*** Please be advised that when checking out, any ‘tips’, which are added by default, go to Indiegogo rather than to supporting the film. You can remove these by selecting ‘other amount’ and writing in zero. ***

I’m Stuart Ashen and HOLY S*£@ do I have a story to tell!

In case you aren’t aware, we hit our goal, so we’re making a movie! We couldn’t be more excited to get started. So what’s this site all about? Our budget is still small for a full scale feature film, and we have lots of big ideas we’d love to make happen. If you’re still interested in making a pledge, missed out on a perk or just want to grab another item, this is the place you can do it. 

Barshens

We can also confirm we passed a stretch goal meaning we’ll be making a new limited-run series of Barshens in support of Turn Back! At least 3 episodes will be free on YouTube, however there is an an add-on perk available here for 2 exclusive extra episodes, as well as one that includes a set of nifty Barshens merchandise as well: official replica patches, stickers and a funky enamel pin. Simply select any reward to see the add-ons.

Here’s further information on the film and what we’re doing, if you haven’t heard about it yet:

As many of you know, I’ve been obsessed with horror films for well over 20 years. I’ve dreamt of making one myself, but only when I was sure we had a jaw-droppingly great idea that will blow your eyebrows off. I love this genre too much to just film something full of cheap jump scares.

Friends, I am here to tell you that I have found that idea.

And… there’s one more thing. We’re going to do it all backwards. Oh yes, we’re doing a reverse chronology film. It is going to be mind-meltingly fantastic.

So what’s it all about? Well, I’m based here in Norwich in the East of England, and part of our local folklore is the infamous “Black Shuck’. It’s an archetypal demon story with a deep mythology, and with a personal connection to me – perfect to base our horror plot around. The legend goes that Black Shuck is a huge ghostly demonic hound that roams the east anglian countryside, and laying eyes on it can be an omen of impending death. If you hear its howl, whatever you do, close your eyes. 

The myth dates all the way back to the 12th century and I want to bring it up to date, and bring Black Shuck into the modern world. 

And as I said, we’re going to do it all in reverse! The first scene in the film will be the last scene in the narrative and so on, in a similar way to films like Memento or 500 Days of Summer. But trust me, you won’t ever have seen it quite like this. This will not be a gimmick, it is fundamental to the story. Our hope is that once you get to the end, it’s the kind of film you’ll be thinking about for days afterwards and want to watch again. I’m seriously so excited about it.

The film will draw inspiration from the best of classic and modern horror,  such as The Wicker Man, An American Werewolf in London and Get Out. And whilst it’s not a comedy, there will certainly be some funny moments too.

Now, I know scary movies are not for everyone, but it won’t have graphic violence just for the sake of it. It’s a properly thought through story that we think will appeal to most of you. Put simply, if you’re not sure about the genre but like my YouTube channel, or our other work in the past, we think you’ll like this and really hope you’ll give it a go.

Whenever we make a film we start from a place of trying to be as ambitious as possible, and this time we are are daring to dream even bigger. While we released our first two films ourselves, we are hoping that Turn Back can reach a truly mainstream audience, and to that end intend to go down the film festival route and try to find a traditional distribution partner. It’s a big, exciting, scary journey and we want you to be there with us every step of the way.

To that end, we have had preliminary discussions with some rather exciting names to appear in it, but obviously can’t lock anything in yet until we know if the crowdfunding is a success and it’s going to happen! But we are hoping that the film will include people that you will have heard of, is what we’re saying. And we can reveal that we’ve already secured two of the greatest actors of their generation to join the cast: Daniel Hardcastle and Stuart Ashen!

But what about Eli Silverman and Yiannis Vassilakis, I hear you cry? Don’t worry, they’ll be in it too.

This isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to make two successful films, GameChild and Polybius Heist already. GameChild was watched over 1.5 million times online, while Polybius holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, premiered in Odeon Leicester Square and topped the digital charts throughout its first week of release. It was even featured on BBC News! We’re therefore obviously delighted that much of the same crew have signed up to be part of Turn Back as well.

Director extraordinaire Riyad Barmania will be returning once again to helm and co-write it with me. Six years ago we tested the waters of horror in preparation, making a short film called Another Game. We wanted to see if we could nail a creepy atmosphere without relying on dialogue. It was selected for a shedload of festivals and won a bunch of awards, culminating with Riyad winning Best Director at the British Horror Awards. We considered that a pretty successful test!

Linton Davies will be back to produce with us and create editing magic out of breadcrumbs, and Christian Mario Lohr will be our Director of Photography as on Polybius Heist. We also have strong relationships with Post Houses like Harbor and Splice so you can be sure everything will look and sound amazing. It’s a really experienced team that has grown together over the years and is ready to take another big leap forward. I’m still not sure why they keep coming back for my crazy ideas to be honest.

Fear not, we haven’t just worked out our budget on the back of a napkin, it has been created by professionals who make hellishly complicated spreadsheets for a living. This is where the pledges will go:

What if we pass the minimum target, I hear you ask? WE WILL MAKE IT RAIN. Rain improvements in every single area of the film! More shooting days, more crew, more locations, the list is endless. Truly, every single extra pound or pledge will result in a visible improvement on screen.

Most importantly, the vast, vast majority of the money from perks goes into making the film. We’re not here to sell t-shirts, we’re here to fund cinematic joy. So most of what you are pledging for is to help make this thing exist. However, we’ve been working hard for the past few months to develop what we think are some properly cool perks to help sweeten the deal.

Our Disc + Collectables option includes some really nice extra bits on top of the signed dvd/blu-ray: an exclusive art print by Rebecca Maughan, a set of pin badges and a replica prop from the actual movie. Ooooh!

We are especially proud of our new Retro Movie Collection. This includes both a brand new spooky edition of our Ashens and Nerd³ Action Figures, and our new VHS style movie boxset. In gorgeous retro packaging, this will include DVD/Blu-Rays of GameChild, Polybius and Turn Back in their regular formats and in authentic reverse-processed analogue tape versions with a bunch of special surprises alongside. (To be clear, this is not an actual VHS tape – do not try and jam it into your old VCR!). These things are stupidly expensive to make, hence why we had to package them together, but we just couldn’t resist, I mean how cool is this?!:

As this is a movie bundle we’re throwing in a bunch of film related add-ons too: the Anti-Snyder Cut Extended Edition of Polybius Heist (A comically overlong version of the film that includes every scene we shot, pacing be damned), our feature length Fly on the Wall documentary and our award winning short film Another Game. Overall it should be around twelve hours of material. Woof.

We’ve also got a way to appear in the credits or attend a test screening, where you’ll spend an evening chatting with us and helping make the film better (this is a very important role!) and a few pieces left of the infamous brown sofa (framed with certificate of authenticity).

This is the bit where we ask for money.

As you know, making movies is an expensive business. Smaller projects like this just don’t happen unless you make them happen. I’ve been so lucky to have such a supportive audience over the years, and cannot thank you enough for continuing to put your faith in me and this team. This is our biggest and boldest project to date, and I’m excited and nervous as hell about it. So please, if you can, pledge some money, pick out a perk. Tell your friends about the movie. Join us and help make something amazing.