Wilderness

Synopsis

A group of young offenders are delivered to an island for a week of character building exercises after one of their fellow inmates commits suicide.. It all goes horribly wrong when they realise that there's someone else on the island who has a pack of dogs and a crossbow with which to hunt them down.

Basically it's a slasher movie but it's turned out to be a lot more interesting than that, largely because the performances and characters are quite unusual for this kind of movie. It has a very 'real' feel to it but is still very visceral, pretty horrifying and rather exciting. So with great performances, some terrifically gory set-peices and a nice gritty feel to it all it's turned out like a combination of 'Scum', 'Battle Royale' and, 'Deliverance' with a little 'Lord of the Flies' thrown in for good measure.

Crew List

Directed by	Michael J. Bassett
Writing credits (in alphabetical order)	Dario Poloni
Cast (in credits order)
Richie Campell
Lenora Crichlow
Adam Deacon
Stephen Don	The Hunter
Karly Greene
Toby Kebbell	Callum
Ben McKay	Lindsay
Anthony McKenna	Inmate
Luke Neal	Lewis
Sean Pertwee	Jed
Alex Reid	Louise
Stephen Wight	Steve
Produced by
Bill Allen	executive producer
Robert Bernstein	producer
Emma Hayter	executive producer
Ivan Mactaggart	executive producer
John McDonnell	producer
Douglas Rae	producer
Original Music by	Mark Thomas
Cinematography by	Peter Robertson
Film Editing by	Kate Evans
Casting by	Gail Stevens
Production Design by	Tom McCullagh
Costume Design by	Hazel Webb-Crozier
Makeup Department (special dog effects)	Paul Hyett
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew Hegarty	second assistant director
Sound Department
Nick Adams	supervising sound editor
Tom Dalgety	music scoring mixer
Jörgen Hasselblad	foley artist
Ronan Hill	sound mixer
Ronan Hill	sound recordist
Philip Jenkins	sound mix technician
Lars Klettner	foley editor
Joakim Sundström	supervising dialogue editor
Sven Taits	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Wrightson	adr editor
Alexander Beddow	adr recordist (uncredited)
Stunts
Dominick Hewitt	additional stunt coordinator
Dominick Hewitt	assistant stunt coordinator
Giedrius Nagys	stunt rigger
Donal O'Farrell	stunt coordinator
Other crew
Adam Dale	aerial director of photography
Catherine Geary	location manager
Paul Hyett	special dog effects
Paul Hyman	assistant editor
Jamie Jackson	trainee assistant location manager
Tamsin Jeffrey	assistant editor
Roy McManus	driver: grip truck
Emma McNeill	production secretary
Bradley Miles	music preparation
Emily Ann Sonnet	assistant to producer

Review

'WILDERNESS' begins principal photography in Belfast

17 May 2005

'WILDERNESS', a horror feature film starring Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers, Goal, Event Horizon and Alex Reid (The Honeymooners) has begun principal photography in Northern Ireland .

'WILDERNESS' is directed by Michael Basset and written by Dario Polini. Basset previously wrote and directed the WW11 feature 'DEATHWATCH' starring Jamie Bell and worked as 2nd Unit Director on the 2002 feature 'THE ABDUCTION CLUB'.

The film promises to be a thrilling nail biter following six inmates of a youth detention centre who get sent to a boot camp island to be "taught a tough lesson". There they encounter a mysterious hunter who begins to pick them off with ruthless efficiency. Trapped on the island, the boys soon realise the attacks are not random but motivated by a thirst for revenge. They are forced to confront their crimes in a way they've never done before. Production is scheduled to begin on the 31 May taking in various locations around Belfast and North Antrim . Irish crew involved in the production includes cinematographer Peter Robertson (SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY, INSIDE I'M DANCING, DISCO PIGS) and production designer Tom McCullagh (MICKYBO & ME, THE MIGHTY CELT, PULLING MOVES).

The production team for 'WILDERNESS' is John McDonnell, Ecosse's Robert Bernstein and Douglas Ray. Speaking to IFTN John McDonnell said the NIFTC funding was highly influential in their decision to film in Northern Ireland .

Distribution will be handled by AV Pictures and Momentum Pictures with a view to release in 2006.

For further info go to www.ecossefilms.com