The Hairy Hands by Ashley Thorpe to be premiered at Bristol's Arnolfini

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The Hairy Hands, Ashley Thorpe’s chilling ghostly yarn, will be premiered in its final mixed version at the Arnolfini Arts Centre, Bristol on December 16, as part of the Digital Shorts Cast and Crew evening, with the film ending the night’s screening.

Ashley says of The Hairy Hands: “Originally it was planned to be the bookend story for ‘Hell-Tor’, where the protagonist holes up at the Warren Inn on Dartmoor because of bad weather and then in classic Amicus fashion hears these ghost yarns before setting off again with one of the featured ghosts in his car.

“The other stories I’d planned to start later in the year (Spring heel Jack and The Lambton Worm) were too ambitious in terms of production design, so I took the bookend story idea and gave it a touch of Vault of Horror.

“It’s a nice little story and I’m quite proud of it. It’s lean yet has some nice subtexts and some fun generic quotes. It’s also a bit of a departure from the previous films in that it’s ‘contemporary’, which I was initially hesitant about as I have little to no interest in being contemporary purely to be more accessible. But by constantly referencing Hitchcock and John Carpenter I believe we managed to fulfill that criteria whilst actually not actually being contemporary at all!” he said

It’s a feel that is carried through in the music, with echoes of the early synth of Carpenter, John Foxx and, of course, John Barry.

The Hairy Hands was also able to bag the vocal talents of Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, BBC Radio Devon DJ Jo Loosemore.

For Ashley Thorpe, 2009, has seen plaudits and prizes including a Media Innovation Award for independent filmmaker, selection for Cannes, and Raindance nomination for Best UK short.

“For a small British independent adapting local myths, you couldn’t really ask for more.” said Ashley.

To read the full article check out the Carrion Films website.

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(image: Carrion Film regular Ed Berry in the driving seat)