You can be part of the on-line terror starting Friday.
GROUPCHAT, which we first told you about here, will debut on the Found streaming service October 2. A Blu-ray will be released later this year. Written and directed by Dan Brownlie, it stars Marcel Jortzik, Amy Tara (1st photo below), Toby Wynn-Davies, Georgie Rodgers, James Grimm and Debbie Rochon (2nd photo below); Rebecca Wheeler (KILL YOUR LOVER) created the makeup effects. The synopsis: “After months of absence, Games Master Dean [Jortzik] is back with an exciting new online campaign, packed with unexpected twists, thrilling adventures, and a few special elements designed to make the gameplay even more immersive. Joining him for the journey are his regular crew: Rob [Grimm], playing Poxxus the Vile, Marcus [Wynn-Davies], playing Thorthog the Mad, a half-orc, and Laurie [Rodgers], playing Deloris Ironjaw, the seasoned adventurer. However, Dean’s usual right-hand man can’t make it this time, so a last-minute stand-in joins the group: Cassie [Tara], who plays Belualith the Conjurer.
“Although Cassie is new to the game, she brings a deep understanding of witchcraft as a practicing witch. As the game begins and the dice start to roll, things quickly take an unexpected turn. Dean, whose behavior seems off-kilter, reveals that his absence was due to the grief over losing his father. While the others chalk it up to his mourning, Cassie senses there may be something more sinister at play. As spells are cast and the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur, what started as a fun escape from grief and a chance to reconnect with friends spirals into a deadly struggle for survival.”
“This was a very personal piece,” Brownlie says. “Much like the character in the film, the script was written as a way to deal with my own father’s passing. But that was just the kickoff point. I wanted to tackle racism, gender politics, partner violence, misogyny and a culture of on-line predators and sexual violence. But I did not want it to be overt. The themes are there, and they are easy to see, but it is all guised in a game of mythic horror and subterfuge. This way, the film can be seen as a fun screenlife horror but can also be easily read with its many underlying themes as I used many metaphors and horror-based situations to explore themes that I feel passionate about tackling.
“Shot in three days, with five cameras filming five different actors simultaneously, GROUPCHAT was as challenging as it was rewarding,” he continues. “Each take was exactly the length of each act and the turnarounds were only possible with such an amazing cast and crew. The schedule was so tight that I didn’t have time to get out of costume, so had to direct the last act of the film in full on zombie makeup. I walked outside in the garden to greet the new set of actors and one of them turned around and shrieked when she saw me. We had a mortician on video call to approve the makeup during the process, so it was good to see it was so effective on an unsuspecting person.”
