Para-Normal for Norfolk?

A new low-budget British horror film could be set to become the next Paranormal Activity – when it gets released in US cinemas at the end of January.  THE REEDS starring Will Mellor (Two Pints of Lager…), Anna Brewster (Anita & Me, Mrs Henderson Presents), Scarlett Johnson (Eastenders & Adulthood), Emma Catherwood (Holby City) and Geoff Bell (Greenstreet, The Business) is a gritty chiller about a weekend boating party that runs into trouble with some youthful mischief-makers when they get stranded in a reedy backwater, on the Norfolk Broads.

“Most low budget horror filmmakers have the good sense to set their films in an easily accessible location, like their bedroom or the local woods.” Says Simon Sprackling, the film’s writer/producer. “But being British, we decided to try doing it in six foot of freezing water, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the nowhere, in the middle of November”.

Shot on location at Hickling Broad the film takes as its inspiration the true life story of Tony Martin - the Norfolk man who in 1999 shot two youths while they attempted to burgle his remote farmhouse – and reworks it into a story about a cycle of rural violence and bloodletting that traps and consumes all who are drawn into it.

“I don’t know about the audience, but it frightened the life out of me!” Says Director Nick Cohen. “And it wasn’t just the cold – although trying to shoot a snowy landscape as a summer day was a bit of a stretch, even for this country.”

“The reeds are really sharp and cut you to ribbons when you walk through. Then underneath there’s only a thin crust of earth. So every now and then when we were shooting you would hear a shout in the dark and have to rush over and haul out one of the crew who’d broken through and was getting sucked down into the mud below. It happened to me twice. I’m still having nightmares.”

“On the plus side, the cast didn’t have to act much when it came to looking terrified.”

Lionsgate and After Dark Films will release The Reeds as part of their annual nationwide Horrorfest, with SciFi Channel taking rights to premiere the film on US TV.
“It’s Normal for Norfolk to be chosen as movie location, and we've had a lot of big films shooting here recently.” says Laurie Hayward, Head of Screen East, who part funded the film with the UK Film Council. “Only eight films a year are selected from across the globe for this prestigious showcase and it’s a Norfolk film that’s the first British picture to ever be chosen.”
But success has not come easily to the project that was four and a half years in coming together, and which nearly didn’t get made at all.

“At one point I started to wonder if the real reason the UK produces so many period dramas is that they all start out as pieces of contemporary fiction – it just takes us that long to get them made.” Says Sprackling.

“We are thrilled that such a beautiful and atmospheric part of our region will now have the chance to capture the imaginations of cinema audiences across North America .”

“I just hope it makes them want to come and take a closer look, rather than frightening them off!’ adds Director, Cohen.

UK audiences will soon get their chance to see the film too. “We’re just putting together the deal for the UK now” says Sprackling, “ and it should be out here this Spring.”

Meanwhile check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_MFlQALkCY