DISSECTING THE DIRECTOR: Christopher Smith

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

“CHRISTOPHER SMITH”

Christopher Smith is a name you may have heard of before in the grand scale of the genre though he isn’t the most recognizable. I had heard of his films, yet I had no idea the same person was behind them all. Each film he has made is very much different to the next one; he has stories he wants to tell. Personally I feel this is a strong quality for him to have, while some filmmaker’s fall into the same circle he does not. I am proud to call myself a fan of his work, and I have to thank a little documentary called Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape to thank for really introducing him to me. As he describes in the documentary and as it is evident in his work, he grew up during the video nasties era in the UK. These films have had a long lasting impression on him, and without those films I don’t think he would have even become a filmmaker, let alone a genre one. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you, Christopher Smith.

BEST WORK

Get Severance on DVD here

While his filmography is still in its early stages, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t made something really great along the way. For me personally his stand out was Severance, a film I had heard about but had not seen until just recently. Now I hold the film Hatchet up in high regard as a great return to form for horror/comedy/slasher however at that time I had not seen Severance, and now to me I believe the latter was the better film and it did a much better job. I honestly had no idea what this film was about, the DVD cover art looked really nifty but I guess I never took much notice of the film itself. It sets up a typical horror film situation, a group of people go out into a remote location and crazy killers start showing up. In this case the group work for a company and they’re going on a team-building excursion somewhere in Eastern Europe. The crazed killers are exactly that too, a perfect blend for 90 minutes if you ask me.

What really made this stand out to me was the clever use of comedy with the horror/slasher element. Now this is nothing new, but doing it well is not an easy task and Smith pulled it off to a ‘T’ in my opinion as he weaved the right amount of comedy in with the horror at hand and vice-versa. From the first 10 minutes I was completely engaged in the film, the character and situation introduction was handled spot on. It didn’t need too much explaining, and the actors did fantastic jobs of being able to portray the type of person their character was in just a few scenes. As the film moved on to the locations and setting up their inevitable peril, as the audience we start to get a better handle on the characters and as crazy as some of them were, there was a definite feeling of dread for them.

Personally as much as I don’t mind seeing characters I dislike get slashed up, I honestly prefer it when I actually care something for the characters and it really hurts to see them fall victim. Severance played to that aspect well, and I really have to applaud Smith for trying to pull that off. It worked perfectly on me and as I sat watching this and I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next. On the performance side the cast were all pretty great with Danny Dyer and Laura Harris being the standouts. They had great comedic timing as well as the ability to react to the horrible situations presented with great effectiveness. Chemistry was there between the cast members as well; it overall just painted a great picture. My hat goes off to Smith for this fantastic little film.

WORST WORK

Get Black Death on DVD here
Get Black Death on Blu-ray here

In my opinion Smith has not exactly made a bad film, and while I am putting this film under this heading it isn’t bad. I just so happen to believe that “Black Death” is the weakest film he has done so far as I find it only slightly above average overall compared to his past work. I had many problems with this film, while at the same time I think he did very positive things as well. Perhaps it was the story or genre change that he tackled but I don’t quite think this was the right fit for him. Moving away from a modern setting, Black Death takes place in 1348 AD where England has fallen victim to the Bubonic plague. The story centers on a young Monk named Osmund and his love for a woman and his God. All the while he has been sent to a group of mercenaries led by Ulric to take them to a place not affected by the plague. It is there they encounter a necromancer (able to bring the dead back to life) and as they say, things get crazy. While the film looked fantastic with its locations, costume design, cinematography and art direction it ended up suffering greatly from script problems.

The story is not altogether easy to follow and it never really engaged me. While I felt Severance and Triangle did a great job of introducing and setting up characters, this film really didn’t and it was hard to get a handle on them here. There is a major psychological element at play here, and that was rather interesting but without the character investment it was hard to care. It just wasn’t a very interesting story to tell, and I felt that Smith did try to do so but it just didn’t work as well as it could have. Sean Bean who stars as Ulric is always a strong actor and he does shine here, as did Eddie Redmayne as Osmund. David Warner showed up and it threw me for a loop, as it was quite unexpected but cool all the same. While I don’t think this is a bad film, and there was clear effort involved, I do believe the main issues lied within the script, something that let him down. I would still recommend this as a watch, if anything just to see Sean Bean do his thing.

TRADEMARKS

Get Creep on DVD here

Christopher Smith’s most obvious trademark (at least to me) is making films that seem to be in the same vein as those he grew up with. As I mentioned earlier Smith was heavily influenced by the video nasties of the early 80’s and that vibe is there with his work. I think he took the brutality and raw atmosphere of the films he saw and added his own take to them. While the video nasties gained a reputation as being so obscene that they needed to be banned, a good majority of those films were not actually very good. Smith however I believe took the elements he thought worked from those and crafted them into some very strong films. He is a man who takes time and care with each film and it really shows and with that mentality he remains entertaining. His films also tend to have a very Kubrick feel to them, with references littered throughout. Kubrick has been a huge influence for Smith and who better to pay respect to? The other trademark I’ve noticed and really liked from Smith is the fantastic use of colour and sets/locations. With Creep, the film takes place in mainly one location and he doesn’t keep it awfully dark, instead he uses lighting and colour to really represent that. Triangle as well is another great example of this, with the film having minimal locations in its story he uses the colour and lighting to bring it all to life.

HIDDEN GEM

Get Triangle on DVD here
Get Triangle on Blu-ray here

A film I discovered last October was Triangle, having heard good things I decided to check it out. This is easily is Smith’s most complex film, and it shows some great insight into the mind of the director. He wrote this as well as directed, and it was a joint UK/Australian production. Triangle is a film best seen with as little knowledge as possible, and I will try to be as vague here as I possibly can. It focuses on Jess (played by Melissa George) who is a single mother, struggling to raise her autistic son. She goes out with a group of people on a yacht, a storm arrives and to survive they end up having to go aboard a passenger liner ship. However all is not what it seems, and Jess takes it upon herself to figure out the mystery. There are a lot of elements at play here and you will need to put your thinking caps on. The film has a great atmosphere; it is rather scary in parts and Smith does scatter clues as to what is going on throughout the film, and by doing so makes everything come together. The performances are all solid with Melissa George owning the film as she shows what a great actress she is and I am glad she is a part of the genre. It is refreshing to see something a little different and that requires some thinking. This is a film I would recommend; it is certainly a good film and one that holds up much better on a repeated viewing.

NEXT PROJECT

As far as I can tell Christopher Smith has a few projects in the works, he is currently working on two scripts for genre pieces. Bitch being a werewolf thriller (yes please) and Detour, which is a revenge style film. Earlier this year Smith stated that Detour is currently ahead of Bitch in the script department, but he does want to get these up and running within the next 24 months. His name is also attached to Paris, I’ll Kill You which is an anthology feature with other directors to make short films set in Paris. It would seem he has a few things on his plate and I look forward to whatever he does next.

OVERALL

I have become a Christopher Smith fan, his films are entertaining and worth watching as he’s proving to be a welcome addition to the genre and someone we should be keeping an eye on. His films do have a British flavour to them, something as a fan I don’t see too often because his films don’t necessarily seem that way. You could do a lot worse than watching a Christopher Smith film, in fact this writer highly recommends you go out and watch one. If you are looking for a good horror film worth watching, Smith is a great place to start. With that I say thank you for entertaining me and I hope he continues to do so in the near future.