New Sussex-made horror film picking up the awards

Tickets are available on https://filmfreeway.com/BrightonRocks/tickets

The film, which premiered last September at Worthing’s Connaught Theatre & Studio, comes from Goring-based film-maker Jamie Langlands who made it in locations including Hastings, Worthing, Arundel and Brighton. Written and directed by Jamie, the film comes from Double Take Pictures Ltd and features Meghan Adara, Neil James, Charlotte Marshall and Mickaela Sands, the tale, lasting 85 minutes, of a young girl who wakes up imprisoned underground…

“We had about 130 people at the premiere and it was great. It was mainly friends and family and people that I knew and they gave it a round of applause at the end. I was not expecting too much critique because there were lots of people that I knew but they liked it and since then it has been screened all over the world.

“It has done a lot of festivals in America, probably six festivals in America but it's also done festivals in India and Russia and it has been screened in the UK. And we have won lots of awards. I think we're up to about 30 awards now which I wasn't expecting at all.

“I think the success is all down to the cast and the crew. I've been in the business for about 20 years working in independent films and I know a lot of people, really good people. I think it was just about pulling together resources and bringing the right people together. I knew that the cinematography would be great and I knew that the lighting would be great. And I knew I I had actors that would give great performances.”

The film will be screened again at Brighton Rocks in June. In the meantime Jamie is looking towards the film going onto a number of streaming platforms at a date yet to be decided

“I wrote it as we went along,” Jamie said. “It was like a work in progress. It started as a short film and we shot like ten or 11 minutes on one day but then I started thinking we have got enough story here to turn it into a feature film.

“It starts with a girl who is locked in an underground basement. She's like in a cell and she wakes up and she's got no recollection of how she got there. She just has to get out of this cell and navigate through these catacombs and work out what is happening, and as she goes along she uncovers more and more. She keeps seeing things and gets more recollections and starts to remember. And she gets to the point where she works out exactly what is in play here.

“She's just a young girl. She's had a tough life and there is a bit of a back story. She gets into a bad crowd and she gets into alcohol and drugs and then she ends up finding herself at an AA meeting with a church group. But it is more than a church group. There is more going on...”

It was filmed a variety of hidden locations: “In Brighton we used an underground cellar underneath a hotel which was an amazing place and in Arundel we used the Arundel Jailhouse. In Worthing we shot some in my house and we also shot in a church and we also used some external locations like fields. And in Hastings we found the most amazing Victorian bed and breakfast (St Benedict B&B) which is set up like it was in in Victorian times. Everything is Victorian in this hotel. It is really gothic-y and great for horror films.”