Barker Brings Blood to Big Screen

Clive Barker, everyone’s favorite gothic gay ghoul, is back with more tales of terror. The film version of one of his stories – with the gruesome (or pornographically suggestive) title Midnight Meat Train – is coming soon a theater near you. And in the works is a series of films based on Barker’s Books of Blood story collections. The first film will be adapted from the initial story of book one, which centers on a paranormal investigator who, while looking for clues to a murder, finds instead the intersection of various paths that souls take in the afterlife. The film will star Sophie Ward (Young Sherlock Holmes) and Jonas Armstrong (the U.K. TV series Robin Hood). With a built-in cult fan base for the popular ‘80s collections, expect a franchise to grow in this graveyard.

Other projects creating heat include:

• Sidney Lumet's "Getting Out" at Capitol Films;
• Oliver Stone's "Bush" at QED;
• "Freakonomics" at Celsius Entertainment;
• "Big Eyes" with Kate Hudson at Voltage Pictures;
• Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" Nash Egerton's "The Square" and "Paris 36" at Pathe;
• Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," for which Mickey Rourke recently replaced Nicolas Cage and Wild Bunch replaced Summit as sales agent;
• Olivier Assayas' "Summer Hours," for which market screenings were abruptly canceled this week in order to ensure qualification for Cannes competition; and Gilles Beat's "Diamant 13" with Gerard Depardieu, both at MK2;
• Cage vehicle "Knowing" at Summit Entertainment;
• "Book of Blood" at Essential Entertainment;
• "Villain"; the new Joel Schumacher-helmed project; and a new Stephen Soderbergh project with Matt Damon to be announced at Cannes from 2929 Entertainment;
• "The Messenger" at ContentFilm;
• "Shelter" at IM Global;
• Barbet Schroeder's Japan-set thriller "Inju," which looks to be headed for Cannes, at UGC;
• Bruce Beresford's "Mao's Last Dancer" at Celluloid Dreams;
• Martin Scorsese's untitled Bob Marley documentary at Fortissimo Films;
• and Ian Fitzgibbon's untitled gangland thriller starring James McAvoy, at HanWay.

BRIAN PENDREIGH  - December 08 2007 

Shooting has begun in secret in Edinburgh on a film of one of the most celebrated titles in modern horror fiction.

Industry insiders are hoping it will give Scotland a hit horror series to rival Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, enhancing the country's claims to be an emerging centre for horror movies.

The Books of Blood series established Clive Barker as one of the world's best-selling horror writers when they were published more than 20 years ago. Stephen King hailed Barker as "the future of horror" and he went on to create Hellraiser, Britain's most successful modern horror film series.

The very first Book of Blood story is now being turned into a feature film, shooting on locations in Edinburgh's historic Old Town and Georgian New Town.

Barker is not the only well-known horror figure involved in the film, which is entitled simply Book of Blood. The name Doug Bradley may not mean much to the general public, but he created the horror icon Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies. He creates a new supernatural villain in the new film.

Scotland is fast becoming a centre for horror movies following the success of The Descent, Neil Marshall's underground chiller. It was set in the US, but shot largely in Scotland.

Marshall returned earlier this year to make Doomsday, a post-apocalyptic thriller, while Scotland doubled for eastern Europe in Outpost, with mercenaries doing battle with Nazi zombies.

Sony snapped up international rights after seeing just 15 minutes of footage. Both films should be out next year, further promoting Scotland as a location. And there are others in the pipeline.

Barker spoke in the late-1990s about wanting to create a whole new Books of Blood franchise that would "redefine horror cinema the way the original books redefined horror literature", but initial attempts fell through.

He is involved in production on the current film through his Seraphim Films company. They have linked up with several other companies, including Plum Films, a Leith-based company that made its name with commercials, but is now branching into feature films.

Joe Daley, of Seraphim, said: "Once the idea of shooting in Scotland came up we jumped at the opportunity. Edinburgh is an amazing city. Every location elevates this story to an incredible level."

Ros Davis, of Edinburgh Film Focus, the local locations agency, said: "The architecture and setting of Edinburgh particularly lends itself to the horror film genre. The grand architecture of the New Town next to the darker alleys and multi-layers of the medieval Old Town give directors great visual metaphors to play with.

"Recently horror films have proved to be extremely popular and we are hopeful that Book of Blood will gain international success and encourage more films to base in Edinburgh."

Tina Foster, of Plum, said they could not release any further details of casting or locations at present and added that it was all so sudden that some roles were still being cast.

Book of Blood is the introductory story in the initial volume of the Books of Blood series. Mary Florescu, a university researcher, visits a supposedly haunted house, with a young man called Simon McNeal, who claims to have psychic powers. He fakes messages from the dead on the walls of the building.

Unknown to McNeal, however, the house is a busy intersection on the highway of the damned. The dead take exception to his behaviour, they decide to tell their own stories and exact a terrible revenge for his misrepresentations.

The original story gives the dilapidated old house's address as 65 Tollington Place, though the area is never specified.

Bradley said: "I play a character called Tollington who has been dead for pretty much a century. He was an occultist who occupied the house in Tollington Place."

He gave a few more clues on his own website, revealing that he has shaved his head for the role, as he did for Pinhead, the classic character who was originally nameless and got his name form the make-up artists because of his appearance.

He added: "Any similarities between Tollington and a certain Aleister Crowley would not be at all inappropriate."

Crowley, dubbed the "wickedest man in the world", was an early 20th century mystic and occultist.

Scottish Screen, the national film agency, is investing in the film, though the details are still being finalised.

Carole Sheridan, head of talent and creativity at the agency, said: "We thought it was a really interesting project, shooting in Scotland, and potentially the first of 10."

She said the horror boom was not the result of any central strategy. "It's what the market is throwing up at the moment."

The 1992 hit Candyman was based on one of the stories from Books of Blood, although it was relocated in the US. It inspired two sequels.