Hey, just a quick update – The Light on Leeds podcast recently featured an HOUR LONG interview with yours truly – taking about my work as a script consultant and director.
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hireand 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.
‘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.
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.
At The Mountains of Madness – film version
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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.
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 hireand 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.
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 hireand 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.
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)
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hireand 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.
