Five FrightFest Facts with Will and Rosanna from ‘The Confession’

What if the secrets of your childhood home were not just personal but perilous? That unsettling question lies at the heart of The Confession, the latest feature from writer-director Will Canon, produced by Rosanna Eden-Ellis. A modern retelling of the Pied Piper legend, the film follows a struggling musician who uncovers a chilling cassette recording left behind by her father, confessing to a grisly crime. As her young son begins to behave in increasingly disturbing ways, the story blurs the line between family trauma, folklore and something far more sinister.

Canon, returning to FrightFest a decade after his supernatural chiller Demonic, crafts a tale steeped in dread, where the ghosts of the past take on an unshakable presence. Alongside him, Eden-Ellis brings her passion for bold genre storytelling to the production, helping to ground the film’s supernatural menace in an emotional core. Together, the pair have shaped a slow-burning, gothic-infused thriller that is as much about family bonds as it is about the darkness that threatens to break them.

In this Five FrightFest Facts interview, Canon and Eden-Ellis talk about the paths that led them into filmmaking, the festival screenings they’d most like to experience, and the craft elements they believe deserve more recognition. They also reveal the inspirations behind their latest work and even consider what their own lives might look like if they were turned into horror movies.

Will Canon, Writer-Director and Rosanna Eden-Ellis, Producer

1. Tell us about your film

Will: The Confession is a modern retelling of the Pied Piper story. A young woman, who is a musician with a slowing music career, moves back into her childhood home with her young son a few years after her father has passed away. And as she’s getting settled into the house, she discovers a recording on a cassette tape that her father left, confessing to a grisly murder that he claims to have committed. She has no idea if it’s true or not, so she starts investigating and, as she’s doing that, she starts to notice that her son is acting more and more strangely. At first, she thinks he’s just having trouble adjusting to a new place, but she starts to suspect that something more sinister is going on.

It’s a lot of fun and has great performances from the cast, so we can’t wait to show it at FrightFest.

2. How did you get into making movies?

Will: My parents had a camcorder in the 90s, so my friends and I would do little home movies, or we’d try to do pranks on people and record it, or we’d poorly recreate SNL sketches, so that’s really where it started for me.  I always loved movies, and at a certain point, I started to understand that there’s a director making creative choices about the story and about the movie in general, so filmmaking cast a kind of spell on me at that point. And then, when I was 18 or 19, I started to try and figure out how people actually make movies beyond the little camcorder sketches I was making.

3. What films would you love to see screened at FrightFest and why?

Rosanna: FrightFest is my favourite festival to attend and the programming is excellent. BUT, with that said, if we are talking specifics I would love to see Martyrs or Drag Me To Hell with the FrightFest crowd. Seeing those films in the cinema are two of my favourite cinema-going memories of all time. In general terms, British horror movies are brilliant and I want to see as many of them as possible in front of an audience.

4. If you could create your own award to give at FrightFest, what would it be and why?

Rosanna: I would love to see awards for both Original Score and Editing. I am obsessed with horror scores and the incredible effect they have on your nervous system. Our amazing composer on The Confession, Dan Marocco, brought our film to life. Similarly, our editor Kyle Walczak was key in piecing together our story. Two of my favourite edits of all time are in Barbarian and The Exorcist III. Horror editors are so gifted and necessary.

5. If your life was made into a horror film, what would it be called and who would play the starring role?

Will: It’s kind of funny to be asked this because the script I’m working on right now is about a horrible experience that I had traveling back home after filming The Confession. I found myself traveling in a car at midnight with four complete strangers trying to get back home, and I thought to myself, this is how a horror film begins – which is something you never want to think about a real situation that you’re in. I don’t have a title for it yet, but if anyone has any ideas, I need one. I’d want Dan Stephens to play the starring role because he’s great and I would be flattering myself to have him play me.