The scalpel is back out as the spine tingling short film Surgery is relaunched on YouTube.  We interview writer and co-director Sam Clemens as we explore the making of the film.

By Claire Bueno

Contains spoilers

Surgery is based off a concept idea of The Avengers, The Professionals and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad writer Brian Clemens, can you share a little more about that?

We were in the process of writing a horror feature called The Still and George and I thought it would be a good idea to make a horror short to prove we could direct a good horror film. We were sat having lunch in a pub somewhere near our family home, discussing this prospect with our dad and he thought it was a sensible idea. So, we said ‘We really need a good idea, and want to use that long barn near the house if possible any thoughts?’ He pondered for about a minute and said ‘Yeah, how about this?’ and proceeded to pitch us the general idea of what became Surgery. It was a little different than what we ended up with but the essential idea of someone being tied up and operated on not knowing why or who was doing this to them. I remember we both looked at dad and said ‘Dad that’s horrible, let’s do that!’ It seemed so shocking an idea that even at the idea stage it made us both recoil, so surely if filmed the audience would have an equally if not more visceral reaction. That was around November/December time and George and I were quite busy with other commitments so couldn’t pursue it straight away. Sadly, our father passed away on the 10^th of January the following year which shook both our worlds immensely, upending any work plans we had and family became the main focus. We were immediately contacted by the press and then began a swarm of interviews and discussions about dad, his work and his life days after the event. Rather than shy away from it, we both leaned into to it to celebrate him as much as possible and draw attention to just how brilliant a writer he was and how wonderful and kind a human being he was. Feeling we wanted to celebrate him in our own way, we thought it fitting that we make the very last artistic idea he ever had, which turned out to be Surgery. Given there is almost an alternative career’s worth of material unmade, alongside his produced work we felt making the last idea would be special, even if it was quite twisted. But then, he was a master of the thriller and was a real afficionado on crime and serial killers. He had a deep fascination with them and had read hundreds of books on the subject, plus his directorial debut, a Hammer Horror film Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter was filmed in the same location, as was an episode of The Avengers entitled ‘Noon Doomsday’ starring Patrick Macnee and Tara King, we felt it fitting to add to the canon of work shot there.

From concept, how did you develop Surgery?

The earliest concept before dad’s idea was to film in the long barn close to our family home. As kids we had played around it, as it was always locked and we had always wanted to shoot something there as it is so long, creepy and isolated, so that was the spring board for the whole thing, the location. Once dad’s idea was formed and now rooted in our minds, I set about writing a script. The original idea had The Doctor & Surgeon be the same person but we felt it was too gimmicky and unless the make-up was truly remarkable you would know it was the same person, so decided to change that part and make it a family affair. We put some money together to start the process but not enough to finish it but went ahead with the belief that we would raise the rest crowd funding, which thankfully we did! (That is an entirely another story). That belief that we would do it got everyone else on board. When we decided to make it, we shot it three and a half weeks later. With an enormous amount of love, help and support from all the collaborators we got it done but every day was terrifying as we were fighting so hard to meet the deadline. We had such a short window as I was off to act in a play abroad after it and given the post time needed, we wanted it ready to be able to submit to FrightFest, which we did and again luckily, we were accepted into the festival. The concept evolved and fine-tuned as the weeks went on and I kept making little adjustments to the script but fundamentally the very first script I wrote, 90% of it was the final film.

There is such an emotive twist at the end, and for me the genius behind the story is the power of perception, was that something that was a motivation for you?

We worked backwards from the twist. We knew that was the heart of the film. The film becomes a why done it? But in order for that to work you need to send the audience down a different path so they are not thinking in any way that it is really a thriller, wrapped up in a horror. Most of our work we subsequently have learned also uses this premise. I think we both like to be kept guessing as audience members and this translates to our sensibilities as directors and what I like to write. In this new world of social media and attention spans becoming shorter and shorter, now we have the ad for the teaser of the trailer which is like ten seconds, it is increasingly difficult to grab an audience’s attention and we think a good way to retain interest is to build intrigue and lay breadcrumbs for an audience to be able to participate as well as come along for the ride. Every character must have a reason for what they do, we as humans are motivated by wants, we always want something, we never want nothing, which frees you to create strong objectives for your characters as well. The stakes should always be high, or at least feel high for the characters, that is what keeps us interested. So the ending becomes a pay off for what has gone before and the last shot, which is one shot with no cuts we designed to be that long for the audience to process all they have just watched and give a sense of catharsis to the whole piece.

I imagine with horror the burning question is always what to show vs what not to show. Surgery really does strike the balance between the two, was that something that you carefully considered?

Yes, is the short answer. We didn’t want this to be a torture porn film, although it skirts close to that assumption but we knew if the audience could endure it, the payoff would change their perception. One of the best horror films ever made is ‘Jaws’ and the reason it works is that you never see the shark. We were incredibly lucky to get the truly remarkable Cliff Wallace (Hellboy, Fury, Doctor Who, World War Z, 28 Day Later)  to come on board to do the practical special effects make up and prosthetics. We had a limited budget so worked around what could be done and literally what Cliff had lying around his workshop of wonder and horror (severed limbs, creatures, heads, blood etc) that we could use. Also, the imagination is usually worse than what you show, so we used that to our advantage by setting up something horrible, cutting away and then the aftermath. The whole of Seven worked wonderfully well with the discovery of the bodies and your vivid imaginations populate the rest of the macabre events themselves. So, when discussing it with Cliff, we worked out what would look best and the most realistic and what was possible. Hiring great people and letting them do what they do best is always a great starting point. Also, gore for gores sake is never pleasant, it must have a point even if it tough to watch.