Newhaven Fort is prison in human trafficking thriller

Howard, who lives near Eastbourne and made the film in the Canary Islands and in Newhaven Fort, confirmed the film is available on the major streaming platforms.

“Escape is about ten young ladies that get kidnapped for trafficking purposes and they're held underground in a place that is seemingly in the desert. They are going to be sold in two days’ time. There is a boat coming in 48 hours and they have found out that they're going to be sold and that they really don't have long to escape.

“The ladies are stolen from a holiday island resort and they are multinational. Some are from America, some from the UK, some are eastern European. Some have had their drinks spiked which I know is something that's very topical. They have been charmed by this guy who chats them up but he is just really trying to lure them towards drugging them.

“It's a thriller and it almost verges into horror. It's a horrible scenario that happens around the world. I know this is fiction but the scenario is horribly real. But it is all about empowering the women. They're not going to take this lying down. It's a film about women taking control and taking power. They're going to fight back and they do so with rocks and bits of stick and with tools and with whatever they can use.

“I embarked on the project almost two years ago and we shot it in the Canary Islands but the underground stuff we shot in Newhaven. It was meant to be really hot, but we used the underground caverns which were actually freezing cold!

“I wrote the film. It came to me during lockdown. I financed the film with private money. I raised some private money myself and my dad put some money into the film and I had an investor that came in post-production. And it's being sold worldwide. It's in cinemas in some countries but sadly not in the UK which is very difficult.”

And it's a great feeling to release it: “It is such a lot of hard work. We went to the desert for real. There's no green screen here, and now it is lovely to have conversations about it. I'm excited but also slightly nervous. You know some people are going to love it but you know that some people won't like it at all.

“But it is exciting. This is my tenth movie, and how many directors get to say that they've made one movie, let alone ten. I've also done 300 odd TV commercials. I work extremely hard but I also understand that it's a privilege to remain upright at all as a film director!”

Howard’s most recent film was The Lockdown Hauntings – another movie which grew entirely out of the pandemic – and was filmed during lockdown under all the lockdown restraints.

The story harks back to the start of lockdown, no people in the streets, no cars: “And nature decides to start rising up. Spirits are freer than ever before because there is no human interference. Some of the spirits are good but some of them have got evil intent. And on the first day of lockdown a notorious serial killer The Locksmith, who had died in prison, rises up and starts killing people in lockdown. These women are attacked in their own homes without anyone breaking into their homes…”