The Invoked: Interview with David Cave and Tom Craig

The Invoked

Interview with

David Cave and Tom Craig

MyIndie’s Itai Guberman chats with
director David Cave and producer Thomas Craig.

We, at MyIndie, have been promoting David Cave and his work for quite some time. We have been documenting the progress of his most recent project, The Invoked, over the past few months. The upcoming psychological gothic folk horror-drama is an intriguing project with some awesome influences, which is definitely not something you regularly see within the indie landscape. I recently had a chat with David and producer Tom Craig, about some specifics regarding this amazing upcoming production.

IG: What initially gave you the idea for this script?

DC: I’ve always been a fan of 60’s/70’s British low-budget horror films, those films produced by the likes of Tigon and Amicus etc, and many of those movies were a staple of my childhood nightmares. Inevitably, when I decided to get involved in the arts, specifically film, this period of cinema was a huge inspiration for the style of story I wanted to write. As you already know, having seen much of my previous short film work, many of my films tackle quite dark subject matter, so when first thinking about the idea which eventually became The Invoked, I knew that I wanted it to revolve around the theme of witchcraft or cult celebration in some shape or form. What I didn’t want to do was copy a film which was already out there (or at least what I had seen on a personal level) in terms of story, although I did want to try and inject the mood of some of these films that still manage to leave a profound effect on me to this day.

So, with that in mind I began to think about how we, as a human race, are living life in contemporary society and what issues, either positive or negative, affect the majority of us today. The obvious one was the rapid growth of technology over the past twenty years or so and the fact that nearly everyone, certainly in the younger and middle aged generations are almost forced to use at least some form of technology in order to just get by in today’s world.

So my idea for the main narrative thread of The Invoked was to combine some of the themes apparent in 60’s/70’s UK horror cinema with such contemporary issues mentioned above and by doing so, hopefully capturing elements that will be appealing to both younger and older fans of horror cinema.

IG: How personal is the subject matter to you? What experiences can you share that may have led to you wanting to make this film and share it with the viewing public and what, if any, possible change do you hope for as a result of people seeing this film?

DC: To be honest, I don’t feel as precious personally (about the subject matter for The Invoked) as I have been about many of my short films I have made over the years. I guess you could say that I have learnt a lot throughout my journey of making shorts, and one of the major things I picked up while my films were doing the festival circuit was how there was often no in-between in terms of feedback, people either really liked my work or loathed it! That’s fine of course, because film is subjective and I understand that the often experimental nature of my past work is not everybody’s cup of tea.

Yet it was still an interesting and relevant point to think about when writing The Invoked. Incidentally the first feature screenplay I did write was a long form version of my last short film, Girl and a Scar (in fact the feature script version came before the actual short itself), but being an all-out experimental fantasy feature film, it was budgeted way too high to ever hope to raise the funds to make it, at least just yet.

Anyway, going back to The Invoked, bearing in mind the feedback regarding my past short films, I decided to try my hardest to keep away from writing this in a similar experimental style as my recent short films because I understood that, above anything else, this is a commercial product that we aim to distribute to a commercial horror market, and as experimental cinema is far more niche, in general it’s a no-no in terms of profit margins and also looking further ahead to securing finance for another feature, if of course The Invoked is appreciatively received. This was completely a commercially led idea that I wanted explore for a change, so decided that it made sense that it should be this way.

Having said all that, there certainly are messages and warnings buried in the subtext of the story about the dangers of the improper use of social media and technology within contemporary society.

During the current climate of Covid-19 catastrophes I feel that these issues are as relevant as ever and with propaganda and misinformation playing a big part in our day-to-day lives, maybe someone may view The Invoked and think twice about how they use and distribute personal information about themselves and others in the future.

IG: From what I gather, The Invoked wants to say something about today’s state of affairs in the UK. Where it is, as well as where it could go and why. What are your opinions on the current state of affairs and what are your views on the future of the UK, both short- and long-term?

DC: This is a good but also very tough question to answer! I don’t really want to get too deep regarding politics because I think everybody has had more than their fair share of it over the past few years and, in the UK especially, things are definitely changing for the worse under the current government. I am of the opinion that everything is political in some shape or form, and as mentioned in the answer to the previous question, there’s certainly embedded subtext in the narrative of The Invoked which comments on the state of contemporary society, certainly where technology and social media is concerned.

Yet, if you look deeper there’s also issues of fascism, sexism and familial relationships (to name but a few) explored, which are of the utmost importance, both within the unfolding narrative and apparent within the world today. I think it’s important to take into consideration what was accepted as a ‘norm’ back in the 1960’s/70’s before you can fully examine the same issues within The Invoked because, certainly here in England, far more was tolerated.

I’m not saying any depreciative behaviour towards anyone should ever be excused, be it now or 50-60 years ago, but what I’m trying to say is that the world was a different place back then and you have to hold this context in mind when exploring the same issues currently. Such counter culture movements as the Summer of Love, in 1967 (not 69 as many believe because of the happening of Woodstock), for example ignited many freedoms which would be shot down straight away by those in power today. Yet, they are still, even as we speak, fringe groups that celebrate what others may see as dark arts, and if you believe some of the stories about the finance and power behind freemasonry and notions of the Illuminati et al, then I don’t have to expand on such thoughts and views.

My point being that all of these things, regardless of how much truth is in there, hold a certain amount of relevance when exploring the issues mentioned, both implemented within the story world of The Invoked and in reality around the world at this moment in time.

How these issues affect our politics today is arguably a better question because I believe that it all goes hand in hand. Narcissism is something that people learn as they grow up dependant on the class of family they are born into, thus encompassing varying levels of entitlement, connections, financial situation, power, etc, and inevitably when you accept something as habitual or customary, as addictive behaviour confirms, it often becomes normalised and there begins that continued search for something more, a bigger hit.

My point being, in The Invoked, we begin to see how actions and their consequences can negatively affect people on many levels because of this misguided collection of power and self-entitlement gathered over time within a group set-up, in this case a cult. You only have to look at the state of the UK (and the world in general) at the moment to see how these issues can be related to today’s reality (eg. figures regarding suicide, homelessness, domestic violence, foodbank usage and unemployment are steadily rising while the decimation of human rights and freedom of speech continues to gather momentum), to understand that what’s happening is slowly eradicating our lives.

A huge part of the blame must be aimed towards the introduction of social media, the technology inherent within and its addictive nature as, I believe, it has been purposely embedded within our society by the rich and powerful in order to enforce control upon society to an even higher degree.

These personal thoughts, no doubt, only begin to scratch the surface of a much deeper issue, but are the basis on which I part-formed the idea of The Invoked. Reading this back it occurs to me that maybe I am more precious about The Invoked’s subject matter than what I initially thought!!!

IG: Labelling the film within the folk horror sub-genre conjures up images of all kinds classic horror films from the 60s and 70s and onward. Adding the social media aspect made me envision some kind of a cross between The Wicker Man (the original version, obviously) and recent, social-media influenced horror (Catfish, Friend Request, Unfriended, Searching, etc.). What films, if any, provided you with influence/inspiration for The Invoked?

DC: You are right, of course. How can you write anything set in today’s world without social media/technology being involved to a certain extent? So yes, there were a number of key movies that provided me with inspiration for The Invoked. The first couple were released in that golden age of UK horror cinema and continue to be hugely inspiring works for me personally.

Obviously Robin Hardy’s cult classic, The Wicker Man, must be acknowledged here (as a fan of horror cinema how can it not be?) but it was Norman J. Warren’s Satan’s Slave (1976) and Piers Haggard’s The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) that really got me into the folk horror state of mind when starting to plan out The Invoked. These low-budget gems, for me at least, offer such an immense sense of dread (set within their apparent societal normalities) that it works to just smother you. That overriding sense of density and claustrophobic strangeness within the mood of their narratives is both exhilarating and unsettling at the same time and certainly a trait I would like to capture within The Invoked.

Where contemporary films are concerned, again, a number of them offered me inspiration, some being influenced by technology and social media such as Unfriended (2014), but also rural gothic horror films such as Kill List (2011) and Orphan (2009). In my opinion, these latter two films are cinematic gems, both in terms of mood and narrative, because they work to drag an audience along buying into one notion, then really turn things on their head come narrative closure. Needless to say there’s a few surprises in store in The Invoked but I wouldn’t want to give them away quite yet!

IG: You’ve mentioned that the newly released trailer is to act as a proof of concept to be used in the efforts to find funding for the film. What kind of funding do you hope to find and is there already some kind of plan in progress (private investors? an upcoming crowdfunding campaign? etc.)

TC: At the moment we are keeping an open mind. In the first instance we will be applying for the UK film-specific schemes, although competition is particularly fierce these days. We have also had interest from private investors and will be setting the film up under the Government’s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. By doing so, the potential loss that can be accrued is vastly minimised for investors. A Crowdfunding campaign would always be kept in reserve as a last resort. Rest assured though; one way or another The Invoked WILL be made!