EVER since he watched An American Werewolf In London at the tender age of six, Adam Mawson has wanted to make a werewolf film.
While his friends watched cartoons, young Adam – who was born in Bradford – was marvelling at Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning man-into-hell hound special effects and begging his dad for a go on the family video camera so he could make his own scary movies.
It helped to have a video store a couple of doors down from the family fish-and-chip shop, and a few years after his first encounter with the cinematic supernatural he was catching up on the blood ‘n’ guts back catalogue of directors like Wes (Nightmare in Elm Street) Craven and John (Twilight Zone) Landis.
“Of course, it couldn’t happen now,” he chuckles, “but back then my mum used to write a note to the shopkeeper with all the titles of the films I wanted to rent saying I had her permission to watch them. I used to trot along to the video store and come back with a pile of movies to watch.”
As he grew older, Adam’s tastes expanded to include sci-fi and thrillers: “I’m a total film geek. I love sci-fi, comedy and horror – anything that’s well made and has a good story.”
Bitten by the film bug at such a young age, he used his summer holidays to make his own films with help from friends and family. As well as the fundamentals of editing, he learned how to create digital special effects using his own computer. It was inevitable that as he grew older – and more ambitious – he would make his own indie movies.
The first, Abduction, a science fiction story about the mysterious disappearance of children in Baildon, came after a guest speaker at the Bradford film summit in 2015 told the audience it was impossible nowadays to make a film with no help or support.
“So I set out to prove them wrong,” says Adam, 47. “Abduction literally had no budget. I used my friends, and even my own wife, for the cast and whatever I could lay my hands on.”
Abduction proved to be something of a cult hit. So much so, that it was snapped up for Amazon Prime video and was awarded “Best Science Fiction Film” at the Los Angeles Motion Picture Film Festival.
Abduction was followed by ’13’ a horror short, which was also very well received and scooped several awards, including one for best director.
Now Adam is putting the finishing touches to The Moors – his biggest project to date and something of a bucket list moment because the story is about a werewolf.
“I’ve always wanted to make a werewolf movie, so this is the culmination of a life-long dream,” he says. “It’s got the biggest budget, the best cast, and the best effects of anything I’ve done so far.”
Set in Baildon – and using Adam’s house as a standing set – The Moors is a horror story with darkly comic moments about a werewolf that takes a dim view of anyone fly-tipping on Baildon Moor. Even failing to clean up after your pet dog is liable to see you as the main course on the werewolf’s menu.
Watch The Moors trailer at youtube.com/watch?v=HMtBMfWGWUc
Adam is justifiably proud of the professional cast – including Emmerdale star Adam Probets and Coronation Street actor Danny Cunningham – he’s put together.
Just like American Werewolf, the film uses mainly practical effects and the werewolf has been built by Darren Grassby, whose credits include Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Under The Skin, which starred Scarlet Johansson as an alien.
Although the creature is strictly under wraps, Adam hints: “Our werewolf isn’t on all fours like American Werewolf. It stands seven feet tall and is terrifyingly huge. The audience gets to see it, but not too soon. If American Werewolf has a flaw, I felt John Landis showed too much of his werewolf too early; in The Moors I want to build tension, just like Spielberg did in Jaws. It makes the big reveal all the more terrifying.”
The film’s score has been written by Adamo Di Giorgio, who worked on Black Box and Fort Salem, although the end credits song will be provided by Into The Mystic, the band which includes his son Harvey.
The Moors will have its world premiere at the Cubby Broccoli cinema, in Bradford, next month and Adam is planning to enter it in several film festival competitions. A blu-ray release is planned and the film should make it to a streaming platform – most probably Amazon Prime – next year.
“It’s the best thing I’ve done,” says Adam. “Anyone who loves American Werewolf and other classic monster movies, should get a kick out of this.”
It certainly looks set fair to be a howling success.
