Episode 6 The Fear

This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

From the chill down your neck, to the stain in your pants,

fear can do many things.

It can chill...

THEY SCREAM

..thrill, and entertain.

Oh, my God!

..which is precisely why we're here.

We've asked amateur film-makers to send us their creepiest,

goriest, and freakiest short horror films for your viewing pleasure.

Movies such as SAW and Evil Dead both started out

as shorts before becoming multimillion dollar franchises.

So, we're hoping to find the next horror master

worthy of a bloodcurdling blockbuster.

This...

..is The Fear

where who scares...wins.

Oh, my God!

HE LAUGHS

EERIE MUSIC

Welcome to the screaming room!

Over the last few weeks, we've been spooking an audience of horror fans

whilst catching their every jump, scream and cry.

Tonight, as the competition culminates, we've gone all la-di-da

and invited along Blair Witch co-director, Eduardo Sanchez,

to decide which of our audience's favourite is the ultimate

winner and worthy of a 20-grand prize.

But it's not over until the decomposing lady eviscerates you

as tonight we have two final shorts both vying for a place

on our coveted leader board.

And, as always, voting for their scariest is this lot!

Among them scaredy cats, and genius free thinkers,

Amelia and Grace.

I think if we were going to make a short film ourselves that's scary

it would definitely include me biting off my arm.

We have the inseparable buds with reputable bants.

It's Antoine, Nick and Daniel.

-No trick or treating this Halloween?

-No.

No, it's overrated, mate. No tricks, no treats.

Just you and your right hand, mate!

Lovebirds Poppy and Joe.

I want to tell my high score again.

What? Six.

No, my high score so far was seven.

-No, it was six.

-No, seven.

Trouble in paradise?

And best of all the besties, Aaron and Michelle.

I could be classed as like a horror professional now.

-I've nothing to say on that matter, Michelle.

-No!

And bickering film buffs, Brad and Ash.

You jumped during the conjuring. What was that about?

That's one incident that you can think of where I've jumped.

Ah, I love those guys.

So, with two final films on tonight's menu, it's time for our first

offering from Sam Hartshorn.

Teenager Sam writes, directs and stars in his own films,

makes animation, plays in a band, does back flips,

runs and is only 16.

God, I wasted my life!

Here's his childhood nightmare come true, Itcher.

Gaw! You do your lips more than any woman I know!

Itcher.

CREAKING

That's a horrible sound.

SCRATCHING

SCRATCHING INTENSIFIES

SCRATCHING

BEATING

DOOR CREAKS OPEN

HE BREATHES OUT

'The Itcher dwells behind the walls

'In bedrooms, schools and bathroom stalls

'In moonlight, hear the Itcher's call

'Out from the shadows, the Itcher crawls

'Its face no man has ever seen

'For its grisly smile is too obscene

'Mortal eyes won't trigger shouts

'For Itcher's nails will gouge them out.'

SCRATCHING

'In dead of night the Itcher wakes

'From body and mind the Itcher takes.'

SCRATCHING CONTINUES

BEATING

'If you block the Itcher's path

'Prepare to watch the Itcher laugh.'

SHE SCREAMS

Oh, my God!

LAUGHTER

-FROM BEHIND POPCORN:

-I like that!

HE CHUCKLES

SINISTER LAUGHTER

Nice to see a film-maker proving nothing's more horrifying

than a nasty itch.

But did it live up to its name and get under our audience's skin?

Well, it certainly seemed to flicker something in Poppy's psyche.

I hate flashing lights so much

and I said, "I can't do it."

Stop it! That's not OK.

No, no, no.

And then it popped out.

SHE SCREAMS

Oh, my God!

-I literally went into self-defence mode.

-You did!

-I jumped out of my seat.

-Oh, my God!

It built to eight with scare, which unfortunately I bang on counted.

One... Bang on!

I wasn't really scared until the end when the thing jumped out

-and I spilled my drink on Anton.

-You didn't.

You spat your drink out of your mouth on me, you were so terrified.

THEY LAUGH

I quite like the way that Itcher looked.

It was kind of like if someone set a Kermit the frog puppet on fire

and then made it do the "Ah" thing...

He's a terrifying little chap and there's no doubt about that.

But what about that God-awful noise?

Put your teeth right on edge, didn't it?

SCRATCHING

I didn't like the itching noise. The "ur-ugh".

-I used to get that.

-It makes you go all funny.

SCRATCHING

I used to have a starling's nest in my loft above my bed

so I used to hear it all the time so it didn't bother me at all.

But a starling's not going to kill you, is it?

At worst it will poo on your washing.

As for Itcher, will it be dropping onto our final leader board?

We'll be finding out how the audience scored it after one more film.

My fear is being buried alive.

-That's mine, that's why I'd rather get burnt.

-Cremated.

Yeah, I mean cremated, to say it in a better way.

You're scared you'll jump, yeah?

Don't worry, I won't tell no-one.

Oh, look! Whoopsy!

-Oh, God! Did you have tit out?

-No, I didn't have tit out.

So, ladies and gentleman, time now for our final movie,

made by Mike Tack...

..who's excellent with calculators, not so great at typing,

and judging by that mug, lonely.

This is his ode to Gok Wan. It's Makeover.

-I'm ready for this.

-Everything ready for this.

-I am.

MUSIC PLAYS

VEHICLE REVERSING BEEP

MUSIC PLAYS

GROWLING

GROWLING AND SCREAMING

HEART MONITOR BEEPS

ROARING

GUNSHOT

Tell them it's done.

BIG BEN TOLLS

Welcome to the House, Minister of Defence.

Minister? One for the papers?

Oh!

-I like that idea.

-That was good.

Makeover there, proving what we already knew.

Politicians are all horny, yellow-eyed demons.

That is a cold hard fact, my friends, a cold hard fact.

But how did our audience deal with this conspiracy?

That's like that theory that they have with the Royal family,

that they're lizards.

He must get a lot of money for being a reptile.

I thought Makeover was a really, really good film.

It was really well shot. You could tell they had a bit more money.

The costumes were amazing.

The creature effects were really, really good.

There was a bit of splatter.

The monster did kill one of the people operating on him.

And he just stood there and I did think about these two.

If I'd got trouble, would they just stand there and watch?

But hang on a second. Who's really the bad guy, here?

The crazy, yellow-eyed murdering monster,

or its human puppet masters?

It's a philosophical one.

I felt sorry for the monster alien, rather than the humans.

Oh, my God!

They're the actual monsters in this. They're just taking it apart.

Whilst Makeover's subtext resonated with Grace and Amelia,

our little ray of sunshine, Aaron, experienced things a bit differently.

-I thought it was really boring.

-Oh!

I was so bored as soon as it came on.

Tell us what you really think.

I thought it was a pile of pony.

It's not because I don't believe in aliens, that I don't like

alien films. It's purely because I find them very boring.

They've all got the same stupid plot.

I don't like Men In Black, anything like that. It's all boring.

-I like the Men In Black.

-I don't like it.

-I like Men In Black.

Honestly, who doesn't like Men In Black?

So, that's it from all our submissions,

but have either of tonight's video nasties done enough

to grab a place on our leader board?

Tonight's second offering was Mike Tack's gruesome Makeover!

Strong concept, but sadly the reptilian politician

only mustered up 2.9 in the opinion polls from our hardy bunch.

-I thought Makeover was a really good film.

-It just wasn't a scary film.

Which means that scaring the shitcher out of our audience tonight,

was Sam Hartshorne's terrifying Itcher.

-Oh, my God!

-It built to a good scare.

The poem really did help him building that mythology.

It does a really good job.

A sterling effort from one of our youngest film-makers,

but only the top three films voted scariest by our audience, can make

it onto the final leader board, and despite a valiant attempt,

it misses out.

Still, our audience's job is done, and it delights me to say the three

films that have reached the final stage are Paranoia, Capture and 3AM.

That means it's time to get serious.

To help us decide which film-maker will be winning the competition,

and with that, £20,000 worth of support towards their next

project, we've enlisted the help of a horror legend.

Meet Eduardo Sanchez.

In 1999, whilst only in his late 20s, he and his friend, Daniel Myrick,

wrote, directed and edited a small film that changed the landscape

of horror cinema.

From a budget of around just 20,000,

The Blair Witch Project grossed nearly 250 million,

making it one of the most successful independent movies of all time.

-Hurry up!

-I'm coming. My boots aren't laced.

Oh, my God, what the fuck is that?

What the fuck is that?!

Its fake documentary style, with hand-held camera and shaky footage,

put viewers in the heart of the action.

With first person and found footage movies still popular today,

there's no denying its influence.

If anyone's got the scare skills to pick out the next big thing

in horror, it's Eduardo.

Being, like, a horror film-maker, you see everything,

so, my judging criteria is basically just how scared does it make me?

I'm looking forward to watching them in a dark theatre

and actually just see what it does to me in just four minutes.

So our audience have selected their scariest,

but it all rests on Eduardo's shoulders to pick the best.

Let's get him started with our early morning chiller, 3AM.

In a suburban street, one man wakes...

..to discover he's not alone.

-Oh!

-Oh!

EERIE MUSIC PLAYS

SCREAMS

Oh!

Critically acclaimed by our audience...

..and written, starring and directed by 27-year-old Frederick Wolf.

Yes!

Being one of the final three films is really, really amazing for me.

It gives me a lot of joy knowing that the film worked,

that people got scared,

seeing the reactions of the people after having watched the film.

It's nice. It gives me a lot of joy.

Having reviewed the first finalist, what did Hollywood's

master scare-mongerer make of it?

3AM was fantastic. I loved the atmosphere created.

Those long shots at the beginning and the acting was great.

It's very difficult to act realistically scared.

He did it really well.

A little bit more darkness in that room would've been better

and then the sound was impeccable, a really great atmosphere,

especially at the end.

They brought it up and then they had a release of the tension and

then that thing at the end, whatever it was,

it definitely made me jump.

I thought it was just perfect timing and it was really effective.

A strong start from our first film-maker,

props for getting a jump out of Eduardo Sanchez - impressive stuff!

But how will the other finalists compare?

Next up, it's Capture.

Stephen, it's perfect.

I love it. We're finally home.

SCREAMS

Oh, my God!

Hailed by our audience...

..and directed by 25-year-old Irish couple

Kiefer McGinn and Rachel Hegarty.

We would love to win The Fear competition.

It will be an amazing achievement for people like us.

-We're only...

-Starting out.

..starting out and making films, so, this would just give us

an extra push to create bigger and better things.

This terrifying short certainly captured our audience,

but did it grab Eduardo?

Capture was great. Great little horror film.

I loved the set-up at the beginning.

You had a little bit of story which is very difficult to

do in a short film and I think it was one of the best jump scares.

I thought it was really, really effective

and I loved the build-up to that,

like you knew something was going to happen, but it was very unexpected.

Who's there?

I thought that the performance of the woman at the end could

have been a little bit higher.

You really want to end the film with something that the audience

remembers and you don't want them remembering something

that is a bit too underplayed.

But it's hard to, kind of, surprise somebody like me

who watches a lot of horror films...

SCREAMING

..with something new, I thought it was just really effective.

It was a really great film.

Eduardo there, bemoaning the importance

of putting in a strong performance.

He should speak to my girlfriend.

They'd get on like a bloody house on fire.

But how will Capture perform against our last movie?

It's time for his remaining finalist, it's Paranoia.

What evil lurks beneath this house?

Things that go bump in the night.

Nominated by our cinemagoers!

Argh!

This psychological spine chiller was directed by 17-year-olds,

Harry Courtney and Matt Traszko.

We put a lot of hard work and effort into this.

It would be really good to see it amount to something,

something more than just a hobby.

Winning this competition would mean a lot,

as far as starting careers are concerned.

Paranoia was, you know, just left me really uneasy, you know?

It was one of these films that you don't know what's going to happen.

You don't know what tricks the film-makers are going to do

and I love the false scare at the beginning where the friend

scares the other guy.

-Argh!

-Oh, my God!

And then I really loved how they had

that figure, the man, or whatever, in a couple of shots behind them.

It's probably the least technically savvy of the films,

but there was something about it that kind of really spoke to me.

The atmosphere in that film was really great.

From the very beginning to the very end.

So as the curtain closes for the last time

in the screaming room, it's time to bring up Eduardo

and find out which film will win the competition.

So here's Eduardo,

welcome to the projection room!

-How are you?

-Thanks for having me here.

Pleasure to have you.

You've seen the three finalists.

What did you think?

I saw them, I thought they were great.

The decision to pick the winner, really tough.

Three very strong films.

Strong in different ways too, and they all creeped me out pretty good.

Right, so I think the only thing we need to find out now

is ultimately who our winner is.

So this is it, folks.

We are moments away from Eduardo revealing

to us who is the winner of this competition.

He will take his position at the projector, press play,

and we will be able to enjoy the winner in all its glory.

Eduardo, will you take your position, please?

-Let's do it!

-Let's do this.

Before all that, though, a massive thank you to all our film-makers.

Hopefully they've given you some sleepless nights

and a big thank you to our esteemed judge, Eduardo.

Only one thing left to do. Hit it, baby!

So, will it be Capture,

Paranoia

or 3am?

The winner is...

Paranoia!

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

No.

No, Mum, I'll be fine....

It's not like I haven't lived away from home before.

Just, please, stop worrying.

OK. Yes, it's all done. Yes. OK.

I'm going now. Bye. Bye, love you, bye, bye.

CLATTERING

DOOR CREAKS

SWITCH CLICKS

HE SCREAMS

Oh, my God.

Should have seen your face.

What the hell, man, that's not cool.

Didn't tell me you had a basement.

-I know, it's spooky, right!

-Whatever, mate.

DOOR BELL RINGS

Was that the door bell?

-DOOR BELL RINGS

-I think so. You expecting someone?

-No, you?

-I don't think so.

-New neighbours?

-Maybe.

Matt, you left the door open! Anyone could've got in!

What do you mean? You were the last one in.

Whatever.

-I didn't leave the door open.

-Yeah, whatever, mate. I'm going to bed.

-Your turn to turn the lights off!

-Mate, you can't...

Seriously! I turned them off last night.

What the hell...?

PHONE RINGS

DOOR CLICKS OPEN

Very funny, Harry.

I can hear your phone, you idiot.

Matt, who are you talking to?

-Huh?

-Who are you talking to?

I never thought, from the moment I found out about the competition,

-that we'd win.

-I was shocked when we got into the top three.

-Waiting for everyone to go, "Ha! We're joking!"

-"It's a joke!"

We're just two dudes with a camera and some spare time on the weekend

and we like to try and make people laugh or make people scream,

-and it worked!

-We'd also like to thank Matt and Eduardo.

And we'd like to thank the cinema audience, because without you guys

-me and Matthew wouldn't be standing here.

-Onwards and upwards from this.