Steven Sheil
@scsheil.bsky.social
Screenwriter and director: 'Mum & Dad', 'Dead Mine'. Writer of dark fiction. Co-Director of Mayhem Film Festival @mayhemfilmfestival.bsky.social. Nottingham, UK. https://linktr.ee/StevenSheil
Reposted by Steven Sheil
Yes.. I have an early trauma story of being taken in to “On Her majesty’s Secret Service” 15 minutes before the end. Despite protestation my Grandma insisted and I then I had to sit through the film knowing what the ending was going to be and what would happen to Diana Rigg.
November 26, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Yes.. I have an early trauma story of being taken in to “On Her majesty’s Secret Service” 15 minutes before the end. Despite protestation my Grandma insisted and I then I had to sit through the film knowing what the ending was going to be and what would happen to Diana Rigg.
There'll be an article in The Guardian about her by the end of the day.
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
There'll be an article in The Guardian about her by the end of the day.
She doesn't ever identify it further. The book was published in 1953, so I'm guessing something early 50s, maybe colonial-themed?
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
She doesn't ever identify it further. The book was published in 1953, so I'm guessing something early 50s, maybe colonial-themed?
Now wondering if The Fuckboat is a direct sequel to this
November 26, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Now wondering if The Fuckboat is a direct sequel to this
I read an Elizabeth Taylor (the novelist) book recently, written in the 50s and it had a passage about cinema-going which talks about 'seeing it round'.
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I read an Elizabeth Taylor (the novelist) book recently, written in the 50s and it had a passage about cinema-going which talks about 'seeing it round'.
I slightly bristled at 'slapdash' and the diss of the acting, but otherwise yeah, happy to be a schlockmeister.
November 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I slightly bristled at 'slapdash' and the diss of the acting, but otherwise yeah, happy to be a schlockmeister.
It's available on Amazon and iTunes in the UK and used to be in the US, but not sure if that's the case anymore. If not, I think your only option is to pick up a DVD. Or worth scouting on YouTube - a few people have pirated it over the years.
November 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
It's available on Amazon and iTunes in the UK and used to be in the US, but not sure if that's the case anymore. If not, I think your only option is to pick up a DVD. Or worth scouting on YouTube - a few people have pirated it over the years.
And yeah, it may not look perfect, but we sell it enough in the film for it to work and it was cheap as chips. Also it meant that Mark got is face in the Daily Express, who were 'outraged' about the film.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
And yeah, it may not look perfect, but we sell it enough in the film for it to work and it was cheap as chips. Also it meant that Mark got is face in the Daily Express, who were 'outraged' about the film.
There was a scene where the lead character kisses a severed head (my friend Mark) and i got a quote for £10k for a realistic one. So instead of her picking up the head I got another character to force her down to kiss it on a table, where Mark's head was stuck through a hole, dressed with gore.
November 26, 2025 at 11:25 AM
There was a scene where the lead character kisses a severed head (my friend Mark) and i got a quote for £10k for a realistic one. So instead of her picking up the head I got another character to force her down to kiss it on a table, where Mark's head was stuck through a hole, dressed with gore.
Worth noting that I knew the exact budget while I was writing the film - it was through Film London's Microwave scheme which capped budgets at 100K - which meant I had to think through every horror set-piece at script stage and make sure I knew a way to do it cheaply.
November 26, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Worth noting that I knew the exact budget while I was writing the film - it was through Film London's Microwave scheme which capped budgets at 100K - which meant I had to think through every horror set-piece at script stage and make sure I knew a way to do it cheaply.
It was like a crash-course in practical film-making problem-solving and I loved it.
November 26, 2025 at 11:06 AM
It was like a crash-course in practical film-making problem-solving and I loved it.
We planned to shoot for 18 days, then lost a day due to a cast illness, and had to make it up; we lost a location the night before shooting and had to improvise a new one overnight; we shot in a field next to Heathrow where the farmer refused to move the horses out, so I had to shoo them pre-take.
November 26, 2025 at 11:05 AM
We planned to shoot for 18 days, then lost a day due to a cast illness, and had to make it up; we lost a location the night before shooting and had to improvise a new one overnight; we shot in a field next to Heathrow where the farmer refused to move the horses out, so I had to shoo them pre-take.
I always saw the low budget as an interesting challenge rather than a restriction - we made the film for £100,000 - & loved that it demanded that I think through every single detail of shooting it. It really forced me to use my brain every single minute of every single day - exhausting but rewarding
November 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I always saw the low budget as an interesting challenge rather than a restriction - we made the film for £100,000 - & loved that it demanded that I think through every single detail of shooting it. It really forced me to use my brain every single minute of every single day - exhausting but rewarding
We shot Mum & Dad in real houses - 3 different houses make up the actual story house - which restricted our camera movements and lighting, and meant we had to be really inventive in terms of staging and blocking. But that gave us a sense of lived-in-ness that you don't get otherwise.
November 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
We shot Mum & Dad in real houses - 3 different houses make up the actual story house - which restricted our camera movements and lighting, and meant we had to be really inventive in terms of staging and blocking. But that gave us a sense of lived-in-ness that you don't get otherwise.
It's interesting, because one of the areas of influence for the film was low-budget 70s Brit horror - films like Frightmare and The Fiend - which appealed to me precisely because you could feel the constraints on them. They felt more 'real' than bigger budget stuff.
November 26, 2025 at 10:53 AM
It's interesting, because one of the areas of influence for the film was low-budget 70s Brit horror - films like Frightmare and The Fiend - which appealed to me precisely because you could feel the constraints on them. They felt more 'real' than bigger budget stuff.
Is that on his Vimeo channel?
November 22, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Is that on his Vimeo channel?
Had a great time with The Saddest Music In The World, and am now moving on to the extras on the disc
November 22, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Had a great time with The Saddest Music In The World, and am now moving on to the extras on the disc
A great slice of Guy Maddin weirdness - a mostly black and white stylised drama of revenge, ambition, and grief set in an imagined Winnipeg of the Great Depression, with lots of songs and Isabella Rossellini as a legless beer tycoon.
November 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
A great slice of Guy Maddin weirdness - a mostly black and white stylised drama of revenge, ambition, and grief set in an imagined Winnipeg of the Great Depression, with lots of songs and Isabella Rossellini as a legless beer tycoon.
Have reached the point of Isabella Rosselini's glass beer legs
November 22, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Have reached the point of Isabella Rosselini's glass beer legs