Chiller from Bridlington film-makers is set on Christmas Eve
“Everybody loves a feel-good Christmas movie. This isn’t one of them”. That is the tag line for a brand new horror film set on Christmas Eve from two brothers from East Yorkshire.
James Pickering has written and produced He Kills At Night, which has been selected for FrightFest 2025 – “the dark heart of cinema” – and will have its world premiere at London’s Odeon, in Leicester Square, this month. James’s brother, Tom, directed the festive season chiller.
The 80-minute horror film was filmed earlier this year across Yorkshire locations, including Bridlington, Sheffield, Holmfirth and Stocksbridge. It tells the story of a mother desperate to reconnect with her estranged family on Christmas Eve, who is abducted by a blood-soaked stranger and forced to help him flee the country.
The feature promises a tense, twist-driven narrative in the spirit of John Carpenter, whose work inspires director Tom, and stars Levi Heaton, Richard Galloway and Isabella Percival. It was produced under James’s own company, Memphis James Pictures, named after his three-year-old son, Memphis.
James, 39, is a lecturer at MetFilm School, Manchester. This latest feature by him will debut as part of the UK’s most prestigious horror genre film festival, on August 23.
James’s route from “Brid” to Leicester Square involved his first experience of cinema – Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – but it was Jurassic Park that changed everything. “I realised then that a film could take you absolutely anywhere,” he said.
By the age of ten, he had written his own episode of The X-Files. Although he initially planned to study mathematics, a teacher convinced him to reconsider.
“They told me I was making the wrong choice and pushed me towards film,” he said. “That one conversation changed my life.”
He went on to study Film Theory at Sheffield Hallam University and later began teaching A-Level and BTEC Media and Film at Boston College. “Teaching showed me how much new talent needs genuine opportunities,” he said.
Since becoming a father, James admits his writing has grown darker, something he links to a heightened sense of stakes. “You see the world differently when you have a child,” he said.
In addition to education, his career as a writer and producer has gathered momentum. His debut feature, All Joking Aside, a drama about a young woman pursuing stand-up comedy, premiered at Cinequest in 2020 and won the New Visions Award.
Originally set in Barnsley, the film was eventually shot in New York and later nominated for multiple Canadian film awards. His second feature project, the documentary I Could Never Go Vegan, marked his first as a producer and was released across UK cinemas in 2024 to critical acclaim; it went on to secure distribution in North America and Europe.
He Kills At Night is his latest completed work, and his next project, Dead Howling, is already in development. The creature thriller, set for release in 2026, has attracted an impressive cast including Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian).
It is being produced by Tom Reeve, known for the cult British horror Dog Soldiers. James cites Scream writer Kevin Williamson as a major influence on his screenwriting style and says his love of genre storytelling runs deep.
“Horror and thrillers grab people in a way few other genres can,” he said. “They demand a reaction. That’s what I wanted to achieve with this film.”
As FrightFest approaches, James said he is proud not only of the film but of what it represents for his students, 13 of whom worked on the production across departments. “They’ll be able to say they worked on a film that premiered at Leicester Square,” he said.
“That’s the kind of experience that opens doors. The UK film sector is thriving, and people will always want films.
“Just look at streaming. There is constant demand for stories, and we need professionals to create them.”
He Kills At Night director Tom said: “The emotions that a finely crafted film can evoke in an individual is quite a special thing. The way a comedy can lift your entire mood, or a period drama can transport you to a different time is nothing to be scoffed at. But I’ve always found the most truly engaging of all genres are the thriller and the horror.”
Tom said: “I’ve always been especially attracted to the work of John Carpenter, and in particular, his films that explore the darkness inside us, highlighting the horrors that humans are capable of. Films like The Thing and Assault On Precinct 13 have stayed with me from the moment I first watched them, and I firmly group He Kills At Night into this category of horror-thriller.
“There’s something so exciting about taking the audience on a journey that unfolds in almost real time, with twists and turns at every corner that leaves them questioning whether everything is as it seems. This is how I’ve told the story of He Kills At Night – a rollercoaster of a film that flies by like a train rolling through town without any brakes.”