Essex filmmakers making slasher movie on a budget

Have a fumble between the sofa cushions. The contents might be all the financial backing you need to make a budget horror movie and break Hollywood.

These films have been raising hairs on a shoestring for decades, arguably the most famous being The Blair Witch Project (1999), which cost less than $30,000 (£22,321) to produce, but took close to $250m (£186m) at the box office.

A group of Essex filmmakers have taken inspiration from that, with their independent slasher franchise, called the Twisted Childhood Universe.

The team turned Winnie-the-Pooh into a nightmarish and not-so-cuddly character for two of their films, and they have two more movies on the way.

Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Chambers started the series with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023).

Production started on a budget of £20,000, but it raked in almost £8m at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

"We're about 10 people who are just passionate about film and we're just trying to do the best we can and make something really fun," said Frake-Waterfield, who is from Rochford.

Frake-Waterfield explained how the outfit for his terrifying Pooh character cost about £640, which included £1 cleaning gloves from his local supermarket.

While large studios will spend thousands on a set, the director scrolled through Airbnb accommodation to find Pooh's "lair".

The first movie was released at indie UK cinemas and is available to rent on streaming platforms.

Using the profits, the team reinvested in their sequel by bringing in teams who worked on Marvel and Harry Potter films.

Those other films - includingWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024) and Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare (2025) - got more modest distributions.

A third Pooh film and Pinocchio Unstrung are on the way.

The rights for these characters, including Pooh, recently entered the public domain.

Frake-Waterfield says it is great that low-budget horror can still compete with Hollywood.

He nodded to the example of Paranormal Activity (2007), which cost just over £10,000 to make and took £144m.

"You can achieve something good on a very, very low budget.

"If you try to do, say, a superhero film, and you try to do that on under a million [pounds] it's going to be bad because it's very, very reliant on big visual effects, big set pieces and it needs a lot of money behind it

"In horror, some of the scariest clips and moments in film can be done incredibly cheaply."

Occupying the big yellow suit in the first film was Craig David Dowsett, who said successful low-budget horror was "inspirational".

"A small cast, tiny budget, and, as long as they've got a really good storyline and creativity, it's going to be successful. People are going to watch it."

The 43-year-old actor from Burnham-on-Crouch said the age of smartphones had levelled the playing field.

"Anyone can literally pick up a phone and record a film with it," he said.

"I'm all for it because you know it's a very, very tough industry if you haven't got a huge financial backing from corporate media companies.

"You haven't got to spend thousands of pounds on equipment, if you can just grab a decent iPhone, go out into the woods or some cool location and get a couple of actors together."

Greg Day, co-director of Fright Fest, the UK's largest horror film festival, fondly remembered Colin (2008),a British zombie film made by Swansea director Marc Price.

It sold 23,000 DVDs, despite Price saying it cost just £45 to make.

"He famously told journalists during the Fright Fest screening in 2009 that all he spent money on was a packet of biscuits and a crowbar," said Day.

Director Martin Scorcese told GQ magazine that he was a fan of how Price shot and edited it by himself.

"It was savage. It took the zombie idea to another level. Very interesting filmmaking. Disturbing," he said.

Almost two decades on, Price told the BBC that there had been "a punk-like movement" in film ever since.

"Working class voices have found their way to make cinematic features and platforms like Prime, YouTube and Vimeo are a direct route to an audience," said Price.

"It's an exciting time to be a low budget filmmaker."

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