Jingle Bells Motherf**ckers!
During an annual Christmas office party, Office workers Stan, Peggy & Richard; three unlikely heroes, find themselves fighting for their lives when their building becomes overrun by a horde of sharped toothed Creatures hungry for human flesh… But these Creatures just picked the wrong party to crash.
Armed with only office supplies, the trio must work together if they’re going to survive. Who said those team-building weekends wouldn’t come in handy? Paying homage to 1980s creature features, SHREDDERS is a blend of action, horror and hilarious comedy; dripping in neon and synth.
From Director Darren A. Furniss:
It started with a fantastic script. The characters and their surroundings and their predicament came to life and I had a very strong visual images in my mind from the outset, especially the primary colours Red, Blue, Green and the colour Magenta which was used so frequently in many films from the 80s. I grew up in through the 80s watching movies like that on my old VCR and I can still feel the light from the old TV pouring out from the screen and filling my eyes with their colours. I wanted to give the audience for Shredders the same sort of visceral experience in this film with a truly strong sense of colour throughout.
The comedy in the script was also fantastic, the dialogue was quick and witty, which helped dictate the pace of the film. What came to my mind visually was also the physical comedy, exchanged looks, gestures etc. In preparation for the film I watched lots of comedy silent films and urged the actors to watch them also. I wanted the film to not only be funny through the dialogue, but also physically, through action, especially in their looks when interacting with each other. In my work looks are everything and I focused on that a lot.
From Producer/Screenwriter Michael James Dean:
There is a distant quality about films from the 80s that makes it one of the most beloved periods in cinema; the colours we associate with these films are vibrant, the fashion is unique, and the characters are memorable. As testament to this is the resurgence in the style.
I have always wanted to explore this style and to create my own homage to the films I feel in love with; Critters, Gremlins, Ghostbusters.
What’s great about this film is how much more there is to explore within this world. We see a small snippet of what these Shredders are capable of. We have so much more to come with Shredders and I know when audiences get the chance to see this film, they will be hunger for what’s next.
When this project first began, we wanted to create a film that paid homage to the 80s but was also modern, unique and British; we have achieved that and, in the process, have created a completely new set of Creature’s that people are going to love.
I am currently writing a full feature length version that builds on what we achieved with the short with more jokes, more action and of course; more Shredders!