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Week 2. Ben Wheatley’s Britain

Kill List (2011) Ben Wheatley • Directed by Ben Wheatley • Produced by Claire Jones and Andy Starke • Written by Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley • Cinematography by Laurie Rose • Edited by Robin Hill, Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump • Music by Jim Williams

• The first part of the film portrays the private life of a hitman for hire • Avoiding Hollywood style clichés, it’s a very British character study • Though we are left with no doubt that that Jay and his associates are part of an extremely violent and systematic world of sanctioned murder, we are also invited into his ordinary home life. • Assassins are human too. • An incredibly violent film • It merges together folk horror, kitchen sink drama and gangster style productions effortlessly • Its conclusion is grisly and unrestrained • In some respects, we can also see this as a reflection of ‘Broken Britain’ – the UKs neglect is presented for us on screen • The insecurities of a country and its prevalent selfishness is presented to us writ large • It also presents us with neat/messy morality tale, the incredibly cruel denouement seems to highlight the dangers of violent actions begetting more violence • Despite its bloody violent nature, it could be argued that the film is anti-violent in its intent. Once we have chosen the path of violence then that same (or worse) violence will be visited on ourselves • This is an excellent 21st Century take on the horror film • Though not overtly ‘supernatural’ it’s horror lies within the unknown and the unsaid • Though the film alludes to witchcraft or cult devil worship we are given no clear answers • The questions the film leaves us with create an unsettling atmosphere, it’s a film which certainly crawls under the skin.

A Field in England (2013) Ben Wheatley • Directed by Ben Wheatley • Produced by Clare Jones and Andrew Starke • Written by Amy Jump • Cinematography by Laurie Rose • Edited Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump • Music by Jim Williams

• Wheatley filmed a short documentary about The Sealed Knot • Whilst he was doing this he developed an interest in the Civil War as a background for a story and he also began to explore the use of hallucinogens in the 17th century • He amassed a lot of footage of re-enacted Civil War battles but found he couldn’t use the footage • He then turned his attention to making a costumes drama set against the background of the Civil War, largely due to having the use of a 17th Century film set • Amy Jump and himself began to put together a story based around that setting, however the story was stripped down and down until Wheatley’s input was largely removed and the script became Amy Jump’s • Discarding that setting, the story became one of a group of deserters who stumble into a field whilst a battle rages on behind them • The story then switches from 17th century kitchen sink to trippy, psychedelic visually alerting set piece

‘O'Neil has something of Vincent Price's severity and contempt in Michael Reeves's civil war- set film, Witchfinder General (1968).’ Peter Bradshaw

‘A Field in England claims kinship with the rural horror films that flourished in Britain in the Sixties and Seventies; doomy, sexy frolics with titles like Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan’s Claw.’ Robbie Collin

• Taking place somewhere in the West Country during the civil war. • A group of deserters band together in the hope of finding an alehouse over the next hill • They fall under the control of a necromancer – a practitioner of ‘the forbidden arts’ • Men, already battle scarred, weary and scared • There is a fear of death – coupled with a fear that there is also no God • They are forced to work for the necromancer – who is searching for buried treasure • Their fears and delusions are increased when, starving, they eat suspicious looking mushrooms… • O’Neil – uses Whitehead as a human divining rod • The ‘action’ is played out in a surreal dream-like fashion – unique to Ben Wheatley – as audience members we are never quite sure where the ‘magic’, ‘reality’ or ‘mushroom inspired hallucination’ begin or end.

‘Wheatley's new film is grisly and visceral, an occult, monochrome-psychedelic breakdown’ Peter Bradshaw

‘The central "strobe" scene, as the mushrooms kick in and the party commences, is eyeball- frazzling and cerebellum-sizzling…It is incredible just how freaky black-and-white visuals can be: a shimmering chequerboard anxiety attack. Shearsmith's stunned face, as he looks up at a giant black planet or sun that gradually fills his field of vision, is a picture of denatured rapture, and his performance here is equal to and better than the "gothic" characters he has created on television.’ Peter Bradshaw

• Again, the unsettling feel of the film is wrought from its ambiguity • Is this about magic or witchcraft? • Is this film simply about soldiers who have accidentally ingesting magic mushrooms? • Is this about a group of men who stumble into a fairy ring and get stuck in a distorted sense of time?

‘Wheatley's style is so original—at times almost indescribably so—that its blind alleys and excesses, too-muchness and too-littleness seem of a piece. There's something to be said for a film that plainly could not care less what anyone thinks of it. "A Field in England" is not timid or focus-grouped, and its grimy, gritty, often nasty aspects are part of a tradition that reaches way back to "The Canterbury Tales,” Roger Ebert

‘Some of its finest, and strangest, moments come when the cast freeze in a tableau vivant, invoking Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon…All the details are right: the tranquil faces, the oddly angled limbs, the hands twisted into effete, come-hither poses. Wheatley’s extraordinary film shakes you back and forth with a rare ferocity, but the net result is stillness.’ Robbie Collin The Ghoul (2016) Gareth Tunley • Directed by Gareth Tunley • Producers - Jack Healy Guttman, Tom Meeton and Gareth Tunley • Executive producer – Ben Wheatley • Cinematography by Benjamin Pritchard • Edited by Robin Hill • Music by Waen Shepherd

• A homicide detective goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist he believes is linked to a strange double murder. • As his therapy sessions continue the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur. • Is he detective? Patient? Lover? Friend? • This film twists and turns and at no point does the audience actually feel comfortable in the world we have been placed into • Like the Wheatley directed features it sets us off kilter by displacing any sense of standard or recognizable narrative

• Our idea of who or what the protagonist is constantly challenged • The changes and shifts are so skillfully carried out that we begin to question our own understanding • This is a detective story, psychological thriller, folk horror and mind trip • Like A Field in England, it leaves us with a series of questions, the characters being stuck in weird time loop