discounts on many of the products listed on www.internetgore.com website.” Meanwhile, back on the home page, the fantasies continue: “HOUSE OF FEAR will also be arranging a unique form of theatrical distribution with its first theatrical release “The Raven” using the 3 films within the Raven trilogy to make one story. To be released theatrically in June 2008 at special venues. Further information will be made available nearer the date of release.” A theatrically released triple bill of Richard Driscoll movies? I can’t wait! As for the HoF online ‘TV station’, that’s been put back to 31st May 2008 and Debbie Rochon has been added to the proposed first programme. In other HoF news, the individual pages for the various films all seem to have disappeared and the only jobs they have left are interns. 21st August 2007 And as if all this wasn’t enough, from 14th December the TV station “is also offering a free monthly e-magazine with in-depth interviews with people within the world of horror.” It all sounds enormously exciting. The odd thing is that, apart from this site and Richard Driscoll’s own site, none of it seems to have been publicised. Anywhere. 8th August 2007 5th August 2007 Other updates on the site include some situations vacant. If you fancy any of these jobs - Production Manager, Art Director/Prop Maker, Sound Recordist & Mixer, Production Assistants, 1st & 2nd Ad, Runners - you can apply through the website. There are also pictures of animals, cars and gun props available. The online TV station which was to launch at www.horrorgirls.tv on 28th November has now moved to www.houseoffear.tv on 22nd December. The former URL is now said to be the home of Horror Girls, a monthly TV series (still planned to star Sly McCoy in the first one) and an eight-part documentary is also planned, called Horror Legends, looking at Messrs Cushing, Lee, Karloff, Lugosi, Price and Hitchcock plus Sherlock Holmes and Hammer Films. Subscribers to the House of Fear ‘station’ (and there is, at present, no means to subscribe) will also have access to www.screamqueens.tv which is Linnea Quigley’s site and “will show the first ever extreme X rated adult horror gore serial.” They will also receive a monthly free gift, the first being the downloaded soundtrack to The Raven Trilogy. Here’s the bit I don’t understand: “Each month we will also include a new unexploited horror feature film never before seen on any other site or on DVD through our Grindhouse horror revue site www.grindhousemovies.tv.” This rather implies twelve completely original horror films every year. Er, where will these come from? The only thing that all these .tv domains, including Quigley’s, have in common (apart from all being registered in Tuvalu, of course) is that none of them exist yet. Grindhouse (it’s a very ‘in’ word, thanks to Mr Tarantino) is also mentioned on the ‘Theatrical Distribution’ page: “House of Fear will be distributing their first theatrical film Alone In The Dark, episode one of the Raven trilogy from October through Grindhouse Movies. Dates and venues to be announced.” That’s a step up from the previously announced DVD distribution. But it’s not all good news. Driscoll’s online store InternetGore.com which was set to open for business in September (and still says that on its own site) will now fling open its virtual doors on 30th November, apparently. That just a few days after Memorabilia at the NEC where House of Fear will have a booth - the first of many such convention appearances, we are told - with no less a personage than Ms Quigley herself in attendance. On the films front, there have been several developments with the promise of several new films, including “The Raven trilogy, a second instalment of the Kannibal series and Rylett, a film about a secret agent fighting against devil worshipers.” This means that the previously announced Harry and the Wizard Rylett was actually two films, as indeed they are now listed on the ‘In Development’ page: “Harry & The Wizard - An adventure story featuring the grandson of the legendary magician Harry Houdini in the first of a whole new film series. Rylett - A James Bond film for the occult world.” All three Raven films - plus Kannibal, Killers Kiss (aka Cold Light of Day) and documentary Death Penalty - say they will be released on 21st December 2007 and we are promised the sequel to Kannibal (boy, we’re all waiting for that one!) in early 2008. Alone in the Dark now has additional ‘cast blogs’ (ie. short video interviews) for Jason Donovan, Robin Askwith, Rik Mayall and Norman Wisdom. Bizarrely, Rik and Sir Norman are actually playing the same character at different ages! There are also ‘crew blogs’ on Make-Up FX (Steve Bettles, an Emmy-winner whose whose other credits include Urban Gothic, Frostbitten and My Name is Earl), FX (Alan Whibley, whose credits include Lighthouse, Space Precinct and The Lair of the White Worm) and ‘Production Cam’ (general behind-the-scenes footage). Kannibal also has ‘blogs’ which are actually the Making Of from the DVD split into four sections. Part one kicks off with Driscoll’s infamous observation that his film is “like an opera version of Tosca”! 15 July 2007 The ultimate online Horror film shop and retail store for the 'House of Fear' Productions will be opening in September 2007. Internet Gore will be the UK & International sales and distribution company for House of Fear Productions. Although the banner on that page doesn't yet work, a quick check at www.internetgore.com reveals the nascent website. There is nothing for sale there yet but the empty catalogue is divided into film memorabilia, films and soundtracks. Internet Gore will open in September 2007 (it says) to coincide with the release of Alone in the Dark. It will need to sell more than House of Fear goodies to be considered 'ultimate' though. Meanwhile the second film in the trilogy, The Devil's Disciple (which was apparently shot late last year), has some stills on its page which confirm that Kenny Baker is in the cast - although there is no sign of Tom Savini. There is also a page, with trailer, for Death Penalty, 'a Rebecca Richards film produced by Richard Driscoll' which looks like a documentary. 19 June 2007
“Alone in the Dark is about a group of students who go to a haunted forest called Harrow Woods in New England for a weekend vacation to investigate the disappearance of horror novelist George Carney and his family who went missing presumed dead two years before. Led by lecturer Karl Mathers, the group embark on their investigation to learn that the forest has more horrors to offer then first realised as they discover that in the 17th century the infamous witch Lenore Selwyn was burnt at the stake within Harrow Woods. As she struggled against the flames she cursed the very land that her ashes fell upon. With the knowledge of this information the group are murdered one by one on their weekend of horrors.”
“The film picks up from where Alone In The Dark left off, with the story of George Carney and how he discovered the secrets of Harrow Woods through the diary of the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley. As Carney investigates the connection between the forest in Harrow Woods and the black magician, he delves head first into a world of black magic as he travels to New Orleans from New York where Crowley’s daughter now lives. Followed by occultists and murderers Carney embarks on finding the truth about the diary as he learns that Crowley intended to bring the witch Lenore back to life.”
“In the third instalment of The Raven trilogy we pick up the story of how Karl Mathers was originally tempted to bring the group to Harrow Woods and how Crowley was going to use the essence of the student’s souls to bring the witch Lenore back to life.” The ‘Films’ section of the House of Fear site also lists Kannibal (check out the great trailer which prominently features Lucien Morgan, the Worst Actor in the World), Killers Kiss (evidently a retitling of the 1989, Driscoll-produced Dennis Nilsen biopic Cold Light of Day which is unsure of whether it should have an apostrophe in its title) and three titles listed as ‘in pre-production’ which I think we can take to mean ‘in the very, very early stages of development’:
A page on the House of Fear ‘music and film library’ makes it clear to anyone who knows about these things that the library consists solely of public domain stuff (Sherlock Holmes! Popeye!) while other pages list available studio facilities, classic cars that can be used for films, animals available through ‘Nightmare Creatures’ and FX available through ‘1st Effects’ - presumably subsidiary companies. Finally, there is the House of Fear ‘TV station’: “House of Fear will be starting it's TV Station at www.horrorgirls.tv[1] November 28th 2007 as a subscription site. It will feature a weekly show called Horror Girls which will star a different celebrity each month. The first episode will include Dr.Who, Slyvester McCoy[2] as the star of the show. The station will also feature a number of old horror classics such as 'Night of the Living Dead', 'Destination 13'[3], 'Horror Hotel' amongest others. There will also be a monthly online chat with a Horror celebrity as well as a weekly radio show with one of the Horror Girls.” Points to note: (1) don’t bother checking that URL, there’s nothing there yet; (2) they manage to misspell Sylvester McCoy’s name on another page too so at least they’re consistent; (3) there is no such film as Destination 13 so we can reasonably assume that they mean PD staple Dementia 13. House of Fear is based near Redruth in Cornwall. Sadly, it seems there are no jobs available right now at the ‘studio’. Personally I would love to see Alone in the Dark, partly to find out whether Driscoll/Craine has improved since Kannibal, but mostly to see Rik Mayall, Robin Askwith, Norman Wisdom and Jason Donovan together in the same film. But one thing still bothers me: why is there no mention, anywhere on this website, of The Comic? | ||
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The poster for the final film in the trilogy,