By MICHAEL GINGOLD

A veteran British author of the macabre has imagined this nightmarish project.

Filmmakers Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley (ECHOES OF FEAR, DARK REMAINS) gave RUE MORGUE the exclusive pics and poster seen here for their latest project, PROTOS. The recently completed movie, which Brian describes as “a very different film for us,” was scripted by Brian and Simon Clark, the UK writer whose books include THE NIGHT OF THE TRIFFIDS, VAMPYRRHIC and the BLOOD CRAZY series. Anja Akstin, Fred Thomas Jr., Ricky Herrera, Trista Robinson, Corey Landis and Micheal Ferguson star; the synopsis: “Kyra and John wake in a strange prison… They’re not alone. They discover they are chained and are utterly vulnerable in the presence of nightmarish, prowling figures controlled by unseen captors. Soon, both are plunged into a terrifying and dangerous struggle where they can trust no one, not even their own fragmented memories. Somehow, they must evade the Protos and then escape their cruel master–or risk losing their minds forever.”

“During COVID days, Julian Richards of Jinga Films introduced Lo and I to Simon Clark, who has written over 40 novels,” Brian tells RUE MORGUE. “We Zoomed with Simon, hit it off and he let us read his first script; we immediately saw its potential as a horror/sci-fi film. Over the course of a year, we all collaborated on expanding and refining the story, and we were all excited with how the shooting script ended up. Our producing partner, Mike Sharrak, loved it and felt the same.

“What really drew Lo and I to the story from the get-go,” he continues, “was the element of unreliable and missing memories; if you can’t trust your memories, can you even trust yourself and who you think you are? That makes the main characters’ fight for survival and escape take on an added level, and we were excited to explore that visually. We filmed at a lot of remote exterior locations to capture a bleak, isolated landscape. And after we had hiked in the mountains for an hour and a half carrying gear to reach a few locations, like the massive tunnel, I think we and the actors were definitely embodying that fight for survival. Anja Akstin, who plays Kyra, is a former Marine and her toughness brought a lot to her character–while also making the filming even possible! So logistically, it was a challenging and complicated shoot with a lot of characters and locations, but that keeps the story fresh and unexpected–and puts the audience right with Kyra fighting to unravel the mystery and find out what it all means.”

Says Laurence, who also served as director of photography, “In addition to being science fiction and horror, PROTOS is an original story that’s unpredictable–it’s a mystery that I hope will engage people. It’s visually different with its striking locations, sets and costumes.”

Clark has also written a PROTOS companion novel, which is set for release in October. “I’m very excited about that,” Laurence says. “Simon has expanded the story as only he can with his vivid imagination and his years of writing novels in the horror and science fiction genres. Simon has cracked the story open further by allowing us to peer into the minds of the characters. It’s rare to have a truly complimentary movie and novel that were developed at the same time. That’s something that we’ve never been a part of before.”

Keep your eyes here for updates on the PROTOS feature, and look for more on Clark’s novel very soon!