Thursday, November 15, 2007

Some Irish Hammer News

For years you hear nothing about Irish Hammer connections of sorts, then within 24 hours I am receiving two news items primarily for my Irish readers. (Anyone? Raise your hands if you're out there!)

They say that good news comes in threes (or is that deaths?), so I wonder what's next on the horizon for the Irish Hammer Connection.

Robert Simpson has just published an article for the current edition of Film Ireland about the seldom discussed short documentary films of Hammer and more specifically the Hammer films shot in Ireland.

And the Irish Film and Television Network reports the following:

Veteran horror actress Ingrid Pitt (Countess Dracula, The Wicker Man) has joined the cast of October Eleven Pictures upcoming horror movie ‘Urban Creep’.

The Polish born actress rose to fame in the 1970’s when she played a female vampire in Hammer Film’s horror thriller ‘The Vampire Lovers’. The box office smash led to her donning the fangs again for roles in ‘The House That Dripped Blood’ and ‘Countess Dracula’

Special effects expert and puppeteer Michael McCormick (Return Of The Jedi, The Muppet Show) has also signed up to provide special effects for the movie.

Produced by Jonathan Figgis, the movie tells the tale of the citizens of Sewark City, who have succumbed to a viral infection that ignites in them a desire to consume living flesh. A small band of un-infected civilians reside at the northern tip of the city, amongst them an elderly Polish lady (Pitt) and her granddaughter Katya, to be played by Maria Manton. The group join forces, bracing themselves for inevitable assault, with one common purpose: survival.

The script will be co-written by British horror writer Shaun Hutson, whose novels include ‘Exit Wounds’ and ‘A Necessary Evil’, and October Eleven’s Jason Figgis, who will also direct.

‘Urban Creep’ will begin filming in Summer 2008, on location in Wicklow.

7 comments:

The Unquiet Man said...

Hi Holger. Like the site. I've started my own blog Technicolour Talkies Of Hibernia - an Irish movies related website. I'd like to do a little piece on this and would you mind me linking you?

Holger Haase said...

Absolutely!!! I have just found your blog and it's great. Always good to see some Irish movie related websites. So it's now in my own personal bookmarks and I have also linked to it from here in the Blogs (Non-Hammer) section. Good work!!!

Rogue Spy 007 said...

Great to see Ingrid Pitt in any film. She's definitely one of my favorite stars from the Hammer years. I do love Irish films by the way. I'm an American who has Irish blood running through my veins.

Anonymous said...

There's already an irish horror after being made about cannibals, called Insatiable, don't know when its out but they shot it in August in Waterford & it's supposed to be a more intelligent genre film (intelligent cannibals? who knows???) Not sure who is in it but rumoured to have a big comic from Ireland in a serious role.

JASON FIGGIS said...

Hi

My name is Jason Figgis. I am the director of the upcoming Irish Horror film 'URBAN CREEP' which will star Ms. Pitt. I met the lady first at WICKER MAN convention in Dublin and found her to be utterly charming. We have friends in common and struck up a conversation which led on to conversations regearding collaboraion and out of that was born the idea for the up-coming feature 'URBAN CREEP'.

Holger Haase said...

Jason, good to hear from you. If somewhere down the line you ever feel like giving us a status report and update, please let me know. Would love to post more about any new Ingrid Pitt projects, especially when based in Ireland.

JASON FIGGIS said...

Hi Holger

I will happily send you a production diary of the movie when it goes into principal photography.

All the best, J