He’s the writer-director of TV series The Kill Point, starring Steve Cirbus, Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Hyatt, about a group of Iraq veterans who pull off a major bank heist. He’s also dabbled in a spot of editing, acting and producing with comedy Big Fan.

Now Josh Trank sets his sights higher by taking on his ‘reality TV’ style sci-fi thriller, Chronicle, about three high school friends who gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery and find their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides. The new film stars Michael B. Jordan and Michael Kelly, and relative newcomers Alex Russell and Dane DeHaan.

At an exclusive ‘first-see’ screening in central London in January, Trank talked about the origins of the Chronicle, working with director John Landis’s son, Max Landis, on the ideas and the script, his documentary influence, whether he’s been asked to revamp Fantastic Four/X-Men, and if there’s more to the story to warrant a sequel:

You’re known after Stabbing at Leia’s 22^nd Birthday on YouTube.

Josh Trank: We’re looking at the most self-photographed and filmed generation ever; maybe this movie can be part of that?

How did you and Max come to work together?

Josh Trank: I knew Matt from being a teenager. Max said he wanted to write a feature, and after seeing the treatment for Chronicle, she wrote something within two weeks.

Where did the concepts come from?

Josh Trank: From a daydream about wishing I could move stuff – the ability of telekinesis, and how would that be an everyday skill that could be developed. Chronicle is also a celebration of our love for comic-book heroes; what separates this story from other superhero ones is Chronicle doesn’t’ come from a moral justice aspect – the kids don’t have anything too prove and just do what they can do.

Why did you decide to use hand-held footage?

Josh Trank: I grew up with my dad (Richard Trank, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1997 for The Long Way Home) as a documentary filmmaker so I wanted to blend documentary with sci-fi – as inspired by Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi thriller District 9 and its documentary approach. I wanted to make this film look like raw and unhampered footage.

The POV of the camera operator chances throughout – who actually ‘edits’ it?

Josh Trank: Every scene plays deliberately as a long single shot. There is the idea of some kind of ‘outside existence’ editing it, what with the jump cuts. Perhaps, like the character Matt (played by Alex Russell) at the end, his powers allow him to start and stop the camera, so there’s no need for a camera operator? That’s one for the audience…

Did the family or teen issues in the film develop from the performances or were they always there in the original script?

Josh Trank: People respond better to real dialogue, rather than movie dialogue. Dane (DeHaan) was hired first out of the leads, and we auditioned the others to see how they would play off each other.

[SPOILER ALERT] Was following superhero tropes, such as making Andrew (DeHaan) into the villain, what was always planned as the outcome?

Josh Trank: Yes, definitely, also the influences of things going on around him, from him changing from being the victim to the threat. The character of Matt slowly grows up throughout, too, and goes to stop Andrew, not through any gallant superhero move, but because it’s a grown-up, adult instinct to do the right thing.

The film has a 80s’ feel to it…

Josh Trank: Yeah, it was only after watching the first cut that we realised this. Amy Heckerling movies obviously had a big influence in the way the characters relate to each other and have chemistry.

How are there no repercussions from Andrew and Steve showing off their magical talents at the school talent show?

Josh Trank: There were a couple of takes for that scene, like water going over the audience, but it stopping mid-air. However, we couldn’t afford to do that! We got give far enough at the talent show for it to still be humanly possible – any further and it would have been too far.

Anything else you left out of the final cut?

Josh Trank: Yeah, you’ll see them on the DVD extras; mainly things to do with scheduling or that didn’t fit into the movie. The idea is to be absorbed on first viewing, and asking, “where’s it going?”

Running at under 90 minutes, did you deliberately make the film short?

Josh Trank: I just like short movies – a movie needs to be as long as it needs to be. I’m a big Alan Clarke fan, and his movies are short and are played naturalistically.

Is the trailer cut short on purpose too?

Josh Trank: Well, it seems to be working and getting a lot of attention. I leave that sort of thing up to the marketing guys. I gave they some ideas, and just wanted them to embrace the style of the movie and that it gets darker.

Are there any nods to Brian De Palma’s Carrie in this?

Josh Trank: Max and I have not gone into what other film influences are put in. We’ve basically tipped our hats to a lot of little things.

If there was a US version of Akira, Chronicle would be it ­– would you make one?

Josh Trank: After Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, I stopped judging remakes. Who knows?

Will you be doing Fantastic Four or X-Men?

Josh Trank: It’s a little weird, as I knew this movie would work, but it’s been surprising how everyone’s responded. I have been working on some original ideas and things are being talking about, but nothing’s a signed deal yet.

Who’s your favourite comic-book character?

Josh Trank: Batman – Frank Miller is my favourite writer as I grew up with the Tim Burton Batman.

[SPOILER ALERT] Will the Chronicle story continue?

Josh Trank: We have ideas. We’ll see what happens as Matt’s still alive – and the others might be too…

Chronicle is out 1st February. Read our review here.

Following on from remake Let Me In and the recent Hilary Swank chiller, The Resident, Hammer Films’ third latest cinematic offering, Wakewood, hits cinema screens tomorrow.

After the death of their young daughter in the film’s opening scene, Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle) retreat to the countryside and set up shop in the quiet backwater town of Wakewood in an attempt to patch up their disintegrating marriage. One night, during a disagreement where Patrick is driving his wife to the train station, their cars breaks down and they inadvertently stumble upon a kind of pagan-y sacrificial-cum-rebirth ceremony, preceded over by the town’s leader (Timothy Spall, complete with an Irish brogue that come and goes during all his scenes).

Confronted by Tim and his townsfolk back at their home, the couple are informed that if they wish, they will be granted the opportunity to spend three days with their deceased daughter, whom the residents of Wakewood can bring back to life. After much soul-searching (which roughly equates to around two and a half minutes of screen time) the couple agree to go ahead with the process. After their initial happiness and joy of this seemingly miraculous rebirth, they soon come to realise (surprise, surprise) that their little poppet is not quite the cherub she was in her past life.

After a long absence away from the silver screen, Hammer Films are under new management and back as fully-fledged players in the horror market. Why, oh why, then did they insist on attaching themselves to such an inert film as Wakewood? To make matters worse, the film isn’t even an original Hammer production, and was an acquisition by the studio!

It’s a film which falls flat at pretty much every level. It’s badly shot, badly lit, badly edited, badly acted and worst of all, apart from the grisly effective rebirth scenes, isn’t remotely scary and just ends up being a horrible bore. It never manages to summon up an atmosphere which you could describe as “chilling” and any traditional jumps achieved are via the post-production process, where it’s a case of cranking up a “whoosh” or “thuds” a notch or two on the sound mix. The rest of the film plays like a game of spot the rip-off of other superior films in the genre like Don’t Look Now, Pet Semetery, The Omen, Carrie and of course, The Wicker Man.

Frustratingly, the town whose title the film is derived from, never factors into the story at all. We get no sense whatsoever of the community and why they are fully supportive the black magic used and the supernatural rituals. Unlike other horrors with a similar setting, the location, crucially, never comes to life to become a character in itself.

Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle as the grieving couple have nothing in the way of chemistry together and performance wise, are barely phoning it in here. Gillen in particular is incredibly disappointing, and one would imagine the sole reason for doing the film (apart from the obvious monetary one) was that location-wise, it was a car journey away from his home. He does absolutely nothing with the role. In fact, they both deal with the reanimation of their once deceased child with the utmost of ease and act like she’s just been away to a relatives’ house for a couple of weeks and not in the ground for almost a year. They seem to take this supernatural proposal and eventual outcome completely in their stride.

When it’s inevitably revealed that the little girl has gone “bad”, the audience are told this through a kindly old neighbour who seems to have been able to discover this fact by waving what looks like a mini abacus in front of the child. The film really is that weak and unimaginative.

If Hammer is serious about re-establishing themselves as a reputable brand they should avoid anything which even closely resembles Wakewood in the future, in much the same way that audiences should steer clear here.

*~~~~ (1/5)

Blood: The Last Vampire fights its way to Blu-ray and DVD November 2. The movie is a slick and stylised English adaptation of the hugely popular cult hit anime series of the same name. The movie is full of blood and gore, so in celebration of this release, we have compiled a short list of some of the bloodiest films to date. Chances are, if you loved these films and relished the blood, then you will love Blood: The Last Vampire. The name speaks for itself!

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

It is clear to see that Blood: The Last Vampire sticks true to its gory genre. In many of the scenes, Saya is surrounded by a group of demons. The creativity of their deaths is the winning factor here, for example in one scene she decapitates a demon by throwing a metal grate at it, and slices another in half to create an upward blood fountain, always escaping the blood spurts after killing someone. Ultimate gore!

The Shining (1980)

In The Shining Wendy sees blood rushing out of elevator doors which sloshes down the hallway. What puts this scene onto our list is the sheer amount of blood on display! It is a sea of blood. It flows like a river and encapsulates the viewer. It’s pretty shocking for a film of its time, and a timeless classic to this day. Not to mention the rest of the films climatic expertise and creepiness.

Blade (1998)

Perhaps one of the most creative uses of blood is seen in Blade. Picture the scene ““ clubbers dancing away at a night club, when blood starts spraying out of the fire sprinklers all over the patrons below. To your typical clubber, it’s pretty sick. However, naturally there are some vampires in the club, who are thrown into ecstasy, and start to gyrate with each other under the slick red rain. Enter Blade, who proceeds to kill the instantly identifiable vampires by shooting and stabbing them. Lots and lots of blood, in a contemporary setting, what more could a horror fan want?

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

In A Nightmare on Elm Street we witness an unbelievable amount of blood in a very familiar place- one’s bed. Dragged into the middle of his bed by the infamous Freddy, Glenn is literally sucked into the underworld. Following his being dragged down into the depths, copious amounts of blood then spray aggressively onto the ceiling. The Blood shoots out of it like a geyser, or a high powered pressure washer. It’s all pretty surreal and strangely amusing to watch. His screaming mother only adds to the dark humour.

Kill Bill (2003)

When one thinks of bloody films, of course Kill Bill comes to mind. Specifically the scenes from The Bride where “˜88′ crazy suited men try to kill her, but get a little more than they have bargained for. And the highlight of this bloody battle? When The Bride kills one of the 88′s by pulling his eye out completely. She also does a break dance move and cuts the shins, ankles, and legs of the 88′s, spraying their blood everywhere. That girl can move, and it is mesmerising yet stimulating to watch!

Saw (2004)

Another high contender in the gore stakes is the Saw collection. In one particular scene in the first Saw, Amanda’s head is in a reverse bear trap. There is a key to unlock it, but it’s buried in the guts of her seemingly dead roommate. In true Saw fashion, Amanda is expected to use a knife to retrieve the key from his stomach. The next few minutes see her riffling through his liver, intestine and other organs. As one can imagine, this is quite a messy job and she ends up covered in his blood and guts. Several points for creativity!

Scream (1996)

No horror movie list would be complete without reference to the ultimate classic, Scream. Let’s take the Casey Becker scene. She is running from the killer and, well, she doesn’t get very far. He stabs her in the chest, slits her throat, and then continues to stab away until she couldn’t be any deader, and his knife couldn’t be any redder. He kills her brutally with a kitchen knife! Lovely and lots of blood for good measure too.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Final Destination 2- or actually any of the Final Destination collection- wins where gore is concerned. In this particular scene we see another incredibly gruesome and original death take place. A woman is involved in a car accident that causes a piece of pipe to break in her car. Whilst fire fighters use machinery to free her from the mangled car, the airbag goes off and the back of her head is thrown onto the broken pipe. Her death is unexpected and sudden, leaving her with a pipe coming out her forehead, with brain matter and a pool of blood streaming down her face.

Hannibal (2001)

Another master of creativity would be Mr. Hannibal Lecter. Remember the scene where he tied up Detective Pazzi with duct tape in Hannibal? Having secured one end of a rope round the detective and the other around a separate chair, he sliced his abdomen and threw him off a balcony. The rope around the chair stopped Pazzi mid fall, but not his guts. These kept falling, out through the hole in his stomach, and spilled onto the ground below as the force of gravity took its toll. What an ingenious, blood-thirsty, gory way to kill.

Carrie (1976)

Carrie takes blood to the high school movie. A geek that falls victim of the bitchy girls at school thinks she has finally overcome it all when she wins the coveted title of prom queen. Unfortunately for her, some of her tormentors manage to tip a bucket of pigs over her whilst on stage, in front of the entire student body. The neat thing about this scene is the realism, the fact that it could actually happen. As Carrie stands dripping in blood, the scene is compounded by the awkward silence that follows and the true horror of her situation comes to light.

Blood: The Last Vampire is out on Blu-ray and DVD November 2

http://www.bloodthelastvampire.co.uk/