Water & Power Productions, Cliff Edge Pictures, and Circus Studios are producing comedy horror The Scurry, with Craig Roberts (The Phantom of the Open, Eternal Beauty) directing a screenplay penned by Tim Telling (The Mash Report). True Brit Entertainment has come on board as UK distributor and co-producer for the project, which is shooting on location and at Dragon Studios in South Wales.
Principal photography starts on April 2nd – where the film will be making use of the recently announced Independent Film Tax Credit. The project has a budget north of £10m and Circus Studios will handle international sales on the title.
The Scurry is a horror with comedic undertones starring Rhys Ifans (The King’s Man, Spiderman: No Way home), Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon, The Sound of Metal), Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project, Men), Mia McKenna-Bruce (2024 BAFTA winner, How to Have Sex), and Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor, Still Up) – who all find themselves under attack from the killer rodents.
Two pest controllers are called to an eco-café in a country park to investigate what begins as a routine vermin problem – but as nightfall approaches an avalanche of deranged squirrels descend, wreaking revenge and mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park.
With many fatalities the survivors take shelter in the café as a freak storm takes out the power and communications leaving them isolated and under attack. An eclectic mix of survivors include pest controllers, a sulky teenager, hypocritical vegans, and a drug dealer – there is only an outside chance of survival…
Producers are James Swarbrick for Water & Power and Adrian Bate for Cliff Edge. Executive Producers are Tom Miller and Sam Myer for Water & Power, Craig Roberts for Cliff Edge, Zygi Kamasa for True Brit, James Spring and James Scott for Circus Studios and Joe Simpson and Simon Williams for Ashland Hill.
James Swarbrick from Water & Power Productions said: “It’s great to be back in business with the legend that is Craig Roberts, from his visual flair and skill with the camera meant that the moment we read Tim’s incredible script there was only one man for the job. Craig brings a humour and wit to his work, which is ideally suited to a horrifying rodent apocalypse.”
Adrian Bate from Cliff Edge Pictures said “You may want to think twice about sitting in your garden or visiting your local park after seeing this movie. Through Craig Roberts’ unique directorial prism and with our stellar cast, we’ll witness the forest sending in their fur clad foot soldiers to avenge their mistreatment. It’s time for nature to bite back.”
Zygi Kamasa, CEO of True Brit Entertainment said: “It’s rare to find a commercial, scary, and funny British genre film with such a terrific cast that the filmmakers want to build as a potential British franchise. Craig Roberts is enormously talented, and he and I share a love of legendary genre films like Shaun of the Dead or Gremlins. The ambition to make something similar is hugely exciting.”
Craig Roberts said: “I’m really happy that somebody has employed me again.”
James Scott at Circus Studios said: “The Scurry has an internationally recognisable cast and a universally resonant story of local vermin rising up to take control – something that city dwellers the world over know hovers over us as a possibility at every moment. We’re confident that it will land with audiences globally and give people a newfound phobia.”
