Following the success of their 2012 horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres, the writing and directing duo Colin and Cameron Cairnes return with Scare Campaign - a feature about a prank TV show that goes too far in a bid to win back dwindling audiences.
Ahead of Scare Campaign’s world premiere at the opening of the 2015 Monster Fest, the Cairnes brother share their thoughts on…
Inspiration for the Scare Campaign film idea...
We had our hearts set on shooting in an abandoned asylum and were waiting for the right story to present itself. As one does when undertaking the sort of assiduous research we think is key, we found ourselves watching a lot of YouTube videos. We kept coming across these often quite disturbing pranks, mostly from Japan and South America, where a ghost girl or a ravenous zombie would appear out of the darkness and scare the bejesus out of someone. We wondered just how far the producers of a prank show might go to get theirscream and top the last gag. And what if they took it too far and the victim really didn't like what they’d been put through and turned the tables on the pranksters? A simple premise, but one we thought would be fun to pursue and which would lend itself to the classic horror movie location we had in mind.
Filming inside the Beechworth Asylum...
Victoria seemed to go on an asylum building spree in the 19th century, so we wrote the script in the hope one of them would become available to us. Fortunately the people who had taken over the Mayday Hills Asylum in Beechworth (now Mayday Hills Village) were not lunatics but just crazy enough to let us shoot there! The location is dripping with atmosphere and certainly not the sort of place you want to be creeping around in after dark, unless accompanied by a modestly sized film crew, which thankfully we were most of the time. We had a ball shooting there and quite a few of our team claim to have experienced anomalies, as paranormal investigators might say. Mayday Hills run very popular ghost tours and one of the guides experienced a major anomaly one night when a member of our cast, covered in fake blood, provided an unexpected and very effective scare during one of their tours.
Australian talents you admire or would like to work with?
We’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing Aussie talent, including some great up-and-coming names. We try to write characters that actors can really sink their teeth into. Watching 100 Bloody Acres I think you get a sense of how much fun Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson had playing their respective roles. Their characters are very Australian, but have universal appeal. It’s the character actors like those guys that we really admire and we think there should be more parts for those sorts of performers. In Scare Campaign audiences should look out for Josh Quong Tart who plays the baddie. It's one of those rare performances where it's impossible now to imagine anyone else in the role. One of the great pleasures of our job is having amazing talent revealed to us, then collaborating with the artists to bring it all to life. Another discovery for us on this film was an up-and-comer by the name of Sigrid Thornton. Not sure if anyone’s heard of her but she was an absolute delight and is definitely one to watch!. As far as Australian directing talent goes, if Dr. George Miller needs a new showreel cut, we’ll gladly donate our services. Everyone needs a leg up in this very difficult business. But seriously, he is simply one of the greats and someone we really look up to.
Having a world premiere to open Monster Fest 2015...
It’s great that we’re having the world premiere in our hometown where so many of our cast and crew are based. Monster Fest has some really cool screenings and events lined up this year. There promises to be a real buzz around the Lido Cinema over the four days of the festival.
How audiences can prepare for Scare Campaign...
We believe that we make films that regular cinema-goers can enjoy as much as the hardcore genre fans... as long as they're not too squeamish. The film is tense, fun, scary, a little disturbing at times, and has a twist or two up its sleeve. There’s some darkness in there, but it's not nihilistic. While not played for laughs like our last film, it certainly has a couple of outrageous moments that should elicit a smile or two.