Director Charlie Steeds Talks ‘Werewolf Castle’ [Exclusive Interview]
David Gelmini
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For such a young filmmaker, Charlie Steeds has quite a few titles under his belt. He’s directed films such as Deadman Apocalypse, Escape from Cannibal Farm, An English Haunting, and The Barge People. Now, he’s back with his latest film, Werewolf Castle.
Werewolf Castle tells the story of a group of a young medieval villager named Thorfinn who accompanies a group of knights on a dangerous quest to warn the king of a rising werewolf threat. Peter Lofsgard, Greg Draven, Jay O’Connell, Tim Cartwright, Reece Connolly, and Jake Watkins star in the film, which is available to watch now.
Steeds granted us the following interview about Werewolf Castle, in which he discussed everything from how the idea came about to the experience of shooting during the pandemic.
We awarded Werewolf Castle a score of four out of five in our review, and called it “a fun and brutal medieval horror adventure”. If you have not yet seen it, we highly recommend tracking it down.
Dread Central: Why did you choose to make a werewolf movie which takes place in medieval times?
Charlie Steeds: The way Werewolf Castle came about was I’d been hired to write/direct another werewolf movie the year before (A Werewolf in England) which was a very silly, camp werewolf horror/comedy set in Victorian England. It sold extremely well on DVD. So immediately after its release the same company hired me again with another werewolf title in mind, Werewolf Castle. I’d been wanting to try my hand at something medieval, as it’s such a trend even in the low-budget indie market. I figured this would be the one (as it would feature a castle). For this film, I had complete creative freedom working around that title, forming a fantasy story where I just had to put werewolves into a castle at some point.
I wanted to change the title to Silver Blade (like a medieval Silver Bullet). But while I control the content of the film, I have final cut etc, I have no say in the title and artwork. Also, I just love to try my hand at new things. So although there’s horror elements to this film, it’s my first step outside of horror and into the fantasy genre. Everything about it was entirely different from crafting a horror story.
DC: Can you talk about the cast?
CS: Almost everyone had worked with me before on earlier films of mine, so I was able to write for them specifically. Peter Lofsgard (in the lead role of Thorfinn) is perfect for this type of action-hero role. I’d been wanting to write him something like this, a blood-soaked, topless, sword-wielding badass. Reece Connolly’s villain, Wolfstan, was a fun character. He’s sort of collecting up these young men and coaxing them into his werewolf tribe. The werewolf initiation scenes (lots of licking and blood) are purposely homoerotic.
The most difficult character to cast was Hal. I had actors in mind already, but Jay O’Connell (who’s younger than I originally pictured Hal) put so much into his auditions, I simply had to see what he’d bring to the role. He had this energy and hunger to play Hal, so I cast him. I also cut his hair myself, with no hair cutting experience at all. It was just me and the clippers, which was quite fun (for me). Lots of the cast had to agree to these medieval haircuts, it was quite funny.
DC: And can you discuss the soundtrack?
CS: It’s my second film working with a brilliantly talented Italian composer called Simone Cilio. We wanted to create a traditional dark fantasy score, taking inspiration from video game soundtracks like Skyrim and other fantasy films. I’m a massive Ennio Morricone fan, so Simone aimed to punctuate some of the action/violence moments with over-the-top music reminiscent of Death Rides A Horse and Navajo Joe (and other Italian Westerns I adore). The score has some great moments, and I work closely with the composers on all my films. Music is such an essential part of the storytelling and a lot of care and detail has gone into this.
DC: You chose to have the werewolves played by actors in suits instead of using CGI or animatronics. Could you explain this decision?
CS: When asked to make a werewolf movie, this is the biggest issue: how to do the werewolf. I don’t like CGI creatures. I’ve never used any CGI in my films, so I knew it’d be a practical creature. I simply didn’t have the budget for animatronics, which is a huge shame because it limits the believability of the werewolves. But I had to come to terms with that going into the project. At the end of the day it’s a fantasy film, you roll with what you have, which were these very beautifully designed werewolf suits. They’re difficult to perform in (the actors are completely blind under the wolf heads) let alone perform fight sequences, so it’s challenging. As B-movie as it looks, I’d still take practical werewolves over CGI. It’s just a creature that needs to be practical to do it any justice at all.
DC: Looking at the impressive sets and costumes, there was clearly a lot of effort put into the production. Was it a challenge to successfully produce a period piece?
CS: I’m working almost as a one-person crew on this movie, so as well as being writer/director I handled all costumes, make-up and locations (not to mention the cinematography) so I had a great deal of control over the whole look of the film. We shot during a Covid lockdown (as film production was exempt from the lockdown rules) and that was very beneficial in being able to use great locations that would otherwise have been booked-out or unaffordable, or areas that would’ve been busy with tourists.
I scouted Wales trying to find the best spots, and the shoot was gruelling at times, long cold nights in the rainy Brecon Beacons. But it pays off when you see the rocks and waterfalls and caves on screen. I picked Raglan Castle because I wanted the Werewolf Castle to be this ruin, overrun by werewolves, that also had a large battle-arena type space for the fights to work in. I’d loved to have shot there at night but it was such a huge space I couldn’t have had the light power to actually light it. But I know that would’ve been tremendously atmospheric.
DC: Werewolf Castle could also be seen as a character study, as the protagonist, Thorfinn, goes from being a somewhat naive young villager to a hardened warrior. What do you hope viewers take away from Thorfinn’s journey?
CS: Overall I’m very aware that the film is being made for supermarket shelves. I want to appease fantasy fans who take a chance on a low budget fantasy film they’ve probably never heard of. I aimed to deliver something relatively by the numbers, rather than attempt to reinvent or subvert the genre in any way (aside from perhaps the final shot). Still I write all of my movies around certain key themes, and the relationship between Thorfinn and Hal is really the arc of this story. Thorfinn is having a rough time, he’s lost everything, and Hal coaches him to never give up. Some of their dialogue reflects the central theme of believing in yourself and overcoming difficultly.
DC: Can you talk about your upcoming projects?
CS: During these two werewolf films I’ve had time to think about what type of werewolf film I would make if I had 100% freedom, something that would really add to the werewolf sub-genre and surprise and impress werewolf fans. So later this year I go into production on what I’m calling ‘my’ werewolf movie. I’m incredibly excited by the concept, a far darker and more horrific movie than Werewolf Castle. It’s about as far in the other direction as you can go (which is how I enjoy challenging myself as a filmmaker).
I also shot Werewolf Castle back to back with another medieval film, that one is a straight horror called The Haunting of the Tower of London. I used much of the same cast/crew as Werewolf Castle. It’s full of supernatural scares and brutal dungeon torture, more semi-naked (or fully naked) men drenched in blood… I also have my first sci-fi movie out towards the end of the year, Gods of the Deep, which was a huge passion project of mine; an aquatic horror inspired by the likes of DeepStar Six. It’s a very busy time. But I’m very slowly being able to focus in on the projects I really want to make.
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