6.2 /10 1 Votes
Directed by Liam Hooper Music by Iain Mahanty Director Liam Hooper | 6.3/10 IMDb Screenplay by Liam Hooper Cinematography Mark Stewart Music director Iain Mahanty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Produced by Liam Hooper
Mark Stewart
Mikey Fendick Starring Elana Di Troya
Owen Bleach
Rosie Taylor-Ritson
Flynn Horne
Nadja Zachary
Calum McNab
Jorja Fox
Jonathan Raggett Initial release 25 October 2015 (United Kingdom) Screenplay Liam Hooper, Joe Shrimpton, Julia Lazenbatt Producers Liam Hooper, Mark Playle, Mikey Fendick, Jude Fox, Mark Stewart Cast Rosie Taylor‑Ritson, Elana Di Troya, Jorja Fox, Calum McNab, Flynn Horne Similar Knife Edge, The Living and the Dead, WΔZ, Eden Lake, The Penthouse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strangers Within is a 2015 British home invasion horror film. The film stars Elana Di Troya as Sam, the daughter of a world-famous artist who is left home alone for a weekend. Joined by her three best friends, Sam hosts a casual gathering. This lasts barely an hour as one of the girls’ boyfriend arrives with two friends who have attended the gathering with an ulterior motive.
Contents
Plot
Sam Templeton is a rich young woman fathered by, Simon Templeton, who operates a high-flying, yet shady, business. His wife, Martha, is an acclaimed painter, whose work flies off the hammer for fortunes.
When left alone for a weekend, Sam invites her girlfriends – Heidi, Alex and Ella - round for a sleepover. The get-together escalates into a full blown party with alcohol and lovemaking, as Heidi invites her boyfriend, Toby, and his friends.
Albeit amicable at first, the strangers in Sam’s house have a motive – to steal one of Martha's expensive paintings. As the job gets botched, a psychotic sadist emerges amongst them and a bloodied cat-and-mouse chase ensues.
Pre-production
The first draft of the screenplay was initially written in 2011 when the idea came to Hooper after a house party at the location where the film would eventually be shot. Hooper was determined to not write "another generic slasher" as he was "bored of the genre and wanted to mature it", saying "All the fear and tension comes from the characters and how they react to each other. There’s no killer running round slashing people with a machete." Pre-production began in early 2014, with reports surfacing in early June that Hooper was in talks to direct the film based on the screenplay that he'd begun writing in 2011, gave up on and subsequently rediscovered and perfected in 2013. This was later confirmed by 2050 Films, with the announcement of a vigorous Kickstarter campaign which saw the production raise £5000 through months of extensive promotion and marketing, before work on the film had even begun. After auditions held in Brighton, the lead cast were decided and confirmed, with McNab and Chittenden joining later on.
Production
Principal photography began in late August, 2014 in both Henfield and around the East Sussex area. It was shot using Canon C300 cameras provided by Ravensbourne University in London, of which members of the crew attend. A sneak peek teaser was released on Christmas Day, 2014 following an extensive advent calendar marketing campaign on the film's official Facebook page.
Music
The musical score for Strangers Within is being composed by Iain Mahanty, formerly the guitarist and songwriter of Welsh alt-rock band Kids in Glass Houses who approached 2050 Films during pre-production, looking to get involved with exciting film projects since the end of the band.
Distribution
Strangers Within is scheduled to be distributed globally on the film festival market over the next year in hopes to secure global VOD and DVD distribution, with potential to be released theatrically to limited screens. In the UK the film will launch in October 2015.