Ghost Science

Spooky Castle is a new film project being shot in the New Forest in England revolving around the adventures of a team of supernatural investigators. The filmmakers hope to make Spooky Castle, which is based on the computer game of the same name (inset), by Hamumu.com into a series. So far far a trailer and an initial short episode called The Black Crow of Narth have been completed.

Spooky Castle by Hamumu.com

Written by Giles Milner and Rob King the short episode was written as a back story to a full length pilot Giles wrote but felt that without sufficient funding a lengthy film requiring several locations would be compromised by not having a budget. The Black Crow of Narth was made with no budget and the CGI effects were created by David Broomfield, who also shot The Black Crow of Narth using a single camera over just two days.

Both Giles and Rob were members of the local amateur dramatics group, The New Forest Players as children and Giles cast other members of the Players, Tina Archer and Mat Walker along with local martial arts teachers and actors Leo Rand and Graham Moughton with Giles and Rob taking on the final two roles. One of the main aims of the project is to draw from the rich history of the forest and surrounding Hampshire for inspiration for Spooky Castle in addition to the computer game, much of which is set in a forest.

The Black Crow of Narth shows a confrontation between the crow, which was based on a story told to Giles at university by fellow student Oliver Davies. Giles designed the costume around a traditional mummer’s outfit of rags and the zombie’s from the original computer game. In a dark forest Guy, Pete and Bouapha confront the crow with tragic consequences setting the scene for a series Giles and Rob are currently writing.

Giles said: “I’m very pleased with what we’ve managed to achieve with such a small team and no budget. We’re now looking for funding to make a full length pilot episode to present to production companies.We want to show off more of the Forest and rural Hampshire with Spooky Castle in the future, we have an amazing area steeped in folklore and myth that is perfect for more stories that work well with the ideas and adventures from the game.”

To take a look at the trailer and short episode check out the website at spookycastle.moonfruit.com