HOME INVASION - Special Feature.
It’s been a few months, but SuperfreakMedia are back!
This time they’re coming at you with a new horror film – HOME INVASION. A tense and twisted take on everybody’s worst nightmare of having intruders break into your home!
Director Liam Banks pulls together members of his usual motley crew: Theo Vann-Leeds (DOP) Richard Parker (Grip & Stills) Charlie Brentnall (Production Assistant) & Jethro Randell (Behind the Scenes). Returning to your screens will be Chloë Crump (The Final Girl & Do You See It Too?) who is also playing Emily Gale in the upcoming horror film take on The Wizard of Oz ‘GALE STAY AWAY FROM OZ’- set for release in 2024. Check out the trailer here. Matt Barker (Hide & Seek, Blood Money, Sandman & Chasing Time) and Chris Millross (Lepidopterist – with our friends at Triskelle Pictures).
As we get ready for ‘Home Invasion’ we thought it’d be a great idea to sit down with Director Liam Banks to discuss the film.
What was the most challenging thing about making HOME INVASION?
I think one of the most challenging things about any project is getting it made. This project hasn’t been without its problems that’s for sure. Fundamentally it was intended as an expansion on an idea I had quite a few years ago now. With this film it was pretty difficult getting everything together and on time for our initial planned release date of Halloween. We had just come off the back of Production and Post Production in September on ‘The River’ – and when I say ‘just come off’ I literally mean I pulled an all-nighter editing the night before (Sept 30th) – Posted ‘The River’ online for the world to see at 2PM (October 1st) and people arrived at my house at 4PM to start shooting into the early hours on the first night of production on ‘Home Invasion’ – so it was pretty intense. But…I think with all the will in the world the biggest element of filmmaking is problem solving so it’s always just about overcoming those hurdles as you come to them and making sure you’re not compromising your vision for the project.
(Faux International Posters made to promote the film on Social Media - Channelling our love for Vintage Horror Posters)
It’s no secret that HOME INVASION has been delayed. Can you tell us more as to why?
I think as I mentioned before, October was an intense month. In total it took us about 4/5 shoot days to complete ‘Home Invasion’ – due in part to cast and crew availability and me having to pick up a lot of the slack behind camera – I probably ended up shooting about 80% of the film myself which I had not done for a while. That was exciting for sure – it felt like I was back at university making films with friends and enjoying the ‘happy accidents’ that come with being so run & gun. In all honesty, I could have put something out there on Halloween Night but I just wouldn’t have been happy with it. I wanted to take my time with the edit, finding those moments that I would have otherwise missed if I had just released it right away. I think releasing the trailer was a nice alternative and we had just posted ‘The River’ at the start of the month. So, although I felt bad we missed our annual Halloween Post, it was the right decision.
On the practical side, the extra time really did prove to be necessary. Not giving too much away, there was some VFX heavy work involved in creating some of the sequences in the film, and having more time for that really was a blessing. It was nice to come back to the edit after some time off with some new ideas and a fresh set of eyes. We were also able to put together much more of a solid plan when marketing the film too. Everything just felt better giving the film some breathing space and getting to revisit it after a break from shooting. So I’m sorry it was delayed, we didn’t love doing that but I promise it will definitely be worth the wait!
I will add though although we missed our Halloween Slot, the film will still be dedicated to my Grandma (Grace) as are all our Halloween shorts as she was really the one who got me started on this journey into filmmaking… and who doesn’t love Halloween in July?!
(Storyboard art from Pre Production on HOME INVASION)
How much time goes into planning one of your productions?
The more you can plan on any project the better! Usually, I’d say we will have about a month or so pre-production per film, that’s the period we really get into the nitty gritty planning of each project. That’s not to say though I might have an idea for a film sometimes years previous that I have written down in the note’s app on my phone and slowly added to as it naturally expands in my mind. ‘Do You See It Too?’ was just a few lines of text on my phone for about 4 years before we came round to shooting it.
When I feel a film idea is strong enough I will usually write up a treatment that I can then adapt into a script ready to shoot. As I am writing I might slowly start buying in items we might need month to month with the intention of making it later. There can be overlaps project to project which muddies the water a little but overall I would say about 4 weeks is where the magic happens and I suddenly find myself on set. It’s usually in that last week too, right before the shoot, that everything seems to come together. I like to always speak with my actors before we shoot whether that be for rehearsal (time permitting) or to discuss their character, logistics of the shoot and really be as honest and open as I can be as a director about what we are trying to achieve collectively. Props need to be sourced, costumes sorted and often locations secured. This period is usually where I will make a mood board to communicate the energy or vibe of the project (can’t believe I used both of those words unironically). I will often utilise something like Pinterest to build up a bank of images and just shoot this across to everyone involved. It’s a surefire way to make sure we are all on the same page and my hopes for the project in question are clear.
I like to storyboard and shot list where I can and can’t emphasise how useful getting into any space we are using before filming is! Just walking a scene through physically I can really start to see how the film might play out in my head when we finally get a cast and crew in there. I cheated a bit on ‘Home Invasion’ though because we actually shot the whole thing in my house so the script was already written with that space in mind. Filmmaking is all about being able to adapt so you can prepare as much as you want but it all comes down to what happens on the day.
Were there any films or filmmakers that worked as inspiration when you were coming up with the concept and vision of HOME INVASION?
Yes! I think like with a lot of our films they are an amalgamation of a lot of ideas or creators that have inspired me. ‘Home Invasion’ is definitely our nod to John Carpenter. I just love 70’s and 80’s Horror and how the moonlight was always bright blue streaming through the windows – you will definitely see a lot of that in this film by the way. The score is packed full of synth-y drones and pulses. The marketing has been a ton of fun to create for this too. Although the film is not set in the 80’s, I always like to place our films in a timeless and nostalgic setting – similar to how it’s hard to place exactly when the likes of ‘It Follows’ is set. Also I just love a good home invasion film so this was a fun sandbox to play in, trying to fashion something original out of what maybe the audience will expect to see based on the title. I don’t want to give too much away but getting to homage John Carpenter and my favourite Horror Film ‘Halloween’ in one project (white masked killers, set on Halloween night) was an absolute dream… or should I say nightmare!
What was the funniest thing on set when filming HOME INVASION?
The whole shoot was a lot of fun to be honest! I can’t say this enough, making horror films really is a blast! Genuinely feels like therapy sometimes, don’t know what that says about me!
I must say there was a lot of blood on this one… and shooting in my house I was very wary of where that blood ended up when it started to spill on camera. I vividly remember many a shot involving blood splattering being completed and as soon as I called ‘cut!’ we would all scurry around with wet wipes trying to dab up any rogue spills. Luckily, I think we managed to get them all, I’ve not noticed any new stains around the house since we wrapped filming. We run a very tight ship when it comes to cleaning up blood here at SuperfreakMedia.
It was a lot of fun getting all the trick-or-treaters together outside on the street to create a mock Halloween Night about a month or so before the actual big day. We had a few people ask what we were up to and I think the kids had a really great time getting into costume and running around. While we were filming this scene we actually had a couple of the crew run in the background of some of the shots to make it seem a bit busier. On one of the takes one of the crew absolutely stacked it and ended up rolling around on the pavement (kudos to them for staying in character – we will definitely need to post this outtake at some point). We also had a trick-or-treater ride by on a bike trailing some loo roll behind them. Visually I was like ‘Oh yeah that’ll look great!’ You best believe every take that bloody thing got tangled in his wheels causing him to crash or come to a sudden stop in the middle of the shot. Luckily everyone was alright, and no one had any injuries, but it certainly caused a few laughs watching everyone take a tumble. Who knew trick or treating was so… erm tricky?!
(Full HOME INVASION Cast & Crew Photo - in fancy dress of course whilst shooting our Trick or Treat EXT. Scene - Courtesy of Richard Parker)
In other news… How does it feel to have had one of your films, TAKE A LOOK, reach 1M views on YouTube - the first of the SuperfreakMedia Shorts to reach this milestone?
What a milestone?! I honestly can’t believe it! We have been so fortunate to get the response we have had to the last few short films we’ve posted. ‘Take A Look’ was another project, similar to this film, that was really a team effort and involved us getting as creative and inventive as we could with the resources we had. We were fresh out of Covid Lockdown when we made that film and I think we all felt a little rusty getting back on set. It was never meant to be a horror film that ‘reinvented the wheel’ but it was so much fun getting to just craft something with so many scares… and people seem to love it!
‘Do You See It Too?’ is close behind view wise so think we might have a double celebration this year. Who knows we might be talking again this time next year and ‘Home Invasion’ might be doing just as well? Or people could hate it! You just don’t know with these things! Putting stuff out there can make me feel very vulnerable sometimes but we’ve built quite a loyal following through the years and it’s that love and support we receive that really keeps me motivated to keep chipping away at making this filmmaking malarky a career.
What can people expect from Superfreak Media in the next 12 months?
So, all being well you can expect quite a lot from us over the next year. Firstly, I am so happy that we are ready to finally release ‘Home Invasion’ to the masses, I really hope people dig it when it comes out…it involved a lot of blood, sweat, and tears getting to this point – literally!
We have a few more shorts planned for this year, so will be teasing those in the coming weeks (no rest for the wicked and all that). There’s a really ambitious project I have had bubbling away in the background for some time that we may need to crowdfund for (which would be a first for us) that I would love to see made in the new year. Keeping my cards incredibly close to my chest on that one!
Speaking of in the new year, SuperfreakMedia will be celebrating 15 years online! That is absolutely insane to me! How has it been that long already?! We have several scripts currently in development that are just clawing their way to being finished and we are keen to be delivering more regular content month to month as we cross into 2024. We will have plenty going on over spooky season this year and we are working toward bringing back the podcasts like ‘No Ghouls Allowed’ from the dead. Speaking of podcasts we will be releasing more information soon but will be looking for submissions for ‘Campfire Chronicles’ – Season 2 in the coming months. So keep your eyes peeled… all the way back!
And finally… If you could only have one snack on set, what would it be?
I wish I could lie and say something healthy like a protein bar to get you through a long day or a bunch of fruit to boost your electrolytes, but…PIZZA! 100% Pizza, I mean that counts as a snack right?! I genuinely feel like pizza is the lifeblood of a happy cast and crew on any shoot. Who doesn’t love pizza? If anyone answers ‘me’ to that question I don’t think we can be friends…We ordered in on the first night of shooting ‘Home Invasion’ and I don’t think I have seen a happier bunch of people on set than when we called a break and everyone just got to fill their face for half an hour! Pizza all day long! Great question by the way… what a way to end?!
As Liam said, there is a whole lot more on the way, so be sure to follow SuperfreakMedia on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok & now Threads to keep track of their latest content. You do not want to miss what they have in store!
HOME INVASION premieres this Saturday (July 15th, 2PM BST). Please subscribe to the YouTube Channel and click that notification bell to know when the film is live!
