BRITISH indie slasher The Blade Cuts Deeper could soon be hacking its way onto a screen near you after director Gene Dolders announced that his visceral debut feature is complete.
Shot over just 14 days at a variety of locations including an abandoned shopping mall, the Giallo-inspired horror – which sees a narcissistic TV host being stalked by a psychotic viewer – had been in post-production for several months.
But with the painstaking VFX and colour-grading work finally completed to give Blade… some extra shine, Dolders now plans to unleash it on a variety of different platforms – with the first step being the release of the official trailer on YouTube on 29 November.
He said: ‘I had always thought that shooting the movie would have been the hardest part of the production process but with the cast and crew that I had, it went smoothly and was so much fun. We had to take our time after filming was completed, to ensure the final look and sound set the right tone.
‘The next step is to organize some regional screenings of the movie in the north-west and further afield before we find the film a home on TVOD (Transactional Video On Demand) and then AVOD (Advertising Video On Demand) platforms.’
And, in a nod to the infamous ‘video nasties’ of yesteryear, Dolders also revealed plans to follow suit with a limited run of VHS copies of his movie.
He added: ‘I’ve been influenced by Italian horror movies for many years now and my love for directors such as Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi has really shown through in The Blade Cuts Deeper. So it would only be fitting to release my film in VHS, just as they did theirs. It’s the format that started it all, for me and for many other horror fans.’
Having co-written the script with comic author A J Ballard (Slaughterhouse Farm), Dolders describes Blade… as a ‘Giallo-influenced slasher with all of the nastiness, tension and buckets of gore you’d expect from an entry in the genre’.
It tells the tale of John Abbott (John Tueart), the egocentric host of infamous real crime show Lights, Camera, KILL! who has found fame and fortune by exploiting pain and suffering.
But as he basks shamelessly in the limelight, one enraged viewer has seen enough – and now just wants to watch Abbott bleed.
Dolders said: ‘Though this is more a slasher movie than a Giallo, you can see the influences that are apparent when watching it. Many of the Giallo tropes are present in The Blade Cuts Deeper as I love the aesthetic and the mood it helps create. In particular, I was inspired by films such as The Bird With The Crystal Plumage and Torso.’
After starting out as a short, Dolders and his team soon made the call to turn Blade… into a feature-length slasher after the script took on a life of its own. Dolders said: ‘It’s taken longer than I thought it would but as a truly independent movie, it takes time to organize every aspect of post-production so that you can achieve the vision you have in your head.
‘I’m just thankful that I finally got to complete a feature film, which has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager.’
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