Adam L.G. Nevill's Blog, page 34

CAST, DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER INTERVIEWS FROM MIDNIGHT MADNESS, TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

A series of illuminating interviews from the Midnight Madness premiere in Toronto have been posted online.

The full Q&A with the director, writer, cast and some of the producers [this contains some spoilers as it takes place after the screening], can be viewed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmHBO....

David Bruckner (director) and Joe Barton (writer) are talking to Bonnie Laufer Krebs about The Ritual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6wS4....

Sam Troughton (Dom) & Arsher Ali (Phil) talk about The Ritual with Bonnie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWwAQ..., and this episode contains my fave line yet about the making of the film (there were some extreme and arduous conditions): “It started to snow and I was in my pants on a stake” [Sam Troughton].

While Rafe Spall (Luke) and Robert James-Collier (Hutch) talk about how they developed their roles in The Ritual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNOkX....

I also watched part of the shoot in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, this time last year, and I’ll write more about it once the film has been released.

THE IRISH NEWS AND THE IRISH TIMES REVIEW THE RITUAL

Good notice from The Irish Times, who place the film in good company.

“One of the most welcome developments in contemporary genre cinema has been the creeping revival of the folk horror, with Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and A Field in England, David Keating’s Wake Wood, and Tom Shankland’s The Children tapping into the old ley lines.

The Ritual, a taut new film from director David Bruckner (The Signal, V/H/S), is recognisably related to such weird, wondrous classics of the form as The Wicker Man and The Blair Witch Project. But its themes of grief and guilt equally gesture toward J-horror, a subgenre wherein festering thoughts are routinely made manifest.

This psychological dimension, imported from Adam Nevill’s award-winning 2011 source novel, elevates the material above its rather familiar “if you go down to the woods today; no, really, just don’t” pitch.”

Full review here

Slightly more arch review from The Irish News, but it’d make me want to see it nonetheless. To be honest, I’m pleasantly surprised at the response from the mainstream media so far. The fact they’ve even noticed and considered the film is very encouraging.

“THE Hangover downs shots with Deliverance and The Blair Witch Project, and blood flows more readily than the booze, in David Bruckner’s horror thriller.

Laced with Nordic mythology and laddish banter, The Ritual is a grim tale of hapless thirtysomething pals, who get horribly lost in a Scandinavian forest and come face-to-face with a malevolent force that drives them to the brink of despair.”

Full review here

BRISTOL HORRORCON THIS WEEKEND

I’ll be making a guest author appearance at Bristol Horrorcon this coming weekend at the DoubleTree by Hilton (Redcliffe Way, Bristol, United Kingdom), with many other guests and traders. If you’re in the South West of the UK, I’ve heard these are not to be missed. I’ll bring my whole backlist with me too and am happy to sign any books in a reader’s collection.

Details for the convention here

THE RITUAL FILM PROMOTIONS – FUBAR RADIO MERCH PACK, AND A MEAL DEAL WITH MEATLIQUOR

I ate at MEATLiquor last Thursday with the cast and crew of the film, and they do a mean chili dog. Beer and shots menu also very good. So if you live within reach of a MEATLiquor restaurant there is a Ritual meal deal: “To support the launch of #theritual we have a cheeky £6.66 deal; Deep Fried Pickles and @HOBObeer. The film is terrifying, the deal is not

THE RITUAL MOVIE TIE-IN: ASDA PROMOTION IN UK

And the film tie-in edition is out now too. Captured in the wild here, on the shelves of ASDA where it is enjoying a promotion.

This is the fourth UK print edition too since 2011. The book has never been out of print and it’s mainly down to reader word-of-mouth. That same resonance found the film industry and now the book has a movie edition. I’m quite surprised, but delighted. Thanks to all who’ve read and supported this book.

RAFE SPALL INTERVIEWED ABOUT THE RITUAL ON THIS MORNING WITH HOLLY WILLOUGHBY AND PHILLIP SCHOFIELD

For UK viewers, Rafe Spall did a really good interview about the film yesterday on This Morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. I watched the replay this morning on the ITV catchup channel. And I was pleased to hear Rafe mention that the story was about modern men in relation to male roles/archetypes, and men in crisis, which was a main theme of the book, and often gets lost in the focus on the pagan horror.

He also confesses that the filming was so arduous that it was the first time he thought he’d earned his fee as an actor. The acting was hardcore and I watched the cast getting soaked repeatedly in sub-zero temperatures, in the early hours of the morning, on a mountain (they were also in the presence of wolves and a rogue bear that first tore into the hotel bins the night before I arrived). In fact, even though I was only there for two days, I was in awe at how the crew and cast worked so quickly and professionally in that environment and in difficult conditions. The acting really is first class. A dream team for this film.

But the oddest thing for me was hearing Holly Willoughby recite the names of my characters: Luke, Hutch, Dom and Phil. Another little moment that has made the entire experience even stranger.

[image error]

RAFE SPALL TALKS THE RITUAL ON THIS MORNING WITH HOLLY WILLOUGHBY AND PHILLIP SCHOFIELD

For UK viewers, Rafe Spall did a really good interview about the film yesterday on This Morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. I watched the replay this morning on the ITV catchup channel. And I was pleased to hear Rafe mention that the story was about modern men in relation to male roles/archetypes, and men in crisis, which was a main theme of the book, and often gets lost in the focus on the pagan horror.

He also confesses that the filming was so arduous that it was the first time he thought he’d earned his fee as an actor. The acting was hardcore and I watched the cast getting soaked repeatedly in sub-zero temperatures, in the early hours of the morning, on a mountain (they were also in the presence of wolves and a rogue bear that first tore into the hotel bins the night before I arrived). In fact, even though I was only there for two days, I was in awe at how the crew and cast worked so quickly and professionally in that environment and in difficult conditions. The acting really is first class. A dream team for this film.

But the oddest thing for me was hearing Holly Willoughby recite the names of my characters: Luke, Hutch, Dom and Phil. Another little moment that has made the entire experience even stranger.

[image error]

THE RITUAL, THE FILM – PROMO & NEWS

Well, I saw some scenes filmed in Romania and the rushes, but I finally saw the completed film last Thursday in Soho’s Framestore, joined by the terrific production crew who came over from Romania, Imaginarium, and some of the cast … As you can imagine, a peak moment for me. But it still hasn’t sunk in. Suffice to say I’m delighted with the adaptation, but am saying nothing else until after it’s out on general release, only to highly recommend that you go and see it.

I was lucky enough to meet members of the cast I hadn’t met before, including the terrific Maria Erwolter, who is terrific in the film.

[image error]

I pinched some pics from the reviewers who also saw it later that night, and who were joined by some other “members” of the cast …

[image error]

[image error]

Furbar Radio are also running a competition on Twitter in which you can win a fantastic The Ritual survival pack:

[image error]

MEATLiiquor are also running a meal deal in a cross-promo with the film. You can find out more about the meal deal on Twitter here:

MEATliquor E.Dulwich‏ @MEATliquorED

“To support the launch of #theritual we have a cheeky £6.66 deal; Deep Fried Pickles and @HOBObeer. The film is terrifying, the deal is not

LIVERPOOL MEGA HORROR CON – 7TH & 8TH OCTOBER

I’m only home for two days before blasting off again for another five. I’ll be spending an evening with the cast and crew of The Ritual and then putting in two full days at The Mega Liverpool Horror Con on the Kings Dock. The Birmingham Horror Con in February was terrific. These are vast exhibitions of horror in so many of its forms, mediums and guises, and tremendous fun too. I’ve fallen a bit in love with them. The Liverpool con will be twice the size of Brum (the floor plan is vast and you can see it on the exhibitor’s page). But I’ll have my own plot in what looks to be an event that will give you whiplash while walking the aisles.

ABOUT THAT TAGLINE PART 2

eOne were on it before the first tweet was launched from the seething cyber void. The new tagline will read: “They Should Have Gone to Ibiza” and has already been changed on Tv and online and anywhere else where they can change it, in response to the appalling events in Nevada.

Btw, I’d say this matter with the poster is irrelevant, and the only people that require any mental energy are those directly affected by what happened in that desert city. So I’m moving off this now.

Here’s a picture of three poor wretches lost in the woods …