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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…

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.

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

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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…

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.

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

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When the Earth Gives up The Dead – coming soon…

I’m currently deep in post production on When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – which will be out later this year… For now, he’s a few taster images from the film (which is the most amazing looking thing I’ve ever worked on)…

Keep checking back for more news…

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

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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.  

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.

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

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When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) – last leg of the shoot commences and STOP MOTION starts in earnest

Shooting the Dead

When the Earth Gives up the Dead (2022) the last part of my low budget Lovecraft trilogy restarts shooting this weekend – with four days on location and two days in a green screen /chroma key studio.

The first portion of the film was shot late last year – with 30 minutes of footage post-produced and in the BAG already, so to speak.

I had to take a break from shooting over Christmas as I landed a huge scriptwriting assignment in my other job as a script writer for hire.  The scriptwriting work looks like it’s all signed off for now (it’s on a £10m fully funded feature to be shot in Ireland). I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the camera and working with the enthusiastic cast again over the coming weeks.

This film, will also feature some actually bona fide Stop Motion animation in a tribute to the late great Ray Harryhausen.

I’ll be hands on with stop motion myself and I’ve built a little scale-set up in my studio. That means post production on the film will be an extended process as we work literally hands-on to get the special effects right.

Keep checking back, in the coming weeks I’ll update the blog to let readers know how the shoot and SFX process is getting along.

Stop motion

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.

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

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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…

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.

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

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Shooting now on When The Earth Gives Up The Dead…

When The Earth Gives Up The Dead (2022) the latest feature film from Matthew Cooper Director is currently shooting.

The film will be the third in a low budget horror trilogy based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft.

As you can see from the photos we’re having a BLOODY good time making this one.

As a director Matthew Cooper likes to run a efficient, creative and fun set, and these days we keep an eye on our carbon footprint when shooting too, and look to minimise pollution and waste too.

The film is due for release summer 2022 – keep checking back for more info…

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.

Matthew is also a director of feature films including the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ which was released in 2020. Matthew’s second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ was released in July 2021.

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

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Dark Eyes of London put their focus on Matthew Cooper director

David Dent is a horror and fantasy films critic who has set himself an incredible task of cataloguing every British fantasy film from 2020 onwards across on his blog Dark Eyes of London.

While doing this, David came across my feature debut as a director Markham (2020), which he was enthusiastic about.  He then followed this up with some very kind words about my second film At the Mountains of Madness (2021).

David has been so supportive that when he launched his Dark Eyes of London fanzine in print, he feature both films in the first issue, and myself and the team are really honoured to feature in the fanzine – because apart from anything, the magazine is a brilliant read.   

 
With the world wide web appearing many moons ago printed fanzines kind of died a death – but it’s so nice to actually have a printed copy of something (and I say this as a digital first person).


I remember buying horror fanzines like Deep Red back in the 80s and this magazine is along those lines.


If you want to buy a copy its £3 and you’ll have to track down the author on Twitter – David Dent – Dark Eyes of London – Twitter handle (@darkeyesofldn)


Also in the mag are directors Louisa Warren (Curse of the Scarecrow) , Tom Lee Rutter (The Pocket Film of Superstitions) and Charlie Steeds (Death Ranch).


I guarantee you’ll end up buying some DVDs or streaming some films you’ve never heard of – which is kind of the point.

You can buy Markham on VOD here. You can also buy At the Mountains of Madness on VOD here.

If you want to purchase either film on DVD click here.

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.

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

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When the Earth Gives Up the Dead (2022)

This is just a quick update to let regular readers know that as of next week I’m in full production of my third feature film as a director. ‘When the Earth Gives Up the Dead’ which is being shot in Yorkshire and Lancashire and will be released in 2022.

This is the final film in the low budget ‘Lovecraft Trilogy’ and is once again being produced through Warehouse Transmedia.

The film will star Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell and is based on The Dunwich Horror by author H.P. Lovecraft.

Keep checking back for more info.

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’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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PHASE IV (1974)

My feature debt as a Director confounded a few viewers–  when Markham was released in 2020, it wound up on a few torrent sites quite quickly- one person watching the film illegally gave it 5 stars out of 5 and left a message on the torrent board which read – ‘I’ve never seen another fucking film like it.’   Well, maybe that guy (or gal) might want to watch PHASE IV (1974)

Phase IV is a film directed by Saul Bass.  It’s a small contained sci-fi about ants taking over the world.  But this isn’t ‘Them’  (1954) – don’t expect to see stop motion creatures crunching on military hardware. Instead Phase IV is a visually stunning, cramped and claustrophobic film, that will make viewers uneasy and entertained in equal measure.

There’s not much of a plot to mention, and some of it won’t make much sense – but it will be compulsive viewing.

Saul Bass is a bit of a legend in the film world. He  was a graphic designer by trade, and somehow ended up designing the title sequences for many classic films – from Martin Scorsese’ Casino right back to The Seven Year Itch. Sometimes the title sequences of the films he worked on were better, more interesting and more creative than the films themselves.

So, Saul had a cult following and a reputation for being visually exacting and super creative, but Saul only ever directed one feature film, so PHASE IV is they only fully realised film we have from him, and it’s a trip – and hints at what a talent he could have been given further commissions.

But like my debut film Markham – some reviewers at the time had never seen a fucking film like it! And that kind of put a stop to Saul’s career as a director right there...

Over the 47 years since the film was made, its built up a big cult following. The trailer is below, and I’d recommend you see it, as soon as you can.

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.

Matthew is also a director of feature films including the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ which was released in 2020. Matthew’s second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ was released in July 2021.

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