The End is Near...

Our tenancy at Borley Rectory is finally coming to an end. With production now heading into final edit, music score and sound, we are now offering one lucky individual the opportunity to come aboard as an Executive Producer before the picture is locked, final posters designed and credits roll.

For a modest £2000 you get to become a part of  British Horror History, but if that's not enough, there are also a shed-load of perks on offer! In addition to an IMDB credit as Executive Producer, you will get:

• The original planchette (as seen on screen during the final seance sequences)
• Unique copy of the graphic novel 'From Hell' - signed on set in Prague by Johnny Depp, Ian Holm, Heather Graham and the Hughes Brothers. This is the copy that belonged to the Ripperologist that was assigned to the project by 20th Century Fox and is dedicated to him.
• The Ltd Edition vinyl soundtrack
• Signed posters and Ltd edition Richard Wells Borley / Reece Shearsmith print
• Plus a hard copy of the finished film
• You'll also receive a VIP invite to the Premiere...

So don't delay, contact us today!

 

You're amazing!- Best Christmas present ever - with your help we crashed through our first stretch goal of £6000, then the second of £7000 and raised almost £10,000!

 

Due to you we'll get more time in the studio and  we'll get to make 'Borley Rectory' as originally intended. 

What happens after the campaign ends?

A haunting as strong as this won't be exorcised quite so easily! Once this campaign ends on December 15th  (8am approx December 16th GMT) you can still contact us to pledge support (and still claim some of the perks such as prints etc) by contacting us via: info@carrionfilms.co.uk

Do contact us as we love to receive messages from the other side...
 

 

My name is Ashley Thorpe and I am the writer / director of this project. My previous work includes 'Scayrecrow', 'The Screaming Skull''and 'The Hairy Hands'; three award-winning animated shorts inspired by neglected aspects of British legend.

I'm the stripey one in the middle. Without a pipe. 

 

 

I also wrote 'The Demon Huntsman' and 'Dead Man's Shoes' for the Glass Eye Pix Radio Drama series 'Tales From Beyond the Pale' and I'm a regular contributor to 'Fangoria Magazine' - providing articles, reviews and the occasional cover painting...like these two:
 

 

Carrion Films is essentially a small unit of like-minded friends (which is a grand way of saying it's me and a couple of mates). I’m a self-employed animator who juggles his time between the day job, running children’s animation workshops and raising my daughter Lily Wednesday (Lily as in Munster and Wednesday as in Addams of course) who was born just before the first shoots. Horror is a family affair in our house.

Here's Lily Wednesday and I working on the project. She's very good at 'Work prioritization'. If it looks boring she throws it on the floor.

 

 

We’re regular people with all the regular financial worries and family commitments. I don’t make films to make money (though it would be nice one day) but I do need money to make them and I do love making them.  The arts grants that used to fund these sorts of ventures have been gradually stamped out by the Junta. The money raised by this campaign is vital  to this projects survival and goes directly into the production of the film.
 

 

 

 

 

Borley Rectory is essentially an animated documentary, inspired by a genuine haunting that caught the world’s imagination during the late 1920‘s. It’s something quite old-fashioned, black and white and  beautiful - almost ‘noirish,’ with a house very much a projection of the strange personalities within it. It's a love letter to another age of horror. Oh and lots of pipe smoking. Here's a few screenshots...and if this doesn't get you excited... you're already dead.

 

The subject of Borley Rectory seized my imagination as a child after stumbling across the legend in the 'Usbourne Book of Ghosts' in the Exeter Library in the late 70's. It was that moniker - 'The most haunted house in England'.  This wasn't just a haunted house. It was the haunted house. And it was full of so many gothic archetypes: Bricked up Nuns, phantom carriages, spectral writings. So it’s occupied a very strange colourful place in my imagination for a very long time, and I’m thrilled to finally be bringing this story to life with people for whom I have such genuine admiration.
 

 

 

 

We’ve gathered an extraordinary cast, nay a perfect cast! Borley Rectory stars Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No 9, The Widower and new ITV drama Chasing Shadows), Jonathan Rigby (Kenneth Horne in BBC production ‘Round the Horne Revisited’, renowned horror historian and author of English Gothic), Nicholas Vince (Hellraiser, Hellbound, Nightbreed), Richard Strange (Batman, Inkheart, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Claire Louise Amias (Provoked, Telling Lies, Women of Twilight), Sally Mortemore (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, A Cake for Mabel) as well as the famed comedian Steve Furst (Little Britain and the Orange ads) and many more.
 

These wonderful people committed to the film not because of personal gain but because of their faith in what we're trying to do and a genuine longing to see it made.

 

The film also features an original score by the legendary Steven Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and a full narration from famed British actor Julian Sands (Room With A View, Arachnophobia, Warlock and most recently The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).

"When l first came across Ashley Thorpe’s work as a film maker l was struck by his originality and passion. The poetry and sensitivity of his images were compelling and extremely moving. When l heard he was developing a project based on the notorious Borley Rectory l had to be involved. Working on this astonishing piece has been immensely fulfilling and l am happy to have joined his repertoire." - Julian Sands

 

 

The production features a large variety of techniques; animation both digital (2D and 3D) and traditional, rotoscoping, model work and a few old school water-tank spectres!

We've also been incredibly lucky to have been supported by 'Creative Partners' in New Zealand who have built us an amazing 3D digital replica of the Rectory (based upon original contemporary plans drawn during Price's investigation) that enable us to  plan every shot and angle to be as historically authentic as possible. Here's a polygon of an aerial shot:

 

 

 

 

With incredible support our first campaign raised around 60% of our budget.

 Passionate to see this project realised - and with such an amazing team committed - after a little re-scheduling we launched into production in May and nailed a variety of key scenes with our primary cast. The shoot was a great success, we got more than we’d hoped and finished on budget and on time. And what’s more it was damn good fun.
 

 

But there’s lots more to be done. And we need money to do it.

While I continue animating the footage / elements we have, we need to raise the remaining budget to facilitate the future shoots for the additional sequences. The more we raise, the more we'll get to shoot.
 

 

PERKS WILL STILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER CAMPAIGN CLOSE! Contact info@carrionfilms.co.uk

 

 

The previous budget went entirely towards production costs; the equipment hire (a RED camera to enable the frame rate and quality we need), the studio (fantastic green screen facilities at VFX Co) but also the period props and costumes (many of which were sourced from the National Theatre). We’re incredibly budget-efficient but these are things where it’s simply not worth cutting corners. The quality really shows through when you start working with the images, I hope you will agree.
 

The next batch of shoots will cost £3000. That's purely production costs - Equipment hire + studio hire + costumes / props. 

 

How will this impact us? It will keep us going. It will enable us to finish the film and potentially launch future projects.

The first films 'Scayrecrow' & 'The Screaming Skull' were made in my bedroom on a reconditioned MacBook yet won 4 international awards, including Best Animated Short at 'Night of Horror' Sydney and a Media Innovation Award.  Both of the last two shorts hit Raindance and Cannes. 'The Screaming Skull' was nominated 'Best British Short film' at Raindance. That's 'Best British Short Film' for a project primarily shot in my garden with an old sheet for a green screen. They were all subsequently picked up by FEARnet.

 

We're used to turning in labours of love on a shoestring. Imagine what we could do with some proper sponsorship.

 

We have other shorts based on local legends planned and two draft feature scripts (the Dartmoor set Amicus style portmanteau 'Hell-Tor' and Victorian gothic 'Spring Heel Jack') waiting in the wings.

 

FESTIVAL AND DEVELOPMENT INTEREST

 

Interest in Borley Rectory is running at an all-time high. Though we're still in production we've already had interest from FrightFest, the Telluride Horror Show in Colorado and a number of other festivals in the states all eager to screen it. It's an amazing position to be in being pestered to screen clips of a film you haven't finished yet! We've also been approached by an rising indie studio curious about the possibility of turning this project into a feature length film.

 

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