Five FrightFest Facts From Savvas Christou writer and director of Captive

2021 has been a strange year and although things may not have completely returned to normality one thing to be thankful for is the return of the Arrow Video FrightFest which takes place for real this year at Cineworld, Leicester Square in central London.
The annual five-day four-screen 50+ film extravaganza runs between 26th and 30th August and after a year online, it is wonderful to have FrightFest back with a hybrid event featuring in-cinema and online components bringing audiences a whole host of truly terrifying and terrific horror films.

Below we feature one of those monstrously amazing movies with our regular exclusive interview feature Five FrightFest Facts From and these five are from Savvas Christou writer and director of Captive:

1. Tell us about your film?
It all started back in 2014 in Thessaloniki, Greece – on my way home after a long night-out with friends, I shared a pizza slice with a delusional homeless man. After a long conversation with him, I went back home and stayed up all night to write down this “idea” as a high level synopsis on my laptop. Then, I started writing many drafts of the whole script and shared it with friends and colleagues for feedback, and two years later, in 2018, I had everything prepared to the last detail.

The film’s themes are survival and family relationships. Everyone has been developing their own family bonds and experiences throughout their lives, and hence all of us perceive these relationships in different ways. For this reason, I wanted to put the audience in a constantly evolving emotional state where they could resonate with different situations as the characters unfold their true colors. The changing perception of the family bonds will make each one empathize with different situations at different stages, and as a result ignite thoughts and internal discussions with ourselves, which is the main takeaway of watching Captive.

2. How did you get into making horror movies?
I watched many movies in my life but I always had a soft spot for horror, psychological thriller and suspenseful films. Some movies that I was influenced by, while I was writing “Captive” were The Shining, which is my favorite movie of all times – Stanley Kubrick is a great director to educate yourself. I watched all the films from Asfar Farhadi (multiple times) who I consider one of the best directors to create tension using spot-on dialogues in his movies. Other movies I was influenced by were Misery, Berlin Syndrome, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Room and many more.

3. What film would you love to see screened at FrightFest and why?
I am going to try to watch all of them. But I would love to be in a theater in the festival where Scream (1996) is screened. It’s one of the best movies to experience with horror fans. It’s fun, suspenseful and overall a great film. Wes Craven was a real master in his craft.

4. If you could create your own award to give at the FrightFest, what would it be and why?
I would create the “Most Uncomfortable Movie” because I love when movies make me feel uncomfortable.

5. If your life was made into a horror film, what would it be called and who would play the starring role?
It would definitely have to be Kurt Russell and it would be called “An alien in the USA”.

Captive plays FRIDAY 27TH AUGUST 2021 – 11.25 PM Find our more and book your tickets HERE