A mere two days ago I sniped you all with a dart about Neil Marshall gearing up to executive produce a new British spook-fest entitled THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD, and since the news started to bleed out, Marshall caught up with the blokes at Empire to hash out some details for the flick. Check it…
The first order of business for Marshall was to unveil the writer and star of the new project, which will be none other than his own wife and former Fangoria writer Axelle Carolyn (right, and below). Though not an A-lister at this point in her acting career, Carolyn has not only appeared in DOOMSDAY and the DESCENT PART 2, she currently has 10 different acting projects in various stages of production (THE 4TH REICH, PSYCHOSIS, just to name a few). Quite the up and comer, it would seem!
The next line of order for Marshall was to expound upon the tone OF GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD, saying it will be self-aware, but:
“It’s not intended to be tongue-in-cheek. It’s very much in the tradition of classic British horror, from Dennis Wheatley to Hammer via Amicus. There’s humour, certainly, as well as romance, horror and tragedy. But mostly it’ll be scary as hell.”
Marshall continues:
“It reminds me of a kind of film that Britain doesn’t make any more, a creeping menace full of great characters, heart-stopping terror, intrigue, suspense and even romance. I want to make this movie mainly because I want to see this movie.”
As a longtime Fangoria scribe and author of the book “It Lives Again: Horror Films In The New Millennium,” Carolyn has certainly proven herself to know a thing or two about a horror script. As Marshall puts it, the project “is her baby: she’s the key creative force behind it. She’s a rising star to watch, and I’m not just saying that because I married her!”
But that’s hardly the end of it. As this news began circulating, Carolyn caught up with her old mates at Fangoria and added this:
“THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD is a throwback to classic ghost stories and British horror. It was inspired by movies like THE HAUNTING and THE INNOCENTS, with a touch of THE WICKER MAN and Hammer films. It was also born out of frustration, in a way: frustration as an actress with the lack of strong female roles to play, and as a writer, with the fact that movies have, in the past few years, too often gone for gore and jump-scares instead of atmosphere and emotion.”
And there it is folks. All sounding pretty cool. I wonder if Marshall and Carolyn will at some point supplant Rob and Sherri Moon Zombie as the official First Couple of horror. That is, if they haven’t already!
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