Prolific UK indie horror director Charlie Steeds is back with his latest feature Lord of Wolves.
We caught up with Charlie to talk all things werewolves, London life plus tidbits on his upcoming Lovecraft-inspired feature Gods of the Deep.
Can you give us an outline of the plot of the film?
Lord of Wolves follows four characters living in London, Nic (Josh Tonks) Sean (Jake Watkins) Beth (Rosie Edwards) and Kirsty (Michaela Longden), whose lives and troubles intertwine and lead them to uncover a sort of cult of wolfmen. It’s a 100 page script where each character could’ve led their own movie, but the four threads tie together by the end. Unlike some of my hired-to-write projects, this was a script I’d developed slowly in my own time, inspired by my 10 years of living in London from age 18-28. Luckilymy exec producersliked the script and funded the movie.
You have dabbled in werewolf lore before, what will make Lord of Wolves stand out?
It wasn’t my idea to make a werewolf film back when I was hired to make A Werewolf in England in 2020, or Werewolf Castle in 2021. I suspected I’d be asked to make a 3rd werewolf film, so I thought about what my personal take on werewolves would be, something new. Werewolves being synonymous with London (and the fact I lived in London) made me think about setting this in modern-day London, and trying a sub-genre I’ve not done yet (‘urban horror’, if that’s a thing, something Clive Barker does so well with stories like Midnight Meat Train and The Forbidden AKA Candyman). I could shoot right on my doorstep, which was very different for me, I’m usually travelling far and wide, I slept in my own bed every night! Hopefully the film is somewhat relatable to other people who’ve lived out their 20s in London. It deals with some very serious issues, suicide, loss, sexual assault, etc.
Can we expect plenty of blood and gore given there are wolves involved?
There’s plenty of blood! The side-characters are dealing drugs, but the drug is werewolf blood, which they’re injecting and becoming addicted to. It’s quite a restrained film in some ways, it’s more subtle and serious than my other werewolf movies. The human characters are the ones driven to commit violent acts, while the werewolves, who talk, are more psychologically engaging (I hope).
Will the wolf design differ from those previously used in Werewolf in England and Werewolf Castle?
All three werewolf films have completely different wolf suits, there was no mixing of werewolf costumes between them. But while the first two films have similar-looking full-body hairy werewolves, Lord of Wolves’ werewolves are much more human-like, in fact I prefer to say they’re ‘wolfmen’. They’re dressed in leather trench coats, with wolf heads on human bodies, and they speak in a human voice. I was more inspired by horror villains like Pinhead and Pennywise, so it’s a very different type of werewolf than we’re used to seeing, that’s really the point of the movie, to do werewolf lore in a way its rarely been seen. I wish I could’ve gone further into the film’s mythology, some elements from the script inevitably never made it to screen due to budget restraints.
What was it like juggling this with the production of the soon to be released Gods of the Deep?
After shooting this film I got tied up with 5 months of complicated post-production on Gods of the Deep, which just had so many pieces and a lot of effects which were all done 100% practically (which was painstaking and slow). So Lord of Wolves would’ve released far sooner if I hadn’t been stuck on Gods!
What is the plan for the release of Lord of Wolves?
Gods of the Deep releases February 6th. My Tennessee slasher movie Night Harvest releases next (no date yet) and then finally Lord of Wolves will release, so sometime later this year. The films were part of a three movie deal, which kept me busy for over a year.
What was the last werewolf film you saw that stopped you in your tracks?
My favourite is Bad Moon (1996). To me that’s how a werewolf should look! I also love the wolf design in Dog Soldiers (2002), I was only 8 years old when that movie came out, and I remember being too scared to look at the pages of my film magazines, because those wolves looked so terrifying and unique. I’ve not seen that film in at least 15 years, so although it says “inspired my Dog Soldiers” on the cover of A Werewolf in England that’s a complete lie (my inspirations were the Evil Dead films, and an Australian horror called Inn of the Damned). I thought The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) was an interesting film, Jim Cummings did something pretty original there (and looked sexy in uniform while doing it). I still need to watch Werewolf Santa… that’s on the watchlist!
We are seeing less and less DVDs in high street stores, has this affected the release of any of your films?
I’m seeing an impact on some of the companies I’ve made films for. DVD was a dependable income alongside streaming, but it’s becoming streaming only, so DVD revenue is totally lost and companies need to adjust to make streaming equally profitable. During this adjustment period films aren’t performing as they used to… I put my heart and soul into making a movie last year, Freeze, and I was pleased with the film, some of my best work. However, the DVD didn’t get picked up by Walmart, nor did UK supermarkets take it. You can buy a Region 1 DVD online, but it’s tough, how do people even know it exists if it’s not on supermarket shelves to catch their eye? To combat this, I’ve teamed up with Dark Rift (makers of the most epic horror of 2023 How To Kill Monsters) to distribute limited edition Blu Rays of select previous films of mine, to ensure my fellow physical media devotees can get their hands on these films the way I think is best. With streaming taking over, there’s also a demand for more volume, but volume comes at the cost of reduced quality and budgets. When you’re striving to produce quality movies, it’s a scary time to manoeuvre through these changes, but the industry will adapt and adjust as it always has. I don’t think physical media will fully go away, collectors are always hungry for nice new releases, especially horror fans.
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