‘Film isn’t an easy industry to navigate or to break into but everyone has seen the passion we have had for this’
Cast and crew of new independent Hull film, Final Pill(Image: hj.images)
A new thriller shot entirely in one location in Hull is in the working. Feature-length horror film Final Pill is the creation of Hull-based independent film-maker Caylem Scott and is being produced by fellow University of Hull alumnus Joseph Shepherd.
Final Pill is based on a short film that Caylem made for his media production final year piece. With its themes of “control and coercion”, “fear and moral collapse” and “Northern realism”, Final Pill shows Hull living under constant nuclear tension.
When a government-issued euthanasia kit contains only one pill, a fractured relationship collapses into violence, exposing how fear and control can be deadlier than the apocalypse itself. Explaining his vision, Caylem said: “Final Pill is about control and survival when the outside world has collapsed into noise and fear.
“The story is stripped down to one flat, three people, and one terrible choice. By keeping the camera trapped in the same suffocating space, the audience experiences the same pressure as the characters.
“For me this film is about how people destroy each other when authority tells them to give up. The pill itself becomes a silent fourth character at the table, waiting to be claimed.”
Caylem’s projects have been showcased at various local and national film festivals, earning recognition for their originality and emotional impact. It was at Hull’s UNTHINKABLE film festival last autumn that his original Final Pill was seen by The Human Centipede star Laurence R Harvey.
The actor had voiced his appreciation of it, so Caylem and Joseph decided to ask if he would like to be in the feature film. “He was available and up for it,” said Joseph, founder of Shepherd Creative, whose focus is inclusive storytelling. “We took a big crew and cast photo yesterday with him.
“Laurence is an absolutely lovely man. When he comes into a room he makes everything better that’s around him.”
Laurence will play a neighbour in the film, which is being shot in an apartment in Hull. The other characters are couple, Jack and Eve, and Yara, a co-worker who Jack has been secretly seeing and is now pregnant.
Joseph said filming was ongoing with “two more shooting days left, then the edit”, and that the whole of the creative community in the city, the council, property managers and more had been supportive in the venture. He said: “Then it will be planning everything to do with the releasing and distribution of it.
“I’m hoping for a preview event for the film in Hull. I think we’re slowly seeing the start of recognition for Hull as a hub of creativity and talent.
“Film isn’t an easy industry to navigate or to break into but everyone has seen the passion we have had for this. From the outset of this project, Caylem and I were committed to creating opportunities for local talent.
“Our hope is that Final Pill becomes part of a wider creative momentum in the city — more films, more voices, and more ambition coming out of Hull.”