‘Automata’ Set To Spring To Life After Record-Breaking Crowdfunder
‘Automata,’ the latest horror from Scottish genre house Hex Studios, has smashed its £80K ($108K) Kickstarter goal, with days left in the campaign. Horror fans from all over the world have rallied to support the Gothic chiller, earning the film a place in Kickstarter history as the UK’s most funded narrative film ever.
The film tells the story of antiques expert Brendan Cole who is sent to authenticate a 300-year-old clockwork doll with a notorious history, known as ‘The Infernal Princess’. In the remote Scottish mansion where it has been discovered, Brendan soon finds himself the victim of the automaton’s legendary curse.
As well as being a hit with horror fans, the campaign has garnered support along the way from genre heavyweights such as ‘Doomsday’ actor Craig Conway, ‘Fashionista’ director Simon Rumley, ‘Ghost Stories’ actor/director Andy Nyman, and StudioADI, the Academy Award-winning creature effects company behind ‘Starship Troopers’, ‘Tremors’, and ‘It’.
The team have announced a set of stretch goals which would see epic battle scenes added to the film, featuring phantom horsemen and a legion of ghost soldiers. There’s still time to get your hands on the Kickstarter-exclusive rewards including T-shirts, Collector’s Editions, Owlman plushes, or even a credit in the movie, before the campaign ends on the 9th of May.
Director Lawrie Brewster says: “The success of our campaign so far proves that there is a real hunger for original, independent horror, and crowdfunding really is the best option for these kinds of films. It lets the creator keep total control, so you don’t have some studio head forcing you to make the film more pleasing for a mainstream audience. We’re not interested in the mainstream, or following fads. We want to make strange, iconic, timeless films for true horror fans, and thanks to the incredible support we’ve received, we can continue to do just that!”
The film stars Hex Studios’ regulars Jamie Scott Gordon (‘Bonejangles’) and Alexandra Nicole Hulme (‘The Black Gloves’), alongside Erich Redman (‘The Danish Girl’), Jonathan Hansler (‘The Devil’s Business’) and rising star Victoria Lucie (‘Dartmoor Killing’).
‘Automata’ is an international co-production between Hex Studios and partners Dark Dunes Productions, in association with Needle’s Eye Productions and 7 Toes Productions, and Executive Producers Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki, Charles Stiefel, Nick Ford, Greg Orsi, Bill Eikost and Richard Pate. The film is slated for release in December 2018.
