BLOG — WARREN DUDLEY / WRITER & FILMMAKER

“If DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE is a Supermarket - think of AN INDIE MOVIE the Artisan Bakers around the corner.”

By Warren Dudley

“OK - if I may wallow in the past for a moment. Many decades ago, my mum and dad took a seven year old me and my sister to see Grease at our local cinema. My lasting memory of the visit was buying a copy of the double album on vinyl from the lady in the foyet who had them spread out on a wooden table. Fast forward a few years and I would have been trying to convince that same l lady that I was eighteen, in a desperate attempt to join my friends watching An American Werewolf in London on Screen Two.

It was a brilliant place, and one that made me fall in love with movies… and in particular, independent horror movies.

That wonderful old cinema, like may others like it, sadly closed in the late 80s.

It became a supermarket… and I became a filmmaker.

So fast forward a few decades this time, and although little indie cinemas are still a thing (just*), they are slowly being swallowed up by huge multiplexes who themselves are basically slaves to $200m, designed by focus groups, superhero movies. It’s bleak.

In fact, two Hollywood directors with a little more clout in the industry than me, have been making pretty depressing statements about the fate of the business of late.

In 2023 Martine Scorsese told MovieGuide, “Well, the industry is over”, with David Cronenberg writing in Screen Daily, “In a sense, for me, cinema is already dead… however, filmmaking is not dead.”

…and Cronenberg is right, it’s not - and there is still a place where interesting and unusual movies can thrive, a place that favours story, vision and creativity over lycra and explosions - and that place, is Indie Film… and you can get involved!

Have you seen my new movie? OH, OK.

So, on to my latest film, Fright, a loving homage to classic horror cinema, that is finally available on Prime Video, and is soon to stream on Tubi, Google Play, and YouTube Movies. After eighteen months of relentless hard work from my small band of incredibly talented creative types, you can stream, rent or buy Fright.

Fright - Official Trailer

Now, you won’t find it at your local muitiplex or IMAX, but you can find it on your TV - right now.

But here’s the thing: I’m not asking you to watch Fright out of some sense of duty or as a favour to me, what I want to do is offer you an alternative perspective from the ‘artisan’ end of the filmmaking community. An amazing community far from the world of vastly overpriced snacks and annoying booking apps.

You see, when you stream an indie film like Fright, you’re not just in for 90 minutes of entertainment. What you’re actually doing is directly and financially supporting independent filmmakers like me, and many others, to keep making interesting, eclectic, and boundary-pushing movies for film fans like you. One thing you’re certainly not doing is lining the pockets of Hollywood millionaires or funding glamorous parties and red-carpet events (though, to be fair, that does sound lovely).

So, in conclusion, I’m turning to you, the movie fan, with this offer…

Every eighteen months or so, I’ll produce you a brand-new movie. All I ask is that you sit back, relax, and enjoy what my amazing team and I have made. In return, we’ll strive to make them great, and I’ll try to keep improving.

How does that sound? Deal?