Rael’s Way | Colourful, uncanny and fun

In Rael’s Way writer director Andy Carr developed a story that ditched the Leprechaun and still created a dangerously magical feel. All on a budget that a Leprechaun wouldn’t even sniff at. Andy tells us how he grew the story to create his jewel of a film

What can you tell us about Rael’s Way? Where did the idea come from and how did you get it made?

About 4 birthdays ago I received a beautiful book from my brother, Rob (who stars in the film!) and his partner, that collects all of Captain America creators’ Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s horror comic strips from the 1950s together. I’ve not produced much previously that could be considered comic-booky and there was one story in the book that stuck out to me as being particularly lurid and affecting and, along with the short, self-contained nature of these stories, possibly filmable on a very low budget.

Also, I thought I could utilise the format by perhaps shooting in a sort of panel-style that could feel inherently more like a comic book. My aim is not to make money from Rael’s Way, however to avoid fully adapting something I didn’t have the rights to I changed the title, the character names, re-wrote all of the dialogue and added a few small elements of my own (and Rob’s!) to distinguish it from the original. The strip’s main antagonist was actually a Leprechaun! I chose to alter this to avoid some potential social pitfalls, as well as to encourage myself and Rob to create our own unique character to replace him.

All of the remaining stars and crew in the film are existing friends, some from my time at Arts University Plymouth as well as more recent students of the University of Plymouth that I now very much consider my friends!

There’s a summer, folky and almost Americana-type feel to Raels’ Way. What inspired the look and feel of the film (are they the sort of films you’d find on your Schlockhungry feed)?..

This vibe was entirely what I was going for! I guess, due to the source material and the vibrant settings that characterise the golden age of weird fiction which these comic strips represent, I hoped that the film would naturally evoke some of the same colourful, uncanny and fun atmosphere.

Horror is commonly associated with the night-time and darkness, but I believe it can be impactful in a more insidious and unexpected way when the backdrop and colour palette more naturally evokes happiness, safety and warmth.

Rael’s Way is admittedly a little janky but I didn’t wish to intentionally lean into the jankiness as much as not wanting my financial and time limitations to restrict the scope of the story too much. Necessary work-arounds for example included substituting the interior of a real steam train carriage for a section of summer house on an orchard my dad looks after! These mismatched elements are very easy to spot if you look even vaguely closely at the film, but ones that hopefully won’t be a negative distraction because of the attempt to sell the illusion all in-camera. I still believe this is the best quality thing I’ve ever produced and think that it has a lot to do with the main performances, the musical contributions and the help I had from everyone in composing all the shots which I am so amazingly grateful for.

On my Schlockhungry page I do very much like to talk about older and often bizarre B-movies that are mostly produced outside of major studio systems. The technical qualities of these films are almost always dubious, yet their off-kilterness and tendency to be more imaginative in their concepts, characters and their application of practical workarounds, makes me like to think of their ropey nature as more of a style as opposed to merely bad cinema. Compared to some Hollywood counterparts, I really cherish how in these films the camera does not lie to you, where the cracks betray the realness of exactly what has been recorded on film.

You’ve made the psychological drama feature Late Runner, what can you tell us about that?

Late Runner is my good friend, Patryk’s, feature length film which I shot the majority of and also worked on makeup and acted in. It took over three years to produce between our full time jobs but was amazing fun to work on. It really helped me get used to operating a camera more instinctively and in testing my ability to compose interesting shots on the spot (often necessitated by shooting outside and at night in the city of Plymouth) and in understanding and controlling lighting more.

The project gave me the opportunity to make an entire film for the first time with Rob, as well as meet and work with the actors who later helped me on Rael’s Way. We are very proud of how Late Runner turned out, particularly due to its extremely low budget and how professional we managed to make everything look and the topics it explores. Patryk is currently working on finding distributors so it may be coming to a streaming service near you real soon!

From your experience, how healthy is the South West film scene?

I feel the pandemic was a big set-back for me personally as I was completing my Film degree at the time and, upon leaving, there were many productions either being restricted or postponed indefinitely, making finding local work in the industry particularly hard.

However, from what I’ve seen more recently, there seems to be something about both Cornwall and Devon’s film and TV heritage and the unique vibe that it brings which seems to be gaining more recognition. Dean Puckett is a local director whose work I particularly enjoy and his debut feature film (which I’m lucky to appear in the background of at brief moments!) was released and celebrated last year. Animator Ashley Thorpe’s work has appeared in some acclaimed films and TV shows and he is also co-founder of the annual Hell-Tor festival in Exeter.

All of these projects and events in my eyes seem to both acknowledge the stamp that our area’s unique landscape, culture and mythologies have had on cinema and are contributing to its continued relevance. 

Rael’s Way is getting its big screen premiere at Plymouth Uni’s Mayfest – what does that feel like?

This is the most excellent result and I feel extremely privileged to be accepted into the line-up! To be part of this event which is so local to the area and co-organised by Hugo Williams (who also stars in the film!), feels very much to be the perfect scenario to allow me to show the film to everyone. I’m gonna feel like I hit the big time all day long and can’t wait to see it in the best environment possible.

Thank you, Andy!

Rael’s Way is at The House, Plymouth, as part of the University of Plymouth’s Mayfest on 26 May. Get your tickets.

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