The award-winning short thriller short film OFF GRID starring James Cosmo and Alison Steadman is now available to stream on YouTube.
The post-apocalyptic, supernatural thriller features a stellar cast: James Cosmo, MBE (Game of Thrones, Braveheart, His Dark Materials) as force of nature John Tanner; Alison Steadman (Pride and Prejudice, Gavin & Stacey) as his frail wife, Grace; Marc Baylis (Redcon-1, Coronation Street) as the enigmatic Stranger, and British horror favourite, Kate Speak (The Barge People, Dead Air) as Cailtin Rourke. The trailer also offers a glimpse of the other-worldly threat, ‘The Shining Ones’, who are plaguing humanity.
Off Grid is the second from director/producer Carl Timms, who’s crowdfunded zombie short film STILL has racked up over 5.5 million views on YouTube, and written by Mark Brendan. The Worcestershire-shot film tells the story of elderly couple, John and Grace Tanner, who have fled deep into the forest following an apocalyptic event. There John fights to protect his frail wife, and his own sanity, from a supernatural threat. The arrival of another survivor forces John to assess if he is an ally or a threat, leading to revelations that could shatter the sanctuary he has built for them.
Director Carl Timms says, “We are delighted with how the filming turned out. We feel honoured to have worked with such a talented cast who brought these characters to life exactly as we hoped. Off Grid is a hard-hitting, intense drama that tells an ambitious, character-driven story in just 20 minutes. To make it work we needed actors with real gravitas and they delivered beyond our hopes. But credit must also go to our amazing crew who all worked so hard to make this the best it could be. It’s hard to single individuals out but I want to thank director of photography Paul Ullah and colourist Liam D. Millard for the gorgeous look of the film, and practical effects designer, film veteran Stuart Conran (Shaun of the Dead, The Descent, Eden Lake), who I worked with on my previous short Still and yet again delivered some brutal and effective visual effects with very little resource!”
Writer, Mark, celebrating his first venture into film after a successful games-writing career, adds “When we were thrashing the story out, we set out to avoid the traps of many shorts. We didn’t want this to feel like a single idea sketch or a one location day or night drama, and so our aim was to tell a fully-rounded story with characters with real depth: a feature in 20 minutes. Seeing that ambition brought to life in this way on the screen has been a real pleasure.”
Off Grid is a Dark Matter Films original production to add to the growing list of titles on the Dark Matters channel, which also helps promote the works of new horror filmmakers from all over the world. Carl is eager to engage with other filmmakers to help grow the channel and bring new talent into the ever-lively horror film scene.
View film at: https://youtu.be/z4Wxg0xZ_eQ
Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keTOEp-REG0
