five with frights:- Ryan McDermott
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Mr. Frights was lucky enough to come across a movie called 'Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders'
and quickly found the filmmakers behind the short comedy horror hit... So today,
we speak with
RYAN MCDERMOTT about the film.
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarkMacready
Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/MarkMacready
MR. FRIGHTS: Can you tell us a little about 'Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders'?-
RYAN MCDERMOTT:
Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders is a thirty minute non-stop independent horror comedy from the UK. It was refused funding by all the major funders and so myself and the production team raised the £5,000 budget
(about 7,500 USD) by selling our geeky memorabilia on eBay. The film has now screened across the UK and US film festivals, receiving solid press reviews and a really loyal grassroots fan base. I think its proof that hard work, determination and not a lot of money can produce something audiences will respond to despite limitations and hopefully the film can inspire other filmmakers to make more high concept short films in the UK. - MR. FRIGHTS: What kind of horror films have inspired your work?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: I'd say that we were inspired by movies such as 'The Evil Dead' and 'Bad Taste', those horror comedy films are really a reflection of what Mark Macready is, it's a true hybrid of both genres. Another big inspiration was actually a TV show and it was The
X-Files, those stories were some of the most creative and scary stories ever told.
I'd have to say a couple of non horror films that have been a huge inspiration are 'The Naked Gun' and 'Death Wish', specifically 'Death Wish 4: The Crackdown' our favorite bad movie, we wanted to mimic the often shaky overacting in Mark Macready. If you haven't seen 'Death Wish 4' I highly recommend you hunt it out, as it features the best death via grenade rocket launcher ever committed to celluloid. - MR. FRIGHTS: You're working on a feature film building on 'Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders'; but do you have any other projects in the works for the future?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: Yeah that's right myself and my good friend (the creator / writer of Mark Macready)
Paul Feeney (@thefeen83) are currently developing the project into a feature length movie, it's very early days but we have a really epic story. It's a remake of the short film featuring all the monsters, explosions and scares we couldn't do on a £5,000 independent budget.
Other than projects connected to Mark Macready we don't have anything else in the works as we are really busy preparing to launch the original Macready short film online and then begin production on a Macready inspired webisode series called GMPID (Greater Manchester Paranormal Investigations Department).
The webisode series focuses on the special branch of the police in the Macready universe and you'll meet characters that'll appear in the feature film. The webisode series is going to be a trial run at being 'interactive' with our audience by allowing them to make key decisions with the story, create original characters and watch live streaming from the set. If it's successful we'll then apply the interactivity and build upon it for our feature film. So no other projects in the works, the desire is there but right now Mark Macready is the centre of our attention.
- MR. FRIGHTS: If you could cast any horror icon alive today, who would it be and why?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: I'd love to cast UK horror icon
Emily Booth (@emmybooth).
We're eager to work with her on the Mark Macready feature. She has such a big following; she's known as the first lady of UK horror. I'd love to see her in full She-Snake make-up chopping away on some poor dead bloke at a wedding massacre…
Hopefully we can make that happen in the coming months.
- MR. FRIGHTS: Where and when could people outside the UK check out the short Mark Macready?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: Last year the film dominated the festival circuit with screenings across the UK at places such as
Mayhem Horror Film Festival (@mayhem_festival),
Horror UK (@horroruk), and internationally at
Zero Film Festival NYC (@zerofilmfest); so there won't be many chances this year to catch the film at a festival although screenings in Hampshire, Glastonbury and LA are confirmed for later in the year. So, we are bringing the film online for all to see!
The film will debut for free on May 31st! There will be a press launch party for anybody who wants to attend and the whole event will be streamed live
with Q&A for our Twitter followers to tweet in and ask questions. I'm excited
about the launch, it's a first for an indie film.
As usual, that's our 5. But click below for the "GRAB BAG" questions for more fun Q&A with Ryan.
GRAB BAG QUESTIONS
- MR. FRIGHTS: If you were a zombie, would you prefer your brains with
condiments (salt, pepper, maybe some mayo) or straight up?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: That's a very interesting question. I think condiments would be nice although I'm a huge popcorn eater (it seems to help me be creative) so maybe I could stuff my brains full of that and be the world's first creative zombie? I smell a £45 funded DVD movie coming out on the back of that...
- MR. FRIGHTS: Can you tell us a little more about the creative team behind Mark Macready?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: The creative team on the short film was writer
Paul Feeney, director
Sean Candon and myself who produced and marketed the film. I met Paul in college in 2002 and he asked me to star in his college film that college film turned out to be the first ever Mark Macready movie, it was terrible but so much fun. Flash-forward a few years later and our friend Sean saw the tape and encouraged Paul to develop it. So a script was written, several months later we were on set shooting it. Along the way we met some amazing local actors such as
Paul Newbery (@paulnewbery),
Nathan Head (@nathanhead) and
Ashleigh Edwards Pitt (@ashleighepitt) who became huge players in the creative process of marketing the film. We also got to work with the musical genius
Scott Benzie (@Scottbenzie) who composed our beautifully epic sounding score.
- MR. FRIGHTS: Which is scarier... axe wielding un-dead psychopath or making an indie movie?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: Making an indie movie for sure! It's over relatively quickly with the axe wielding psycho where's with an indie movie the pain of losing money, reshoots or sitting through an uncomfortable screening lasts much longer…
- MR. FRIGHTS: If you were to remake any famous horror film, which film, and how would it be different from the original?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: I'd never remake any filmmaker's work it just doesn't appeal to me. I'd love to do a couple of sequels, maybe a Critters or Gremlins movie but I'd never remake other peoples films, I think you have to respect that persons vision good or bad. There are always more ideas out there and Hollywood needs to start looking for them instead of remaking every single horror film that's ever been produced, it's becoming a bit tiresome now. The UK film industry also needs to act up and start producing more high concept content especially with Hollywood in the state that it is, now is the time to act and if the industry won't then the independent community will.
- MR. FRIGHTS: What internal organ do you think is the most disgusting to see sliced open on-screen?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: There's something nasty about the stomach area, intestines...my buddy
Ben Robinson (@bennozoid) shot a scene in his anthology movie 'Horrorshow' featuring one of the most graphic stomach munching feasts I've ever seen so yeah I'd go for the stomach area.
- MR. FRIGHTS: Can you tell us about your best Halloween trick that you've played on someone?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: That's a good one! I did a pretty cool one a couple of years ago. My brothers were alone in the house and they didn't know I'd come home so I flipped the electricity switch in our house. I then hid in the cupboard where the switch is located, waited for them to come down and jumped out. If only I'd have filmed it, I think their reactions were priceless. However they soon took revenge on me, I'm 5'9ft they are both pushing 6'ft and built like brick houses...you can only imagine the digs I got!
- MR. FRIGHTS: The poster for Mark Macready is terrific, who did that artwork?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: Thank you.
The poster was something that was really important to me personally. I love old VHS artwork and really wanted to give Macready something that was iconic enough in a VHS artwork kind of way. I came across an artist called
Tom Waterhouse several years ago and had his website saved in my favourites. When the hand drawn approach for the poster came up I just knew that Tom was the man for the job. He out did himself on it, that image has been seen and praised around the world and I'm really proud for him. I hope he'll come back and design the artwork for the feature film poster, it wouldn't be a Macready adventure without his signature style selling the product in multiplexes.
- MR. FRIGHTS: What is the most disgusting thing you ever ate?
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RYAN MCDERMOTT: She was 42, had five children and wasn't very tidy…oh…erm…you mean food!? I'd have to say
tripe, it's a really strange food that was eaten a lot in the UK during the war, ration food basically and ration food for a reason. Avoid!
RYAN MCDERMOTT: I'd just like to thank Mr. Frights for giving me this amazing opportunity and such brilliant questions to answer. I'd also like to thank everyone who is currently supporting us on Twitter, I have a feeling that we are all part of a true independent film revolution! - Ryan