Interview with “The Baylock Residence” Writer/Director Anthony M. Winson

Anthony M.Winson, writer/director of “The Baylock Residence,” describes his latest film as a “love letter to old 60’s/’70s haunted house movies”…

-PH: Why a horror movie, Anthony?

-Anthony: Horror movies have been a big part of my life. My first memories of watching any kind of movie were horror films with by eldest brother who introduced me to the world of horror.

-PH: When did the idea come to you?

-Anthony: The initial idea for Baylock was a love letter to old 60’s/70’s haunted house movies, Slow burn movies which slowly progressed unraveling a bit more of the story as it goes.

-PH: And it was obviously important to you not to just do a straight-up horror film but one that was more unique than most? – this might even be considered ‘Downton Amityville’!?

-Anthony: First I’d like to say thank you for referring to Baylock as unique, haha.
It was important that it was never set in modern era, the original film was set in the 1970’s and black and white, again to harp back to 60’s/70’s haunted house films. I decided to change the setting to war time britain as it was such a hard time for anyone living in those conditions and then throw in the mix what is happening within the house and its really going to mess with someone psyche push them to breaking point.

-PH: How long did it take you to complete the screenplay?

-Anthony: The original screenplay didn’t take me very long at all, I’d like to say it took about seven days to complete as the story came to me very quickly when writing which I love when writing.

-PH: And did the initial idea change much?

-Anthony: The ending and characters changed quite a bit from the original script. But (spoiler) Patricia died in every version. I like the fact she died it was never suppose to be a story with a happy ending. Angelina Jolie quoted in Mr and Mrs Smith ‘Happy endings are for stories that haven’t finished yet’.

-PH: Where did you find the location?

-Anthony: The house we used to film had been empty for about five years and it went up for sale, sold then a security company put up a sign saying they were monitoring the residence. I wrote to the security firm with my contact details attached asking if they can put me in contact with the owners. The owners emailed me and were very happy to let me film as they were going to demolish the house. Very nice people I was a very lucky.

-PH: The scariest movie ever made is…..

-Anthony: That’s a hard question to answer as it’s subject to each person you ask.
I couldn’t say ‘ever made’ but a few I find tense and sinister would be John Carpenters The Fog and The Changeling with George C Scott. Fantastic movies.

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