DEAD IN DUMFRIES Writer/director Steve Barker has made a good horror film in Scotland. Paul Dale meets him
Steve Barker, the 37-year-old, Blackpool born director of new Scottish horror Outpost is in an affable mood. Self-effacing, charming and just a little bit geeky Barker (pictured, right) has succeeded where so many have failed. Outpost is a pared down, ultra gory slasher about Nazi zombies terrorising a bunch of mercenaries in a bunker in Eastern Europe. Influenced in equal parts by George A Romero and John Carpenter it is a lot better than we have any right to expect of a Scottish made horror.
Privately funded for about £1.2million, Outpost has already made
most of its money back from US DVD sales but its been a long and frustrating road for Barker and his long time producers Kieron Parker and Arabella Page Croft of award-winning Glasgow based film production company Black Camel Pictures. Having worked together since art school, Barker explains that he spent years in ‘development hell’ in London, adding, ‘it’s amazing that you can support yourself and keep going by working on projects that never get made.’ Then Parker and Croft told him that if he was willing to drop everything and move to Scotland they thought they could get a feature made. That happened and before he knew it Barker was utilising contacts and shooting fast and fearlessly in rural Dumfries and Glasgow’s Film City Studios.
Barker is rightly proud of his debut feature. ‘lt’s a boy’s film, but it’s not torture porn it’s good old fashioned siege horror.’ Barker was a first generation video kid who grew up watching video nasties, ‘ I love genre films’ he laughs, ‘genre is a great place to hide and play.’
Black Camel whose mission statement is to create a roster of commercially viable films made in Scotland are already working with Barker on his next feature film Blood Makes Noise, a vampire-cop revenge thriller. In fact he has just delivered a new draft of the script. ‘I hate writing, I find it so hard.’ He pauses to chew on a pen. ‘But I love filming. I mean on Oumost it was cold, wet, windy, smoky and yet not one of cast and crew complained. And then I got in the editing room and realised that I had made The Magnificent Seven with seven James Coburns.’ Barker, clearly a Scottish based talent to watch, starts snorting with laughter.
I Outpost is on general release from Fri 16 May. See review, page 50.
52 THE LIST 8—22 May 2008
COMEDY DRAMA SMART PEOPLE (15) 94min 0.
DOCUMENTARY
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?
(12A) 89min .0
Having successfully supersized his career by eating way too many Big Macs. Morgan Spurlock has let fame go to his head or maybe he's just contracted a bout of mad cow disease. His new documentary sees the campaigner try to do what the American military has been unable to achieve. despite the billions of dollars spent amid years of operations: find Osama Bin Laden.
Even more than was the case with Super Size Me. Spurlock's latest documentary is one long ego-trip. Little attempt is made to actually find Bin Laden. Instead. Spurlock ventures to Egypt. Morocco, Afghanistan and Pakistan to show how the Muslim population living there are by—and— large ordinary folks concerned with raising their families and making a living: people just like average American. When he meets less than accommodating hosts; the local Haredim in Israel and Saudi schoolteachers. Spurlock lets these characters off the hook all too easily. He‘s not as incisive or politically astute as his obvious model Michael Moore and it's soon pretty clear that the opportunistic presenter has nothing new to say about the war on terror.
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Another week and another dysfunctional American family comedy. Scnpted by novelist Mark Poirier and directed by newcomer Noam Murro. Smart People examines the improbable rejuvenation of widowed. middle-aged English professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid). who teaches Victorian literature at a Pittsburgh campus. Contemptuous towards his students and colleagues alike, the irascible and narcissistic Lawrence is also emotionally detached from his children, undergraduate son James (Ashton Holmes) and his sardonic, overachieving Young Republican daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page)
Naturally. Lawrence must be rescued from his curmudgeonly isolation and move forward from his wife's death. Enter both his feckless adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church). who turns up with a house-guest cum chauffeur, and a romantic interest in the shape of Sarah Jessica Parker's ER doctor. Janet Hartigan. who once nursed a student crush on Lawrence.
Shot in autumnal tones. and accompanied by an irksome soft-rock soundtrack, Smart People is scuppered by the lack of chemistry between its two romantic leads. Why should the female medic be tolerant of her lover's self-absorption and unpleasantness? And why does Parker deliver such a subdued performance? Unlike Noah Baumbach's comparable The Squid and the Whale. the filmmakers here are committed to softening the protagonist's misanthropy. resulting in disappointingly predictable fare.
(Tom Dawson) I Selected release from Fri 76 May.
The action starts with news that his partner Alexandra is pregnant and Spurlock claims that to make the world a safer place for his child he must find Bin Laden. It's a poor conceit. The only point of showing Alexandra is that her growing bump gives some inkling of the time the occasionally humorous Spurlock has wasted on this folly. (Kaleem Aftab) I Selected release from Fri 9 May.
DRAMA CHARLIE BARTLETT (15) 96min 0..
In a crafty move that befits its wheeler-dealer anti-hero. teen comedy Charlie Bartlett arrives on the coat-tails of the highly publicised iron Man. which also features Robert Downey Jr. The star gives a pleasing supporting performance here as an officious school principal who opposes every move made by Charlie (Anton Yelchin), a troubled kid freshly ejected from his local prep school. Charlie's a joker who manufactures fake IDs and deals his prescribed anti-depression drugs to his classmates. craving popularity and the acceptance of his peers to compensate for a fractured family life.
Similarities to Wes Anderson's considerably superior Rushmore are undeniable but in the hands of established comedy film editor turned director Jon Poll and first-time writer Gustin Nash. Bartlett’s struggle with authority comes into sharp and engaging focus. But unlike Bill Murray's loveable cad. Downey Jr's principal is characterised only by his over-zealous resolve to protect his daughter Susan (Kat Dennings). a move that robs Bartlett's Holden Caulfield via Ferris Bueller brand of teenage rebellion of any wider social resonance. An amusing enough take on the agonies of youth. Charlie Bartlett deserves a B plus for effort.
(Eddie Harrison) I Selected release from Fri 9 May