Entertainment

Manchester director uses ‘horrible’ youth nightmare as inspiration for short film

A ‘childhood recurring nightmare’ has inspired a Manchester film director to create his own crowdfunded sci-fi horror.

Paul Wright, 35, from Prestwich, made his first short film at the end of his animation degree, and he and his experienced team are now gearing up for new project Fissure.

And while most try to forget the things that went bump in the dark during childhood years, Paul has used those memories as inspiration for the short.

He told MM: “It’s actually based on a childhood recurring nightmare – which is a little bit weird!

“It was at the end of the road behind my house where I grew up. A portal opened. Naturally fascinated, the people on the street went to look.

“All rather exciting, then these figures emerged draped in black bandages over robes with long hair. If they got someone they would pin them down and transform them into one of them.

“They were slow but people couldn’t get away. Horrible.

“As one got near me I always woke up. But it got me fascinated with other dimensions and multiverses.

“Staying up at night and watching some of the movies on at night –that made me think it’d be a very interesting story to tell.”

Those experiences left him with the idea of making a film about people disappearing into different dimensions.

That led to Fissure, described on Paul’s crowdfunding page as ‘a dark and tense little story exploring the loss of a child, addiction, bereavement and inter-dimensional travel’.

“This idea of missing people, when you hear missing people reports and it’s like they slip through gaps in time, it just interested me,” he said.

“It’s like they’ve fallen into a different dimension and can’t get back – it would actually explain a lot of missing people cases.”

Paul is currently waiting for crowdfunding for Fissure – with equipment, festival submissions and even catering all adding to costs – and also said he has ‘a couple more short films on the cards’.

And he admitted that he’s open to new ideas in the future, even if that means moving away from Manchester.

He said: “It’s great doing this locally, but I’m certainly open to spread my wings and work on movie features, if that’s here or in the states, or wherever the work comes in.”

To help Paul with his crowdfunding, or to find out more about Fissure, click here.

Image courtesy of Paul Wright, via YouTube, with thanks

Related Articles