Aberdeen Premiere: Attack of the Herbals

I went to the movies this evening to see Attack of the Herbals – a Sean of the Dead-style horror comedy.

It was at the Cineworld multiplex at the beach in Aberdeen, in the largest theatre they have there. I reckon there was more than 400 people. Really, the place was heaving.

But the reason I mention any of this is that the film was made in this area by a guy from this area.

David Keith, the director, editor and co-writer of the film, and his team, and everyone who took part in the project should take great pride in their achievement…a locally made feature film with a beginning a middle and an end, laughs, emotion, horror, thrills. The lot. I enjoyed it:

• I burst out laughing a handful of times
• I was tense at the tense bits
• I was squirming at the horror bits

Here’s the trailer:

Richard Currie, a bloke I used to work with at Aberdeen’s community media hub, shmu, was on the production team (I think he may have cut the trailer – above) and had a co-starring role in the movie, playing a wheelchair-bound, former Olympic marathon hopeful. Towards the end of the movie he was involved in some amusing wheelchair-mobility scooter chases, and the very nasty killing of some zombie-like residents of Lobster Cove.

Actually, that’s the movie: a villager returns to his home village of Lobster Cove following a business failure in the big city, and hatches a plan to earn money to help save his grandparents’ post office from a Mr Big, developer character. The plan involves selling herbal tea, made from flotsam washed up at the cove in an old sea chest. The tea soon becomes very popular, and then addictive. That’s when the tea drinkers turn nasty!!!!!

The story has such tremendous potential, but too many parts were left under-explained or became confusing through inadequate explanation: the reason the central character left Lobster Cove in the first place, what happened in the city and why he returned; his relationship with a female he originally left behind in Lobster Cover; the promising Nazi connection was underdeveloped.

Acting is a real art, but the shortcomings of amateurs can be overcome to a certain extent through sharp editing. This movie, I feel, had both: weak acting and some weak editing. One of the main characters was the village setting itself. The team got some wonderful scenes. The red boat hulls, blue painted garage doors, white walls, green trees looked great. There were some terrifically well-composed shots. And where I thought director David Keith hit the nail on the head (in terms of composition) was in those scenes featuring the character Russell, who wore striped or coloured jumpers which contrasted wonderfully with his surroundings. As I say, he got some really sweet images.

I think he shot the film using a Canon 5D mkii DSLR, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some behind-the-scenes movies on a Facebook page somewhere. It certainly looked fantastic on the cinema screen. When you think he got that from a relatively small, camera – affordable to the man in the street – it’s kind of mind-blowing.

So, congratulations to David Keith and his production crew on creating an enjoyable feature film.