To celebrate Impurity’s submission to (ahem) Cannes, I’ve cut a more moody, atmospheric trailer. Oh yes. And there’s new (and final!) poster artwork as well. As ever, all feedback greatly received. š
The poster:
The trailer:
Hi there peeps,
My new book THE IRON WOLVES, a fast-paced, violent, dark fantasy full of violence, hatred and (yes!) some small slivers of honour, is published January 2014 by Angry Robot Books.
In time-honoured tradition, I am whoring myself for promotional purposes in the month of DECEMBER 2013. So, if you fancy interviewing me (in the pub, Skype, or via email; Iāll drive to you as long as you get the first round of Hobgoblin in) or joining my BLOG TOUR (now I feel Rockstar!!) then please let me know. If you have a current blog theme, let me know that and Iāll link in with it so itās not just shameless pimping (yeah, right!!). I just need a topic, word length and deadline.
If not, absolutely NO WORRIES. I know how jolly busy we all are!!
Below is the blurb. Photos on request (Iām doing a new photo shoot tomorrow and really, really dreading it; although I do have fabulous breasts).
Iāll also be pimping my soon-to-be-released horror movie IMPURITY, starring the one and only FRAZER HINES who played JAMIE in DOCTOR WHO, at the same time. š
What do you get out of it? Well, I can supply a āreviewerās thank-you packā ā currently an IRON WOLVES poster, bookmark and t-shirt. And youāll also benefit in some media fallout ā especially if we get drunk at interview and show our big hairy bottoms.
Oh yes. ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) are now available in paperback from Angry Robot. So drop them a line if you want a review copy. š
Many thanks if you read this far,
Andy Remic.
Ā
THE IRON WOLVES by ANDY REMIC
Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves held back mud-orc hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and led a brutal charge that saw the sorcerer Morkagoth slain. This ended the War of Zakora, and made the Iron Wolves heroes.
Now, a new terror stalks the realm. In hushed whispers, it is claimed the Horse Lady, Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from then slime and heading north to Vagandrak where, it said, the noble King Yoon has gone insane…
After hearing a prophecy from a blind seer, aged General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be the final battle. But as mud-orcs and twisted beasts tear through the land, Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer heroes of legend… Narnok is a violent whoremaster, Kiki a honey-leaf drug peddler, and Prince Zastarte a drinker, a gambler, amoral and decadent: now he likes to hear people scream as they burn…
United in hate, the Iron Wolves travel to the Pass of Splintered Bones; and as half a million mud-orcs gather, General Dalgoran realises his grave error. Together, the Iron Wolves hold a terrible secret which has tortured them for three decades. Now, they only wish to be human again…
Hellooooo! For those who don’t know, along with a few friendsĀ I’ve been making an ultra low-budget indie horror movie called IMPURITY. It’s been A LOT OF FUN! I’ve finally got an assembly edit put together and hope to complete the full edit by October. In the mean time, I’ve put together a trailer which can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1g08hf1Aso
Go on, you know you want to watch the trailer to a film by “the British Tarantino”… š
All feedback much appreciated!
Love and kisses, The Rem xxx.
IMPURITY – SYNOPSIS
Shotgun Jimmy is a nasty piece of work. Ripping off drug dealers, killing policemen, heād decapitate his own grandmother for a sack full of loot. Schizophrenic, psychopathic, his only friend is Mary the Shotgun ā his trusty, reliable pump-action. But during a violent road-rage incident, something goes horribly wrong and Jimmy finds himself chained in shackles in a dark, grimy dungeon where he ponders over a deeply buried secret pastā¦
Tomas Sorescuās been a bad man. He likes his whiskey. And brandy. Vodka, rum or gin? Hell, heāll drink petrol if it isnāt nailed down. Only now heās done a rather silly thing. Heās crashed his car ā and killed his wife and little girl in the process. Tomas feels pretty bad about the situation. So bad, in fact, he needs another drink. But then it gets worse as a tall, powerful, gas-mask wearing figure pulls Tomas from the wreckage and introduces him to a special placeā¦
Sophie Scott is a successful career journalist in the sleepy village of Ramsbottom. Happy and confident, she now hides a secretā¦ For a few weeks earlier, she killed her husband. Stabbed him in the guts and buried his body in the woods. Now, his restless spirit haunts her, and she hears his mockery at every street corner. Sophie starts to believe sheās going mad. Then, whilst following up a murder story in the woods, she visits an old witch called Alice ā and within minutes, meets the gas-masked figure known as Chemical Man. Meets him, and ends up in the boot of his car.
All three characters awake, chained and shackled in a cellar dungeon. At first they squabble like children, but soon realise their abductor is far from sane. However, Chemical Man doesnāt want to kill them. Not yet. First, he wants to purify them. He sees their souls as stained by the impurity of their dark deedsā¦ and this cleansing process promises to be a lot more painfulā¦
IMPURITY is a dark, brooding, powerful feature film in the tradition of SAW, HOSTEL, DEAD MANāS SHOES and SHALLOW GRAVE, from novelist and debut filmmaker ANDY REMIC.
So think about it.
Have you done something bad?
Something really bad?
Does your everyday life seem somehow ā different?
Maybe youāve slipped into the shadowy, parallel world of Gehenna?
If you have, Chemical Man is out there.
And heās making new friends.
Welcome to the world of CHEMICAL MAN.
Welcome to IMPURITY.
Got a slightly tweaked poster here, with a few moreĀ of the actors on and a revised “Impurity” font. 95% of principal photography complete; very, very busy on the edit right now….. and it’s looking awesome.
Please like our Impurity facebook page!! š It would be much appreciated.
https://www.facebook.com/impuritythemovie
Srpski Film: A Vision of Hell
Gary McMahon
I thought about watching A Serbian Film for at least six weeks before actually deciding that I would do so. I knew what to expect ā Iād read the blog posts and the reviews ā and I wanted to make sure I was watching it for the right reasons. I also wanted to make sure that I really did want to see the film. Thereās an old saying that goes something like this: You canāt unring a bell.
Nor can you unsee what you have seen.
Finally I decided that I did want to see the film. My reasons are simple and complex, deep and shallow ā much like the film itself. Curiosity, of course, plays its part, and thereās also the urge to experience something that is supposed to be so extreme it gets very close to the edge: the edge of taste, the edge of reason, or just the edge of some kind of cinematic abyss. Thereās also something about me ā maybe a character flaw ā that draws me to such extreme material.
Perhaps I was over-thinking this whole thing. In fact, I know I was. In the end, I just decided to take the plunge and view the thing.
A lot has been said about the content of the film, so I wonāt bother with a detailed synopsis (thereās a blow-by-blow account of the plot on Wikipedia anyway, for anyone interested enough to look). No, instead Iāll talk about my personal reaction to the film.
The basic premise is that Milos, a retired porn star who is now a family man, is approached by an old colleague to get back into the business. One film ā avant-garde porn ā shot over four days, and a huge payday to ease his worries. His family needs the money, his lifestyle could do with the boost, and if heās honest heās missing the action. So he signs up for a film whose script he isnāt even allowed to see, a project overseen by a creepy criminal figure called Vukmir, who has a sketchy past.
As filming begins, things become stranger and stranger in a porn-fuelled through-the-rabbit-hole kind of way, and in the final act the film turns into a full-on apocalypse like nothing else I have ever witnessed on the screen.
In all honesty, the first hour of A Serbian Film is brilliant. It is tense, carefully paced, and the mounting sense of dread becomes palpable. I found myself sitting hunched before the screen, terrified of what I might or might not see when the extreme footage finally began. The production values are high, the acting is strong, and the lighting and sound are excellent. This looks like a film with a decent budget, something that someone on the darker fringes of Hollywood might make.
Then, exactly one hour into the film, the whole thing tips over the edge.
I wonāt underplay this, nor will I stoop to hyperbole. But the final thirty minutes of this film are so extreme that during a couple of scenes it actually descends into absurdity. A lot has been made of certain moments (I think we all know which ones I mean), and, yes, they are as bad as youāre expecting. Possibly even worse. I wasnāt affected by what I saw quite as much as Iād expected, but I cannot possibly say these scenes arenāt degraded (and ultimately degrading) to watch. It would be a lie, and lying isnāt what Iām about ā itās not what this film is about either, and thatās what makes it so fascinating.
Many critics have scoffed at the claims of the filmmakers that part of their intention was that the film is a primal scream against the way past Serbian governments have treated their people, a cry of horror at some of the things that happened there during periods of violent conflict, civil unrest, corruption and ethnic tension. Personally, I believe them. For one thing, the title says it all; there are many allusions to Serbian culture and history in the dialogue; and the themes of the film are quite clearly rooted in that bloody history. A lot of this thematic stuff is lost on a foreign viewer, but enough of it is present that you canāt fail to notice the political subtext ā even if you donāt fully understand it.
That first hour, with its slow accumulation of dread and a genuine sense of mounting horror, suggests to me that the people behind this film were trying to do more than simply shock us. Itās a shame, however, that all their hard work is then undermined by the carnage that follows. The filmās final act doesnāt exactly negate their claims, but it does become an exercise in crude exploitation. If they’d actually toned down the graphic nature of the visuals, even just a fraction, this could have been a truly great film rather than just a film with elements of greatness hidden deep within its excesses.
There’s a lot of stuff involving kids, including one scene I won’t even tell you about. This fact, coupled with the exploitative content of the explosive final act, makes me understand why so many people hate this film. But hereās the rub: the ideas presented are far more subversive and disturbing than the actual graphic depiction of them. What lingers, what resonates in my own mind long after Iāve watched the film, are those specific themes and ideas rather than the vulgar images depicting their realisation.
Thereās a key scene early on, where Milos is sitting outside a coffee shop watching a family ā a man, a woman, a child ā as they enjoy a drink and a laugh together. Thereās a sense that heās already seen beneath the surface of this worldā glimpsed underneath the sham of human relationships, and the surface brightness of a catalogue-styled life ā and what heās seen there is utter pointlessness, pure nihilism. Nothing matters; none of this happy family bullshit means a thing. All that counts is how much you can strip away from a person, and what they will become when the surface is torn away. How entertaining they will be as a victim.
It all ends on a note of total nihilism. In fact, A Serbian Film is the single most nihilistic movie I have ever seen. There’s no sense of hope or redemption anywhere, and every character is utterly, utterly damaged right from the start. Pure nihilism is hard to take, and, again, makes for a truly unsettling experience.
I canāt defend A Serbian Film, but I feel that I canāt condemn it either. Itās an uncomfortable mix of the brilliant and the profane; simultaneously clever and silly, serious and exploitative, artful and clumsy. I like and dislike the film at the same time. But itās a film I admire. Iām glad I watched it, and it deserves to exist, but I would actively encourage others not to see it. You canāt unring a bell. You canāt unsee what you have seen. And you cannot get certain ideas out of your head once someone has so forcefully rammed them in there, as if with a bloodied erect penis.
(With thanks to Josh Pettey)
Ā©Gary McMahon 2010
GEHENNA
A film by Andy Remic
Synopsis
Shotgun Jimmy is a nasty piece of work. Ripping off drug dealers, killing policemen, heād decapitate his own grandmother for a sack full of loot. Schizophrenic, psychopathic, his only friend is Mr Shotgun ā his trusty, reliable pump-action. But during a violent road-rage incident, something goes horribly wrong and Jimmy finds himself chained in shackles in a dark, grimy dungeon where he ponders over his deeply buried secret shameā¦
Tomas Sorescuās been a bad man. He likes his whiskey. And brandy. Vodka, rum or gin? Shit, heāll drink petrol if it isnāt nailed down. Only now heās done a rather silly thing. Heās crashed his car ā and killed his wife and little girl in the process. Tomas feels pretty bad about the situation. So bad, in fact, he needs a drink. But not as bad as the tall, powerful, gas-mask wearing figure who pulls Tomas from the wreckage and introduces him to a special placeā¦
Sophie Scott is a successful career journalist in the sleepy village of Ramsbottom. Happy and confident, she now hides a secretā¦ Four weeks earlier, she killed her husband. Stabbed him in the guts and buried his body in the woods. Now, his restless spirit haunts her, and she hears his mockery at every street corner. Sophie starts to believe sheās going mad. Then, whilst following up a murder story in Ramsbottom Park, she visits an old witch called Alice ā and within minutes, meets the gas-masked figure known as Chemical Man. Meets him, and ends up in the boot of his carā¦
All three characters awake, chained and shackled in a cellar dungeon. At first they squabble like children, but soon realise their abductor is far from sane. However, Chemical Man doesnāt want to kill them. Not yet. First he wants to purify themā¦ and that promises to be a lot more painfulā¦
GEHENNA is a dark, brooding, powerful feature film in the tradition of SAW, HOSTEL and SHALLOW GRAVE from novelist and debut filmmaker ANDY REMIC.
Just remember. Donāt go on the moors alone tonightā¦
Because Chemical Man is out there. And heās making new friends.
Welcome to the world of CHEMICAL MAN.
Welcome to GEHENNA.
If youāre interested in helping out with this micro-budget feature film (probably unpaid, unless we get major investment, but you will earn shares in the film) then please contact Andy Remic at jappo [at] talktalk.net.
And lo! the short film did arriveth, and lo! it was good(eth)!
Let me know what you think!!?? š
Thanks must go to:
Paul Remic, for Keenan, Nicola Cross, for Pippa and Sonia Scott who played the strangling zombie. Thanks also to all the other actors who turned up either for child parts or as zombies— everybody was such a great sport on the day!! Thanks must goĀ to Bradshaw Profiles in Bury for letting us use their steelworks, and also to the Fusilier Museum in Bury for lending us real weapons to play with!! Cool!Ā And a final special thanks to Colin Howarth for directing. Cheers man!
And a final final thanks must go to musicians, Jordan Reyne and TH3 M1SS1NG for music used in this littleĀ film production.
*
Here’s another promotional shot for the upcoming short film HARDCORE, based on a book by, ahem, Andy Remic.
So, weāve just finished principal photography for the short promo film HARDCORE, in support of my new Combat K book which is out January 2010. It was one of the most intense days of my life, totally exhausting and totally fulfilling at the same time! We had a script, cast, a director and a series of locations including a steelworks for the finaleā¦ and it really did feel like making a real movie!! And some people make their living like this!? Wow. Bradshaw Profiles, Croft Street, Bury supplied the main location, and the REAL guns were kindly supplied by The Fusilier Museum, in Bury – many thanks to these kind people, and to all the cast members who kindly gave up their time. Written by Andy Remic and directed by Colin Howarth. A Grunge Films production. Also see: www.grungefilms.com for production stills, and www.solarisbooks.com for a filmshoot write-up!!
Gearing up for filming the promo shortly, and boy is it a lot of a) work, b) time, but it should be a great laugh!! All those rampant rancid zombie nurses. Makes me shiver, urgh.
Please note: the film is late. Yes.
But the book’s out!! Available now!! from all good bookshops.
Some VERY interesting and humorous photos to follow……
ANDYREMIC 