Lovecraft, – Matthew Cooper Director

28 October 202228 October 2022

When The Earth Gives Up The Dead – YouTube release…

They’re here!

That’s right, my new film ‘When The Earth Gives Up The Dead‘ has landed. The last film in the loose ‘Sekurig’ series of horror films based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Not only has the film landed – its free to view on Halloween 2022.

So now, you can enjoy all three films in the Sekurig Trilogy free of charge:

When The Earth Gives Up The Dead

At The Mountains of Madness

Markham

At The Mountains of Madness – film version

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020 and the first part of a trilogy of horror films based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft – called the ‘Sekurig trilogy’ , his second feature film as director (and second in the trilogy) ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021, and the final film in ‘When The Earth Gives Up The Dead’ was released on Halloween 2022 – you can watch all three films for free on Mat’s YouTube Channel.

11 June 202211 June 2022

Is there a film version of ‘At The Mountains of Madness?’ – YES and you can buy it here!

‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ is horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous and chilling story – and when it comes to chilling and unknowable horror – Lovecraft is one of the genre’s masters. Has the story ever been made into a film? Yes, it has.

Lots and lots of filmmakers have attempted to change the story into a film, including James Cameron and more recently Guillermo del Toro who tried to get NetFlix to finance a version featuring Tom Cruise. But neither Del Torro or Cameron could get the film finance together and both of their versions of the famous story withered on the filmmaking vine.

The only version of the film that made it to production is a low budget, arty black and white indie horror directed by Matthew Cooper (your’s truly) and starring Tony Coughlan, Ashe Russell and Gary Geeson.

At The Mountain of Madness – feature film

The film was made in 2020/21 during the height of the Covid Pandemic, on a budget below £10,000 and was mostly shot in and around Yorkshire in the UK – although you wouldn’t be able to tell from the snowy wastelands on screen.

You can also buy At the Mountains of Madness on VOD here or for the DVD click here.

The same team of filmmakers made Markham which was released in 2020 and are currently in post production on When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) both of which are also inspired by H.P. Lovecraft stories.

All three films are great additions to the Lovecraft cannon – and no matter what you make of the low budget version of ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ – at least these filmmakers made it – which is a step further than Del Toro or Cameron ever managed.

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

27 May 2022

The Making of the Sekurig Trilogy – check out the new documentary

Hey – this short documentary is worth watching – about the making of the ‘Sekurig’ trilogy – ‘ Markham’ ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ and ‘When the Earth Gives Up The Dead’ – which will be out very soon (keep checking back).

The documentary features yours truly – and shows some funny behind the scenes footage on set during the making of these films.

Keeping checking back for more exciting updates…

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

18 May 202218 May 2022

When The Earth Gives Up The Dead – Poster drops

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) is crawling from the very gates of hell (well post production) towards its release – the film should be completed by the end of July (or maybe before).

Audiences will need to fasten their seat belts as it’s already being describes as an ‘Evil Dead’ style horror comedy with style, blood and gore to spare.

Keep checking back for more info…

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. Matthew is also a judge in the Page Turner Awards 2022.

8 March 2022

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – Principle Photography has WRAPPED

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) is a wrap – the live action sequences at least are now in the bag – this, the third film in my Lovecraft Trilogy (which includes ‘Markham’ and ‘At the Mountains of Madness’) is now moving into a heavy post production phase that will include loads of exciting SFX sequences as well as some knock-out old school Stop Motion animation provided by the Warehouse Transmedia Wrecking Crew.

Below are a few behind the scenes shots from our last day of shooting.

Behind the scenes on ‘When The Earth Gives Up The Dead’ Directed by Matthew Cooper

Keeping checking back for more exciting updates.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

15 January 2022

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – preview images drop

Hey hey, as regular readers will know I’m busy as a bee at the moment shooting When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) which is my third film as a director and the final part of our low budget Lovecraft trilogy, which I started filming all the way back in 2019.

This, the final film of the three is going to be a bit of a surprise to some with much more action, and even a touch more humour than ‘Markham’ and ‘At The Mountains of Madness’.

This film, had the biggest budget of three films we’ve made, and the longest shooting schedule. Remember you can still purchase ‘Markham’ or ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ on DVD click here.

The shoot continues into the spring – and all being well When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) will be out sometime in the late summer of 2022.

For now, here’s a few images from the film – which stars Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell.

Keep checking back for more info…

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

31 July 202131 July 2021

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) – Horror Feature film – Buy on DVD or VOD

‘At the Mountains of Madness’ is one of horror author H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous tales of terror. It was said to be one of the great un-filmable novels. Well, not anymore…

In 2021 scriptwriter and director Matthew Cooper, released his take on the tale of terror and madness.

Finally, somebody had managed to film ‘At The Mountains of Madness’

Watch ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (2021)

You can watch the film now on VOD below or buy the DVD on the director’s website.

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) from Matthew Cooper on Vimeo.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ will be released in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

15 July 2021

Pre-order ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (2021) RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

When super talented Hollywood big shot, Guillermo del Toro put together the proposal to film his long cherished ‘dream project’ – an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ – the budget was over $100 million dollars. With the kind of budget, you’re nearly talking serious money.

Unfortunately for Guillermo, the studio bean counters thought 100 mill was way too rich for their blood, and his project remains unmade.

When me and my team decided to film an adaptation of ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ our budget was below £2,000. That’s probably not enough to cover the biscuit bill for a Hollywood production, but, myself and a select few dedicated actors and technicians completed our version of Lovecraft’s’ story in Feb this year (it was even shot during lockdown 2).

Pre-Order At The Mountains of Madness

You can now pre-order the low budget horror feature ‘At The Mountains of Madness‘ on Vimeo. It’s out for all to see on 28 July.

The DVD will be available soon for fans of physical media.

You can pre-order on Vimeo below:

Watch At The Mountains of Madness (2021) Online | Vimeo On Demand on Vimeo

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. His short film script ‘Family Style’ won the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Script Writing Challenge in the UK in 1993. The film was commissioned by Channel Four and starred a then unknown actor called Ewan McGregor.

Matthew went onto write award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Eastenders (where he wrote the episode where ‘Alfie’ told ‘Kat’ he loved her for the first time). Matthew has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a scriptwriter.

In 2020, Matthews’s first film as a director, the low budget rubber reality horror film ‘Markham’ was released. The innovative independent production was nearly two years in the making, shot partially on Super 8mm film, and was almost entirely improvised by the actors.

You can find out more about Matthew’s work on his website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram too.

https://www.instagram.com/matcoop23/

Tweets by Matcooper

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1247639/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

http://www.matcoop.co.uk/

21 March 202123 March 2021

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) Rough cut completed

My second feature film as a director – the micro budget Lovecraft themed ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ had its first rough cut completed this week, and has been sent off to the composer to start work on the score.

A few clients in my day to day work as a UK script consultant, have asked how we could have possibly shot a feature film (on any budget) during the last 12 months – most of which were spent in Lockdown in the UK, due to the pandemic.

The answer is, it wasn’t easy. But, making a feature film never is, and it often feels like trying to walk a very strong dog, which has ideas of where he wants to go. You try and pull the leash, but a lot of time, the dogs superior strength means it gets to go exactly where he decides, however hard you pull.

‘At the Mountains of Madness’ is due for release later this year. I’m very pleased with the film and especially pleased with the effects work, nearly every shot in the film has had something done to it from a special effects POV, but it has retained its naturalistic black and white look, which at times was hard to do.

Keep checking back, as I intend to reveal more about the making of the film as we approach the release date.

As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.

Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

25 January 202121 March 2021

Buy Markham – Low budget Horror Film shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove

My low budget horror feature film ‘Markham’ shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove and on set in Leeds is getting a lot of local interest in the lovely, picturesque areas it was shot.

Markham was almost entirely improvised with the actors, inspired some great locations in Staithes and the surrounding area, it’s based loosely on the short story ‘Shadow Over Innsmouth’ by H.P. Lovecraft.

Markham was shot in 2019 and 2020 on a low budget, and was initially released in 2020, it’s available to buy here, just click add to basked and we’ll get one in the post.

The film has had pretty decent reviews – like the one here by David Dent a prominent horror reviewer (scroll down the pages to the section on ‘Markham’).

There are a couple of different trailers and images below showing some of the local area used in the film.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire, UK Script editor and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. His UK script coverage service, Script reading service and script development service are highly sought after.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can contact Matthew directly to purchase his ebook The UK Soap Opera Script Writers Handbook.