“ONE OF THE DEFINING BRITISH HORRORS OF ITS GENERATION”
****
ROSIE FLETCHER, TOTAL FILM
"HORRIFYING AND UTTERLY UNIQUE"
****
DAILY MIRROR
“BENSON AND HOWARD ARE OUTSTANDING AS AN ORDINARY SUN-READING BLOKE AND HIS CHIRPY DAUGHTER, WHOSE BANAL TALK AND FAMILY VALUES SEGUE INTO HOMICIDAL FRENZY"
EMPIRE
"A DISGRACE"
BRITISH GOVT. MINISTER NIGEL EVANS
Heroes
MUM & DAD is Released by Revolver Entertainment. Visit them today...
Mum & Dad's Details
Status:
Single
Zodiac Sign:
Pisces
Mum & Dad MUM & DAD. OUT IN THE USA NOW! Posted at 8:23 AM May 14 view more
Writer/director Steven Sheil’s intense horror film, produced by Lisa Trnovski, is set around London’s Heathrow Airport. A murderous and perverse family live in a house at the end of the runway, right under the roar of the flight path. They live off the contents of supposedly ‘lost’ luggage, but the ‘family business’ is much more sinister.
Polish worker Lena becomes the latest unwilling house guest when she is brutally forced into their world. Mum’s predilection is torture. Dad’s a killer. And the kids gather the victims. Lena is the newest member of ‘the family’, after they kidnap her from an airport cleaning job. Her choice becomes either to endure and live by their rules or to become as brutal and savage as the family themselves.
The Inspiration
Being a fan of the horror genre Steven wanted to use the opportunity Microwave presented to explore how far he could take it. The story is set in urban suburbia against the backdrop of a major airport, a setting that was very familiar to Steven having grown up living in the shadow of Heathrow. “It’s the kind of location that is not seen in film that often. For me it presents an interesting landscape contrasting as it does a sense of extreme activity with one of alienation.” Steven was drawn to the familiarity of the family unit through which to convey horror.
“The two words I use when describing Mum & Dad are ‘brutal’ and ‘perverse’.” Steven explains, “It’s about the perversion of the family unit. The key to the horror lies in the perversion of parenthood: taking something quite normal and giving it a nasty twist.”
The work of Freddie Francis was a source of great inspiration when writing the script, in particular his 1969 Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly. “That coupled with Pete Walker’s Frightmare were both in my mind when I set about writing Mum & Dad.”
...which was shown at a huge number of festivals internationally including Dead by Dawn Horror Film Festival, Edinburgh, Worldwide Short film Festival, Toronto, Bang Short Film Festival, Barcelona, Halloween Short Film Festival, London. Cry was shown on the Atom Films website where it has received over 100,000 downloads.
Steven’s writing credits include World of Pain, a feature set in the world of British wrestling currently in development with Film 4 Lab and 18db.
As well as working on Mum & Dad, Steven has just completed a 20-minute short for the Film Council’s DV Shorts Plus scheme. Deliver Me is a psychological horror short about a spiritualist healer and is working on the screenplay for his next film Empire of Flesh.
Born in a small town in South West Scotland, Lisa began her filming career as a production assistant for a commercials production company in Milan. Having moved back to London in 2000 to work at 2am Films, Lisa is now a veteran of short film formats and has worked on more than 500 commercials, pop promos and idents over the last 9 years.
Not satisfied with such brief story telling opportunities, she turned her hand to feature films in 2004 when she worked as a co-coordinator on Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
In 2006, Lisa produced Honeymoon (Watch a clip) - a Film 4/UKFC short starring Emilia Fox and directed by Miranda Bowen - which won Best Film at the Brest International Film Festival at its debut outing in November 2006 and has since been screened in London, France, Germany and the US.
Looking out for a feature opportunity, she was sent an outline for Mum & Dad in September 2006. A self-confessed non-horror film fan, Lisa was immediately taken with the strong writing and on meeting director Steven Sheil, got stuck in straight away to the Microwave challenge of producing a feature for £100,000.
Mum & Dad is her first feature film credit.
Her passion now is both to tell her own stories and to nurture directorial talent. She has a project in the early stages of development with Film 4 for Miranda Bowen and another feature with Steven Sheil is planned for 2008.
'Frightmare' is a classic cheers for the info I love the 60 & 70's horror film myself from the likes of 'Mario Bava, Gordan Lewis, Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter' the best years for horror personally.
I'd have to check out his other work as well, I'm a beginning horror script writter/director doing my own little homemade movies my first is to be 'One last stop the woods'
I wasn't to sure where to post but I loved the film, a true British classic, totally blow me away...give it couple of years and the American's would try and remake it
