STACK #141 Jul 2016

DVD & BD FEATURE

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• Definitely The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – the original, which is arguably the greatest horror film ever made. top five flicks for the ultimate horror film festival Cameron Cairnes’

Having established themselves with homegrown horror- comedy 100 Bloody Acres , Melbourne siblings Colin and Cameron Cairnes send realityTV to hell in their new feature, Scare Campaign . STACK spoke with Cameron about their hidden camera horror show. Words Scott Hocking W inner of Best Film

decommissioned Mayday Hills Asylum in historic Beechworth, which also offered regular ghost tours of the premises. “I didn’t personally see any ghosts,” notes Cameron. “I was really open to the idea of meeting some, but unfortunately none crossed my path.”

• I would also include The Fly (1986). It borders on sci-fi but I think of it as a horror film.

and Screenplay at last year’s Monster Fest, Scare Campaign is the latest addition to the mini-renaissance of locally produced horror films, which continue to gain traction both here and in international markets. It’s also the title of the horror-prank TV series within the film – a show forced to up its game to the next level in order to compete with the sicko online mavericks that are pushing the envelope in terms of bloody realism. It was looking at various prank videos on YouTube that got the Cairnes brothers thinking: What would happen if you pranked the wrong guy? “There was one in particular from Mexico where the victims/stooges enter a gag lift and it breaks down, and then this little ghost girl pops out from behind a false door and scares the crap out of the victims,” recalls Cameron. “We thought what would make an interesting scenario is if one of these victims actually fought back,

Colin and Cameron Cairnes

• Psycho (1960), without a doubt.

or hurt the young girl. That’s kind of where the germ of the idea came from and it developed from there. “Reality TV and this dark online presence – all these awful images coming out of the Middle East – was feeding into it as well, so the script did develop quite organically.“ Armed with an ingenious premise and a low budget, the brothers had to be canny when it came to choosing a location that would best serve Scare Campaign – both the film and the next episode of its fictional series. “We were looking around Victoria and realised there were all these old abandoned lunatic asylums, and we thought that would make the perfect location for a scary movie,” says Cameron. They settled on the

However, he does add that some members of the crew insisted they had felt a presence or witnessed disturbances. “They were generally people in the art department,” he laughs. “They seemed a very suggestible lot.” The lack of paranormal activity notwithstanding, Scare Campaign benefits richly from the asylum’s inherently sinister ethos. “It was very creepy,” Cameron admits. “If you left something behind in one of the wings and had to go back in there with a torch, it wasn’t fun, even for me who doesn’t believe in ghosts. Walking through those corridors is still pretty chilling – there’s a lot of history there and you kind of feel it.” Campaign , which also pranks its audience with more twists and turns than its labyrinthine location. “Being a big devourer of thrillers and horror films, you’re never quite sure whether you’ve pulled it off,” says Cameron. “I can generally pick the twists early on, but that’s the fun to be had – you might get one or two, but not all of them.” And the movie doesn’t skimp on the splatter. “We’re gorehounds at heart, so we know what the Viewers will have a similar experience watching Scare

• A guilty pleasure would be Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), with William Shatner.

DVD & BD

• And you can’t go past a little bit of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) action. You’d play this last when everyone’s left the theatre and only the diehard fans remain.

Having turned humans into fertiliser in 100 Bloody Acres and candid camera TV into a

slaughterhouse in Scare Campaign , Cameron reveals that he and Colin are currently writing their next horror offering, which has an equally killer pitch. “It’s set on a late night talk show during the seventies. A guest appears on the show, who may or may not be possessed, and all hell breaks loose live on air,” he laughs.

We're gorehounds at heart, so we knowwhat the fans want to see

fans want to see,” he adds. “I think you need to have two or three big crowd-pleasing moments in a horror film.”

• Scare Campaign is out on July 6

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