Is Caprice the perfect woman?
At last - British Horror is back.
Can anyone remember British hammer? One independent production company certainly does and it looks like they have harnessed the genre and turned it into a successful new film. Therefore it is no surprise that “Perfect Woman” is becoming the most talked about movie of the year. The creators have taken all the right elements and mixed them into a delicious blood fest. Legendary cult idol David Prowse plays the evil henchman that devours waste parts of the fantastically beautiful women. An iconic scientist creates the monstrous creation. A seductive TV producer lures women to their deadly fate promising the dream of fame, beauty and fortune; A hard rocking soundtrack produced by Lacuna Coil and Evanescence. And not a couple of beauty’s but a harem: Caprice, Naomi Campbell, Holly Davidson, Angelica Bridges supported by a whole host of beautiful models. Incorporating Indie legends Toby Kebbel (Dead Mans shoes) and Holly Davidson (Essex boys) as our struggle of good against evil, along with Britain’s most famous adult entertainment star Cathy Barry exposing some flesh!
The story is of a Reality TV show that takes hundreds of beautiful gold digging women, our unassuming contestants, to the opulent gothic Thornbury Castle with the dream of winning a million pounds and the chance to marry a sex manic millionaire Danny (Marcus Schenkenberg). The contestants are unaware of the show’s ulterior motive; an evil scientist, Luigi (Jason Stevens), is killing the girls and creating a “Perfect Woman” in an underground laboratory. The true essence within the success of this production is that its horror lies within the reality of our desire, greed for perfection, fame and beauty. Maybe the underlying story is far from Frankenstein and more within our own psyche concerned with cosmetic surgery and vanity leading to new radical ways of making us look younger. In this story Luigi’s aim is to play god. To find a way of cloning the women for spare parts, so that one day every living woman could have the chance to be perfect.
The films rapidly growing success has become apparent in internet chat rooms and cult forums that the One Million Pound project has now been given an additional Four Million to re-shoot the story with a more horrific ending.
Script writer Sam Snape commented “I am not surprised of the amount of success this project has got; this is the type of film the British public wants to see” He continued “There has been nothing normal about this project, but that’s great. That’s what movies are about and it’s a fantastic thing to see coming out of England.”
With one week and one million pounds the production company had to shoot the feature with three units working simultaneously. On many days a cast of one thousand girls was required on set making me believe this was sounding like a directors own reality horror. It is no surprise then that the quote adopted by the entire crew was “I wish we had a documentary team”. The production had three Directors; Deborah Groves, Kodjo, and Sean Spencer.
Deborah Groves quotes “It was a true whirlwind adventure. I don’t think any of us got a second of sleep, but we all believed in the project so much, and were proud to be part of”
Kodjo “The script was undergoing constant changes on set, but everyone could see the core power behind the movie. The story and cast gave an interesting combination of old classic horror, celebrity obsession and indie truth.”
The movies Casting Directors certainly secured a mixed collection of actors, but if you look at the scripts elements it works incredibly well. Director Deborah Groves says “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect cast, when you look at what the script and analysis what the movie is “Horror”. It was always a conscious decision to not create what Hollywood is constantly churning out - a movie of well groomed, well behaved, perfectly moulded young studio kids. I think we have been loyal to our fans by giving them the cast they want”.
These decisions appear to have paid off as the movies success has been due the fan bases and internet chat-rooms which have made Prefect Woman the most anticipated film since “Blair Witch Project”. Could this be the way forward for British independent film, in a time when most independent film companies are struggling?
Executive producer Matthew John commented “It has been an incredibly hard but enjoyable journey. The project has really taken on a life of its own which is amazing when you realise the lack of support our industry gets in this country. In some ways it has been disappointing, when you think that we have tired to recreate something that was once so identifiably British, and yet there are certain politicians so determined to end this industry.”
Perfect Woman is soon to start it’s re-shoot at Thornbury Castle, Bristol with documentary crew. No release dates have been given yet, however producers are confident that the film will be in our screens, sooner then expected.
For many I believe the documentary behind this project will be as fascinating as the movie, when a new company manages to excel, let alone survive at such a difficult time.
