The Dead Outside
Despite being shown last year on Film Four’s FrightFest The Dead Outside is still hitting up the festival circuit to much acclaim this year and have just completed 3 screenings at San Francisco’s ‘Another Hole in the Head’.
Following the outbreak of a mysterious and degenerative neurological disorder, a botched anti-viral program turned millions of people into carriers, resulting in a catastrophic collapse of the British population. Six months on, terrified survivors wander the country- confused, paranoid and violent.
Daniel, a man broken and bereaved sets out in hope of building a new life. With the fate of the wider world largely unknown to him, he takes shelter in a crudely fortified farm in the Scottish countryside. With evidence of recent life, and the stench of death emanating from a pit in the nearby woods, something is not quite right with Braehead Farm.
When unexpected company arrives in the form of a mysterious 16 year old girl who claims the farm to be her own, Daniel is plunged into spiral of paranoia and self-doubt. It’s clear that the mysteries surrounding the farm and its young inhabitant run far deeper than meets the eye, and in a desperate world, you keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Director Kerry Anne answers some questions about the film here.
Q. Is The Dead Outside a zombie movie?
A. Not really! Although I love Romero’s films and 28 Days Later, The Dead Outside is about real, living people descending into madness, and the desperation and paranoia that comes with that! So whilst there’s no living dead, I think we’ve created something much more unnerving!
Q. Where did the idea come from?
A. I was visiting family in Dumfries in mid 2007 and happened to drive a different route back over the hills to Edinburgh than I usually would. It was cold, damp, misty, and it was terrifying, genuinely isolated and terrifying! A lot of the story and structure came later of course, but I knew at that moment exactly how I wanted the film to look, and to feel!
Q. What films or directors have inspired you?
A. In terms of what inspired me to make this film, definitely Asian cinema- particularly Japanese and Korean horror. I think the tone and aesthetic of some of their films is incredible- beautiful, but unnerving, intelligent and psychological, but still terrifying
in its own unique way. While The Dead Outside isn’t very J-Horror at all, I’d like to think that I’ve been inspired to make a film which entertains and engages in a sophisticated way, which grips you with its tension and atmosphere and doesn’t let go!
Q. Is “April” (Sandra Louise Douglas) really 16?
A. Yeap! In fact Sandra Louise had not long turned 16 when we shot. She came along to an open audition in Dumfries and just blew us away- she had never acted before, but we practically called off the search right then and there (although we didn’t tell her that!). I think she said that her friend had cut her hair and that it usually looks much nicer—we told her to leave it exactly how it was!
Q. So what was the budget?
A. I think we’re still keeping the figure close to our chests, but it’s obviously a microbudget!
From the outset it was conceived as a project that could succeed with asmaller budget, and without stars—it’s a strong story piece that just drips with atmosphere, and thankfully the hills and the fog didn’t cost us anything!
Q. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?
A. Buy warmer clothes! And probably insist on more time- we were often rushing our poor actors around and making them do scenes completely out-of-sequence- it would have been fantastic to have had more time to really let them flourish. And shoot in summer?
Q. Where do you see the future of British filmmaking?
A. Obviously there’s been an upsurge in digital films these past few years, and that empowerment has been amazing, but it’s also driving up competition, and standards! I think the next few years will see a re-emphasis on story, script, and marketing savvy… Particularly in the horror genre, where perhaps ‘empowered filmmakers’ were much quicker to reach for a bucket of blood than a book on screenwriting!
To find out more you can head on over to the offical site and sign up to buy the DVD when it’s released.
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