As a leading scriptwriter for hire and UK script consultant I’ve had a ridiculously busy last 18 months – and one of the projects that came from the last year or so is my SECOND film as a director – the low budget H.P. Lovecraft adaptation – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (2021) which is due for release on DVD and Vimeo (VOD)at the end of this month.
The film was shot with a tiny cast and crew back in Dec 2020, and is the second in a trilogy of low budget horror films based on stories by H.P. Lovecraft – the first Markham (2020) was released last year.
We’re hoping to move onto the third film in the trilogy before the end of 2021, but things are still a bit up in the air due to all this pandemic awfulness which is about at the moment.
I’m pretty pleased with the new film for a number of reasons, apart from two great performances by Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell – the film is also the most VFX of the trilogy so far, and these effects were achieved on a very low cost – and they work. As a director, this has been a great experience for me, and shows what can be achieved with low-fi VFX on a small budget.
Don’t take my word for it – see for yourself by watching the film when its released. Of course the short story is famously Guillermo del Toro dream project – but he’s always struggled to get finance – we found the money for our version down the back of my sofa.
Watch At The Mountains of Madness (2021) Online | Vimeo On Demand on Vimeo
Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire, UK Script editor and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. His UK script coverage service, Script reading service and script development service are highly sought after.
You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.
His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020 and was followed by ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ a second horror film in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.