The rise of the modern British B-movie

If there’s a phrase that captures the frantic energy of the modern British B-movie, it’s the concept of the ‘heart attack shoot’. And Rhys Frake-Waterfield knows more about it than most.

‘It’s not unusual to spend more than 12 hours on set,’ says the happy-go-lucky thirtysomething director during a short break from promoting his new low-budget slasher. The breakneck pace means that the shooting of an entire feature can be wrapped up in weeks, thus ensuring the project is as cheap as possible.

Cutting corners is a necessity. ‘On Winnie the Pooh, we tried to save time by not reshooting any scenes,’ he says. ‘Unless the actors made a really glaring mistake, we would just stick with the first take.’ True to the old B-movie ethos of the 1960s, the focus is on bringing the product to market at ungodly speed.

If you’ve been on YouTube recently, you may have seen a trailer for Frake-Waterfield’s Winnie the Pooh – or Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey to give it its full name.