So our horror movie CREDO is being released in the UK by Guerilla Films on DVD on May 25th. Running time is 93 mins. Cert 15.

This will be the extended edition including the very special 11 minute prologue featuring Stephen Gately in his fantastic feature film acting debut.

But by special arrangement with our distributor, what is really exciting is that you can buy it direct from us, the film-makers at www.altofilms.com and you’ll be the first to see it!

Credo DVD

To celebrate its release, if you do buy CREDO from us (and you can pre-order it from the site right now!), then you will also get a set of 4 specially printed CREDO postcards for FREE. These postcards are available nowhere else in the whole world so it’s a bit of a coup.

Credo Postcard Set

On top of that, you can also buy the official CREDO poster – again available nowhere else. And Credo t-shirts are also coming soon.

Credo Poster available now to buy!

And we have also have links to buy our list of our all-time favourite horror movies.

The UK version of the DVD includes a 24 minute behind the scenes CREDO documentary called the “Five Essentials of Horror” which gives you the real insight into what making a low-budget horror is really like.

But there’s also a very special bonus feature. It’s a never seen before interview I did with Stephen Gately where he talks about his supernatural experiences, his belief in demons and his lifelong ambition to die in a horror movie…

So just think, if you do buy CREDO or anything from our site, it’ll most probably be the director herself that looks at your order, puts the DVD / postcards / poster into the envelope or poster tube, sticks on the label and pops along to the local post office to send them off. How is that for personal service from a film-maker!

Following on from the success of our Film Directing workshop last Saturday (I call it a success as we had some amazing comments!), I’ve just set up another two more one-day workshops in Brighton.

Sat 9th May – another Film Directing workshop

Sun 10th May – Film Lighting & Camera Techniques workshop

Here are some photos from the first directing workshop.

Film Directing workshop

Film Directing workshop 2

I’m particularly fond of the orange blinds which is part of the reason why we’ve changed venue and are now holding the next workshops in a professional film studio in Central Brighton.

You can just see me in the first photo. That’s my head sticking out of the top of the red-head lamp.You can see Alex in the second photo. That’s his head cut in half by a boom pole.

In the morning, we did some practical directing and acting exercises and then in the afternoon, we shot scenes from three Hollywood films – Pulp Fiction, Pretty Woman and Silence of the Lambs – chosen as they’ve got some great scenes for two actors.

What really surprised me was how good the scenes were as directed by the student directors, which is amazing considering some had never shot anything before in their lives. Each scene had real style. Some focused more on the performance of the actors, others focused on getting innovative angles and shots.

But every single scene was different and each one had a unique vision.

It just proves what I’ve always thought, that anyone can direct, it’s just having the confidence to say “I’m a director”.

I’ve been running some workshops over the past few weeks and what’s surprised me is how inspiring it’s been, making me itching to shoot again soon.

Especially the last workshop which was all about shooting and directing low budget films, talking about camera, lights, shots and directing actors.

Just getting a camera out and talking about what shots are needed to cover a scene and suddenly those directing juices are flowing and I’m in my zone.

The frustrating thing is that this was just a taster and there wasn’t enough time to actually shoot scenes. We are running a full one day Film Directing Workshop on Saturday 4 April including shooting scenes with professional actors if anyone is interested.

But I really enjoyed talking about directing and the people on the workshop also seemed to be in the same zone. Ideas were flowing and everyone seemed to be riding the same wave of creativity and positive film-making energy.

The other inspiring thing that’s happened in the last couple of weeks is being in touch with other Writers / Directors / Producer teams who have also made their first feature film and are in a similar position to us. We have been in touch with the people behind Dead Wood, Brighton Wok and indirectly, with the people behind Fallow Field.

Just connecting with others in the same position immediately gets me excited. Not only to swap war stories but to see ways we can all how help each other out for our next and future projects.

It just feels that there is an air of excitement in the UK at the moment with other filmmakers getting together and making things happen.

And that’s what’s more exciting and more inspiring than anything. To know that it is all possible. Film-makers don’t have to rely on other people. We can make it happen ourselves.

Anyway. Enough flag-waving. Got a workshop to prepare for and a next draft of a script to finish…

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks with lots of meetings and discussions about the Spring release of our horror film CREDO / THE DEVIL’S CURSE in the UK (I’ll post details about it soon).

Luckily we have a UK distributor onboard and we have a strategy for its release. In fact, I’m really excited about the release as timing wise, it coincides with the Boyzone reunion tour (Stephen Gately from Boyzone is in CREDO) and Stephen has promised to do as much publicity for us as he can, which is all great news for us.

Stephen Gately in CREDO / THE DEVIL'S CURSE

The downside is that the whole UK film industry is in crisis.

Retail-wise, the industry took a massive hit with the closing of E-UK who was one of the main shippers of DVD titles to the various High Street retailers. Then there’s the big problems with Zavvi and also the collapse of the UK’s biggest indie wholesaler who distributes titles to all the small independent shops in the UK. Phew.

All this means is that there’s now very few routes to market still open and no-one knows which distributor or retailer will be next to close down. Understandably in this highly volatile market, distributors are very nervous about taking on acquisitions and prices are pushed way down.

Phew. So what does all this mean for us?

Well for CREDO, fingers crossed, with a big marketing push and a good strategy and luck on our side, then we might be able to weather the storm and be able to achieve a successful release. Hopefully.

But the biggest impact is for our next film and for every other UK film-maker wanting to shoot low-ish budget indie feature films. If distributors are hunkering down and not taking on acquisitions, then it’s going to be really difficult to raise the finance for an indie UK film, even if you have a star attached.

Everyone is holding their breath to see what happens, us included, as this really could be the end of the UK film industry as we know it.

But saying that, this could also be a golden opportunity for the next wave of film-makers to be innovative and find new ways to finance and distribute their films.

And that to me is really exciting. And scary. But I like horror, right?!

What one person finds scary might seem dull to another. That’s the problem with horror movies, they’re only scary if you find the subject matter scary. If you can relate to what the characters are finding terrifying, then you will be terrified. But if you can’t relate to that particular horror, it might be a very long ninety minutes until the end credits roll.

For me, my biggest fear is being attacked when I am alone at night-time. So the idea of walking around a big scary dark house on my own in the dead of night is absolutely terrifying – hence that’s the reason why quite a few sequences in Credo / The Devil’s Curse feature a lone woman stalking an empty house on her own late at night.

However, for me, the thought of alien invasions leaves me cold. Doesn’t make me scared as I don’t believe it. So War of the Worlds made me yawn rather than squeal in fear. But I know other people who believe that one day earth will be invaded by extra-terrestrial beings, it gave them nightmares for days / weeks / months afterwards.

Madness is another thing that terrifies me. The idea of losing my mind is a fear that strikes terror in my heart. Hence I love psychological horrors that deal with the onset of madness – like Psycho or Polanski’s Repulsion or the original The Haunting.

Another on my fear list is the devil / witchcraft. Now I don’t personally believe in the devil, but I do believe in the evil of mankind. I think that some people have the potential to think they are the devil / witch and therefore will do unspeakable acts to other human beings. So for me, I am terrified and love films like The Omen and The Blair Witch Project.

So all the things that scare me – the devil / witchcraft, madness, being alone at night – they’re all the themes explored in Credo / The Devil’s Curse. If they’re not things that scare you – then maybe this isn’t the horror movie for you.

For the US release by Lionsgate next week of our horror movie The Devil’s Curse (the American title for Credo), Alex and I recently did an interview for movie news and review website – Bumscorner – click HERE to read the full interview.

It’s quite a long interview with a few behind the scenes snaps (shame that I look particularly ropey in the stills!) but hopefully it gives an idea of how we got the film made and the story of the film so far.

Let me know what you think!

Whenever I walk around a city, I look for interesting buildings that might make great locations for a film or buildings that could somehow be written into a script.

Right now, one of the ideas I’m working on is a horror movie set on a building site. So every building site I pass, I just stand and stare through the security barriers, looking at the heavy machinery, the acres of plastic sheeting, the steel rods, the blocks of concrete and also, I stare at the builders in their high-visibility jackets and hard hats.

For me, I’m visualising a scene but for the builders who catch me looking at them, they think that I’ve got some sort of fetish for construction workers. Either that or I’m too much into Bob the Builder. (Can we build it? As Obama says – “Yes We Can”)

It’s not just the outside of buildings that interest me.

Whenever I’m inside a visually striking building, I think about the scenes that could be shot there and how I would shoot them. Then I get all excited about the possibilities for a story and then the characters that would populate the story. And suddenly I’m seeing a whole feature narrative right in front of my eyes and I can’t wait to get home and write what I see.

But usually on their journey home, the practical producer side of me kicks in and I wonder how am I going to get permission to film inside the bank / council building / library / underground sewer system / multi-billion construction project and my pace slows as the negatives take hold and suddenly the story evaporates before my eyes. Until that is, I work out how I could build it into a set and suddenly I speed up again…