Exclusive Interview: Benny Smith for ‘Evil Thread’

A murderous jumper might not sound like the most obvious candidate for horror’s next great monster, but for filmmaker Benny J Smith, that is very much part of the appeal.

Making its world premiere at Dead Northern Horror Film Festival, Evil Thread embraces the gloriously unrestrained spirit of 1980s B-movie horror, following fashion student Mindy Lou Kazoo after an unwanted charity-shop jumper turns out to have considerably more sinister intentions than simply ruining her wardrobe.

Born from a bizarre dream and brought to life with practical effects, prosthetics, gore and a distinctly British sense of humour, the film sees Smith turn an intentionally ridiculous premise into an 88-minute horror comedy packed with increasingly elaborate carnage.

Ahead of Evil Thread unleashing its killer knitwear on audiences in York, Love Horror caught up with the film’s co-writer and director for some Dead Northern Questions From the Crypt, talking murderous fashion, the horror films that inspired it, gruesome practical effects and exactly what it takes to play a homicidal jumper.

Exclusive Interview: Benny Smith for ‘Evil Thread’

Let’s start with the obvious question: where on earth did the idea for a killer jumper come from, and at what point did you realise there was actually a whole film in it?

Haha. The concept of an Evil Jumper actually came from a dream. I had been DP on a few extremely low budget horror movies and it always bothered me that they weren’t comedies, because they we’re hilarious in concept and execution. So, I knew I wanted to do a very low budget horror/ comedy that leant in to the absurdity of the B movie world. One night I had a weird dream about being chased around my friends farm (featured in the movie) by a floating jumper and woke up asking myself if it would work as a B movie concept. After some thinking, I decided that I would like to do something that has never been done before, and with thousands of horror comedies spanning over 50 years, that isn’t an easy task. The jumper was orginal, silly and cheap so myself and Dan started writing!  

A killer jumper is the kind of idea that could easily become a one-joke film. How did you make sure the concept could keep surprising people for 88 minutes?

Despite the absolute carnage and ridiculous nature of the movie, there is still a human story ravelled up in the terror. Mindy is a ‘fashion icon’ who is gifted a ‘smelly old jumper’ and her hatred for the present but love for her boyfriend drives the story forward. There is actually a fair amount of story that got left on the cutting room floor, which was a hard decision for me but I think it is important to know your audience, so I opted for more blood, gore and death and less building of their relationship. Ultimately, even extremely daft ideas can form a story with time for character work and pure fun and games.  

You’ve described Evil Thread as a love letter to the insanity of 1980s horror. Which films from that era gave you permission to think, “Yes, we absolutely can make a movie about murderous knitwear”?

Evil Thread is a love letter to the ’80s, inspired by movies such as Evil Dead, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The way in which the Jumper is mocking and goading his victims is a reference to Freddy Kruger and the practical effects are just generally referencing the gore of the ’80s. With how much technology has advanced, making a low budget movie now has similar limitations to a decent budget from the ’80s, so I saw it fit to lean into the vibe and brush over some of the clear restrictions our budget gave us. And of course it was a great excuse to have all the characters dressed funky and colourful!  

You’ve gone heavily into practical effects, gore and old-school creature work. Without giving too much away, what was the most ridiculous practical effect you had to figure out how to achieve?

The practical effects are an enormously important part of this film, for my own enjoyment and hopefully the audiences. Myself and Lissa worked on the prosthetic pieces very closely and came up with some really daft ways to do onscreen deaths, fully practically. Lissa was a dream to work with and we just had a great time figuring it all out. I think my favourite death involves a plant pot and some intestines but I will let the audience decide which absurdly gruesome death is their favourite.  

Jack Robertson is actually credited as playing “The Jumper”, which might be my favourite cast credit at Dead Northern. What does playing a killer jumper actually involve?

Jack Robertson’s involvement is absolutely one of my favourite things about the movie. Jack is very naturally funny and we have worked together a lot so have great chemistry. So when it came to giving the jumper a voice, he was the man for the job. Because the shooting schedule was so tight, the Jumpers voice was all done in post and lead to one of the funniest days of my life as we watched the rough cut of the movie and improvised the Jumper’s lines over it. Jack had me in stitches the entire time and still makes me laugh when I watch it back. It is always great to collaborate with talented people and it was a privilege to do this with him. 

You’ve worked as a cinematographer on a lot of other projects, but this time you’re directing your own feature. Did having that cinematography background make directing easier, or did you have to learn to stop thinking like the person behind the camera?

I believe filmmaking is a spectrum and I enjoy doing a bunch of different roles. I have always been a director at heart but I also love cinematography. For a lot of short films and music videos I have been DP and Director so it was really nice to know that I could leave the lighting in the hands of Krishna, who I knew was gonna make it look awesome, especially as he is an even bigger fan of the genre than me! When it came to shot composition and camera movement, I knew what I wanted and was very hands on. Honestly, If I had been able to pay the crew more I would have done a lot of the camera operating myself but I didn’t want Adam, our brilliant operator, to get bored haha.  

This is the world premiere, so the Dead Northern audience will be some of the first people anywhere to see Evil Thread. What moment are you most looking forward to experiencing with a room full of horror fans?

Evil Thread is a whacky ride with a lot of experimentation and I think people will enjoy different parts. I personally love the Mother’s Massacre, but a certain performance in the final act is also incredible!  

Whether audiences come away talking about the killer knitwear, a particularly unfortunate encounter involving a plant pot and some intestines, or the mysterious “Mother’s Massacre”, Smith is clearly hoping Evil Thread delivers the kind of gleefully excessive horror experience that inspired him to make it in the first place.

And Dead Northern audiences will be the first to find out whether the jumper has what it takes to join horror’s long line of unlikely killers.

Evil Thread receives its world premiere at Dead Northern Horror Film Festival on Sunday 27 September 2026 at 12.30pm at City Screen Picturehouse, York.