CULTPLEX is an independent cinema located in Manchester’s Green Quarter, which, alongside hosting events such as quizzes, gaming tournaments, and sing-a-longs, also holds regular screenings of cult classics. From Friday the 28 February to Sunday 2 March, they hosted CURSE, a film festival celebrating all things folklore. The line up included Pan’s Labyrinth, Witchfinder General, Onibaba, and of course, The Wicker Man.
When I heard about this weekend event, I went to see their full line up and one particular event caught my eye. On the Saturday night, there was a screening of 2013’s A Field in England, followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Ben Wheatley. I’d watched A Field in England for the first time only a couple of months before, but it had stayed on my mind ever since so I was delighted to have the opportunity to go see it again and to learn about what went into the making of it.
The screening room was very atmospheric, with blue and red lighting and horror scores being piped in through the speakers upon arrival, and every seat in the house was quickly filled. After a very brief welcome and thank you from Wheatley, the room went dark, and the screening began, the pounding war drum of the opening scene sounding ten times grander and richer than it had compared to when I’d watched the film on my tiny iPad.
The experience of watching any film with others is already fantastic, but this one was particularly wonderful to watch communally. It was fascinating to listen to the reactions of those around me, to hear when others laughed, gasped, jumped, or murmured at the events unfolding on the screen. The sharp, frequent twists in energy of the room as the story moved from pleasantly convivial to utterly horrifying was palpable and such good fun.
I absolutely need to praise the performances, as there are only six actors in the whole film and all of them killed it. Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) is on screen for about only three minutes but still managed to make his character, Trower, into a very effective tyrant. Ryan Pope (Looking For Eric) plays the mysterious Cutler with quiet intensity, you don’t quite know whether or not to trust him, but by following him as the film progresses, you get to see the motivations that explain his character arc. Additionally, Peter Ferdinando (Ghost in The Shell) and Richard Glover (Rogue One) are an ace pairing that provide great humour and levity.
But it’s the pair providing the gritty, terrifying lows who particularly shine in this film: Reece Shearsmith and Michael Smiley. Shearsmith (Inside No.9) gives one of his strongest performances as Whitehead, the pious alchemist who’s in for one hell of a trip (in more ways than one!), and Smiley (The Lobster) is enthralling in the worst possible way, being downright chilling as the dastardly O’Neil.
After the film had run its course, and after a mighty applause by the audience, it was time for the Q&A. This was my first time attending such an event, so I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to glean from it, but I left with some brilliant titbits about the goings-on behind the scenes. For example, the reason the film was shot entirely in black and white was so that viewers would be drawn to the texture of the cinematic elements, not their colour, and location-wise, they filmed the entire thing in an overflow car park.
The casting of mostly comedic actors was, according to Wheatley, purposeful for two reasons, one, because it’s always entertaining watching a comic turn their hand at drama, and secondly, because they’re more fun to work with. Interestingly though, despite their presence, there is only one ad-libbed line in the film; this was due to the constraints of the story being set during the English Civil War, and therefore much care and consideration was put into the script by its writer Amy Jump to ensure all the words and phrases used were period appropriate.
Wheatley also gave insight as to how he edited the mind-bending mushroom sequence towards the end, cutting together two streams of images running at 12 frames per second to create that nauseating feeling akin to being on hallucinogens. Furthermore, we got an answer to the question that, based on the laughter that rumbled around the room when it was posed, everyone wanted to know: what happened in that tent?! Wheatley responded that the reason he kept it ambiguous was purposeful, so individuals could fill in the blank with whatever horrors their twisted minds could envision. Apparently, the expression on Whitehead’s face when he emerges was improvised, so the reactions of everyone else in the scene were genuine.
I actually enjoyed watching A Field in England exponentially more on my second watch. There’s a lot I picked up on this time that passed me by on my first viewing. I highly recommend the film, especially if you like folk horror. It was an absolutely incredible evening, and I can’t wait to see what else is coming up at CULTPLEX.
