Howl, a short Psychological thriller film by Jamie Sims, features the story of a Primary school teacher struggling to protect a new pupil from a strange man who lingers at the playground fence.
The film hopes to regenerate interest in the horror/monster genre through combining metaphorical parallels between a common evil within society (child abusers/pedophilia) and a traditional creature of nightmares. Using this, the film explores both adult and child fears.
Jamie Sims, the young man behind Howl, was born on February 14, 1987 in Chertsey, Surrey, England. He is a director and writer, known for Bus Stop (2015) and Toothbrush (2012).
Howl is based on a creative project which received its funding via Kickstarter. It evolved from drawing parallels between a child predator and a natural predator. The way an unwanted stranger may wait for the perfect moment to snatch a child was quickly comparable to the same way an animal may lie in wait for the right time to strike at livestock.
A trend in cinema at the moment is the need to either reboot or reimagine a franchise, or in rare cases an entire genre. In Howl’s team opinion, the werewolf sub-genre has not yet fulfilled its potential in cinema.
By taking this classic horror genre and merging it with the complexities of a drama surrounding child abuse, Mr. Sims and his team feel that this film may be the start of something new.
Howl has been very well-received in independent film festivals in most part because of great acting and its well-constructed slow-burning plot: it won Best Horror/Thriller & Best Screenplay at ScreenTest Festival (2014), Best Student Widescreen Film of the Year by the BKSTS/National Media Museum. (2014), and was nominated for Best Film at Screentest Festival, Learning on Screen Award & FE Award by the BUFVC.
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