Horror Favourites – Peter Webber, James Paxton and Franz Drameh from DRAGN

DRAGN follows a group of office workers attending a seemingly routine corporate retreat in rural Serbia who suddenly find themselves hunted by an experimental AI military drone that is rapidly evolving and learning from human behaviour. We were lucky enough to grab some time with the movies director Peter Webber and two of its starts James Paxton and Franz Drameh who told us all about the horror movies they love the most.

When American everyman Tom Wilson (James Paxton) joins a Mantiz Corp team-building retreat in rural Serbia, he expects awkward icebreakers and long hikes. Instead, he and his co-workers become prey for DRAGN — an experimental AI military drone whose test has gone fatally wrong. Cut off from communication in the depths of the forest, Tom must protect his fractious team and survive long enough to see his wife and daughter again. As the bodies mount, Tom realizes DRAGN isn’t merely malfunctioning: it’s evolving from what it observes, and the first lesson it learned was cruelty. The film also stars Franz Drameh (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Attack the Block), Carlos Bardem (Assassin’s Creed, Cell 211), Alice Pagani (Netflix’s Baby) and Lilly Krug (Plane).

Below Peter Webber, James Paxton and Franz Drameh tell us all about some of their favorite horror films:

Peter Webber the movies director said “DRAGN started, for me, as two things I couldn’t quite shake. One was the steady creep of drones from the abstract world of “modern warfare” into something horribly intimate: footage where a machine calmly finds a single person and ends them with the efficiency of a spreadsheet. The other was AI — not in the grand, jargon-heavy sense, but in the everyday way it’s already worming into life, getting better at tasks we used to think were safely human, and doing it with an eerie cheerfulness.”

He went on to say “If there’s anything I hope an audience takes from DRAGN, it’s less a message than a feeling. The film is fascinated by how quickly the world is getting more stupid and more terrifying at the same time: incredible technology, increasingly thoughtless uses, and a strange, casual acceptance of being watched, measured, and replaced. But it’s also meant to be fun in the way the best disreputable movies are fun — fast, furious, a bit gruesome, a bit stupid, and made with affection for the whole tradition. For gamers, for teens of all ages, and for anyone who misses the era when sci-fi could be nasty, scrappy, and genuinely entertaining without needing to explain itself.”

James Paxton:

James Paxton an American actor whose career bridges studio franchises, television drama, and independent film including Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where he notably stepping into the younger version of John Garrett — a role originally played by his father, Bill Paxton — creating a unique on-screen continuity within the MCU television universe.

“I love kind of seeping dread Gothic and folk horror films so I am a massive fan of Robert Eggers The Witch that’s one that if anybody hasn’t seen I just think it’s a masterfully crafted film and very very creepy. It sticks with you, any time I’m kind of out doors in a woodsy area I sort of remember that film.

I’m actually gonna throw an honourable mention in here of a movie that terrified me that Peter had me watch before making our movie was called Come and See. This movie is scary beyond a lot of horror films because it’s based on real events and it’s an actual war movie about World War II and is just as horrifying a film as anybody’s ever seen. Its a Belarusian film so those are the two I would recommend.”

Franz Drameh

Franz Drameh is a British actor whoe gained early film recognition in Attack the Block and later appeared in major studio titles including Edge of Tomorrow and The Gentlemen. On television, he became widely recognized as Jefferson “Jax” Jackson / Firestorm across The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, where he was a key ensemble presence.

“I think my favourite, well I’ve got two but one of my favourites would be The Ring. It’s one oft he earliest horror films that I saw definitely when I shouldn’t have been watching stuff like that and subsequently I had to cover my TV for a month, no joke! I just love the psychological nature of knowing you’re gonna die in 7 days and all the craziness that happens in that week following up to the death.

I’d say my other favourite is Ju-On the Japanese horror remade as The Grudge and what I love about that film is just that there is no escape, there is no breaking the curse it’s just that if it happens to you, you’re done! You don’t know how you’re getting done but you’re getting done and that for me that it’s just terrifying, and I love it.”

Peter Webber

Peter Webber is an award-winning British director, editor, and producer. His debut feature, Girl with a Pearl Earring, received three Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, and ten BAFTA nominations. His subsequent work includes Hannibal Rising, Emperor, Tutankhamun, and Netflix’s Pickpockets.

“I’m not that that big a fan necessarily of slashes although there’s a lot of slasher DNA in our film. Slashers are more fun to make than they are to watch. I am very glad to see some of the homework I gave James touched a cord.

I’ll give you a few horror’s I love though, the first one is Andrzej ?u?awski Possession starring Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani, just because it’s the most batshit bonkers crazy thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s really this one key scene where Isabelle Adjani, has a has a full-on breakdown in the Berlin Subway system and it’s one of the most scary visceral awful things that you’ll you’ll ever see in your life you know in a really really good way. Its a film that defies categorisation because it’s horror but it’s also a film about the breakup of a relationship, it switches genres four or five times and continually blindsides you. I mean it’s not to everyone’s taste but I love it. By the time you get to the end you think’ what the fuck have I just watched!

Classic horror wise I really like Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby it deals with creeping dread and it is supernatural but actually it’s a psychological horror film as you never know whether these things are really happening or whether it’s all going on in Mia Farrow’s head. It’s one of those rare horror films that actually is not just had cult success but really has reached a much wider audience.I think it’s an amazing piece of work and hasn’t dated really.

Another film that I would give a big shout out to is Panos Cosmatos Mandy. I know Panos a little bit and he’s a bit of a genius really and it’s just bonkers in the best way, super entertaining. I mean he’s clean and serene but Mandy is a horror film that’s that looks like its been directed by someone who’s on acid when they were making it. It’s absolutely demented.

Final ones Audition the Japanese film because you know K-Horror and J-Horror are really good. I still remember ‘kiri kiri kiri’ do you remember that? Tetsuo: The Iron Man that’s another great film, I mean I could go on and on.

DRAGN is available to rent and buy from 6th July on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Movies, and Rakuten TV