The Website of Writer, Director Andrew Cull

Andy Meets Bob Keen.

Andy meets with Horror Legend Bob Keen! ... Oct '07.

It's a pretty grubby September morning, a grey sky thick with clouds bearing down as we pull into the car park at Pinewood Studios. Getting out of the car it's just starting to rain; I hardly notice, my mind is elsewhere. We're arriving for what I fully expect to be one of the most exciting meetings of my career so far. If you know horror movies you know Bob Keen. If you love horror movies you've got a thank you to say to Bob Keen. The special effects guru whose work encompasses Return Of The Jedi, Aliens and Hellraiser has freed up some time to
meet with me to discuss the effects for a project I'm hoping to direct in 2008.

I've been a fan of Bob's work for years. If you know me, you know I hate the stranglehold CG has taken on US horror in recent years. I don't know about you but I grew up with Bob's work. The 80's, when I was first getting into horror, is a golden age of effects for me. Think The Cenobites, think The Thing and you know what I'm talking about. Think building it instead of Pritt Stick-ing an animation on top of some bored actors who don't know what they're supposed to be looking at. Bob Keen created the iconic monsters that kept me awake as a kid, that thrilled and terrified me. He made those nightmares real, his designs and realised creatures crept through my imagination in ways no CG animation ever will. If you love horror and you don't know Bob's work get on the IMDB and get watching his movies.

                                              So over the next hour I got to meet one of my heroes. In an office surrounded by
                                              face huggers with Pin Head looking down on me I got to talk horror with one of the
                                              legends of the genre. I can't tell you everything we talked about yet, it's still early
                                              days on the project, but I can tell you it was everything I'd hoped the meet would be.
                                              On top of that I got to hear how the bees coming out of Tony Todd's mouth in
                                              Candyman was done! Horror should be about effects that leave you
                                              wondering 'How could that be done?' and every time they do that they cross the
                                              boundary between film and reality. They reach into our world creating those iconic
                                              moments that come back to you when you reach to turn the light out at night. Bob
                                              Keen is a master of those moments and for a film maker like myself it was a rare
                                              pleasure to spend an hour in his company.   AC.

Andy starts a vlog!

What does this idiot think he's talking about? ... Jan '08.

We did a project last year that screened first on YouTube and while we were working on the project I got to watching vlogs by various other people on the site. Anyway, it got me to thinking that it'd be a really good way to share info about film making and writing, about the processes both creative and technical involved. So I've decided to bite the bullet and start my own blog.

Over the next little while I'll be posting blogs telling you what I'm up to, how things are going on my projects and answering any questions you'd like to put to me. It'll give me a chance to tell you more about what I love (and HATE!) about cinema and for you to watch the processes I go through when I'm working on a project. It'll also be an opportunity for you to get to know me and for me to get to know you. So let's get the ball rolling... If there's a question you'd like me to answer or something you'd like me to talk about drop me a mail and I'll get onto it. I'm recording the first blog this week and I'll post an update when it's up. AC.

Call for Crew.

Andy is putting a team together for two projects to shoot early 2007. ... Nov '06.

Andy is currently looking to put together a solid, reliable crew for two projects that he is set to shoot in Jan/Feb of 2007.

The first is a short intended for mobile distribution and the second is an episodic ghost story made up of two/three minute episodes. Due to the innovative nature of both projects they have already generated considerable interest.

If you are a DOP, cameraman/woman, lighting engineer or special fx artist that believes they share Andy's vision of low-fi, no CG, nothing 'done in post', reality horror then please mail crew@andrewcull.com with your CV. Please be aware that both projects are at present low budget, deferred payment gigs. We look forward to hearing from you.

Andy in The Guardian...

Reason features in The Guardian... 4th July '05

With the upcoming release of The Descent this Friday The Guardian takes a look at the horror movies currently in production in the UK. With this in mind it asks whether horror will prove to be another industry fad like the one for gangster movies a few years ago. You can read the full article on the Guardian website here...

Here's what Andy made of the article...

"I think it's a fair point to make and something that should be borne in mind, but, what I feel we should be focussing on more than this is how to take the current upsurge of interest in horror and turn in into a sustainable arm of the British film industry. As a film maker I want to produce world class work and this is where the key to transforming a fad into an industry lies... with the quality of the projects that we produce. Cinema audiences are sophisticated, they're intelligent; a lot of the people who watch our movies are, like myself, fans of the genre. I don't intend to let them down.

Over the next while we will be seeing numerous projects which jump the bandwagon. Projects commissioned, written and produced by people who know nothing about the horror genre whose motivations are purely financial. That's a shaky start at best for a project and it will almost certainly be reflected in the final product and it's takings at the box office. As a horror writer I consider it my job to be constantly looking for ways to push the genre forward, for inventive and frightening ways to tell stories. It's what I want to see when I go to see a great horror movie and it's what I aim to produce for the people who go to see my movies.

My final thought? It wasn't the amount of gangster projects being produced a few years ago that turned audiences away from the genre. Audiences don't get sick of watching good films regardless of their number or genre."