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Meredith Alfred Lytton (born 15 June 1985), known professionally as Richard John Taylor, is a British filmmaker, [1] [2] author [3] and restaurateur. [4]
In 2011, Taylor formed Princess Films with the goal of producing "hard hitting and thought provoking" documentaries.[ citation needed ] His first film was I Want To Talk About It, [5] a documentary looking at the effects of rape, fronted by actress Louisa Lytton.
In 2012 the company moved on to feature films, the first being Fifteen starring Nicholas Ball. He later wrote and directed Acceptance [6] [7] with Billy Murray, Leslie Grantham, Crissy Rock and Chris Langham. [8]
He worked with Grantham on two more films, a short entitled Leslie [9] in which Grantham plays a fictionalised version of himself and the feature The Factory [10] which was loosely inspired by the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the life of the actor Gene Wilder. Langham also makes an appearance in The Factory as the lead characters family doctor.
In March 2014, Simon Hattenstone wrote an article in The Guardian , accusing Taylor of having falsified claims in regards to his business associates and defrauded investors. [4] According to the article, Taylor claimed to work for the BBC as chief editor for the television show EastEnders but in fact never worked on the production. [4] The article states the accusations were not pursued or upheld legally, but described Taylor as a "con man" and says none of his films have "gained a distribution deal" and that "None of the films, which were made cheaply and very fast, has ever been broadcast". [4] Hattenstone suggests that Taylor lied to and financially exploited a woman who had been the victim of sexual abuse. [4]
In February 2018, he wrote and directed The Krays: Dead Man Walking starring Marc Pickering and EastEnders actors Rita Simons, Leslie Grantham, Chris Ellison and Nicholas Ball. Released by Sony Pictures on 10 September 2018, it was the biggest first week on DVD of any non-theatrical British film that year. [11] [ better source needed ] In November 2019, Dread Central announced that due to the commercial success of the film, Taylor would return to direct a sequel titled The Krays: New Blood. [12] The article also stated that Taylor was working on a memoir about the life of Leslie Grantham, who died in 2018.
In October 2018, he wrote, edited, produced and directed Muse, a psychological horror starring Nicholas Ball. The script was first conceived as a vehicle for Leslie Grantham, who remained onboard as producer, making the film his last official screen credit. [13] [ better source needed ]Muse was released on 8 March 2019 on Amazon Prime in the US and UK. Taylor was awarded 'Best Cinematography' at the 2019 London International Motion Picture Awards for his work on the film. [14]
In March 2020, an article on Dread Central [15] released news that Taylor's production company Hello Princess was at the pre-production stage with six horror films. ‘The Disappearance of Little Lottie, The Huntress of Auschwitz, Man Eater, The Butcher Baker, Actors Vs Zombies, and The Silent Assassin would all be written and directed by Taylor with production starting from summer 2020. The article also stated that Taylor's memoir of Grantham was called Where I'm Going, You Can't Follow.
On 11 August 2020, Taylor was interviewed by Dread Central [16] to celebrate the unveiling of the trailer [17] for his forthcoming film Vengeance starring Billy Murray and Grantham. The interview confirmed his production company Hello Princess had moved into pre-production on previously mentioned projects The Huntress of Auschwitz and The Disappearance of Little Lottie while also developing a female-led Dracula project. Taylor said that he had written a children's book, The Loneliest Cow, which was published in 2020.
Christopher Langham is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom The Thick of It, and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost entirely an unseen character. He subsequently created several spoof advertisements in the same vein. He also played similar unseen interviewers in an episode of the television series Happy Families and in the film The Big Tease. He is also known for his roles in the television series Not the Nine O'Clock News, Help, and Kiss Me Kate, and as the gatehouse guard in Chelmsford 123. In 2006, he won BAFTA awards for The Thick of It and Help.
Robert Barton Englund is an American actor and director, best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Englund began his career as a stage actor in regional theatre, and made his film debut in Buster and Billie in 1974. After supporting roles in films in the 1970s such as Stay Hungry, A Star Is Born, and Big Wednesday, Englund had his breakthrough as the resistance fighter Willie in the miniseries V in 1983. Following his performance in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, he became closely associated with the horror film genre, and is widely-regarded as one of its iconic actors.
Leslie Michael Grantham was an English actor, best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a West German taxi driver, and had significant press coverage resulting from an online sex scandal in 2004.
Brad Anderson is an American film director, producer and writer. A director of thriller and horror films and television projects, he is best known for having directed The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale, psychological horror film Session 9 (2001) and The Call (2013), starring Halle Berry. He also produced and directed several installments of the Fox science fiction television series Fringe. Early in his career, he directed the romantic comedies Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000).
Richard Tyson is an American actor. He is best known as Kaz in Hardball (1989–1990) as well as his film roles in Three O'Clock High (1987), Two Moon Junction (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Bound to Vengeance (2015), and Playing with Dolls (2015).
The Dungeonmaster is a 1984 American anthology fantasy film produced by Charles Band, and is split up into seven distinct story segments, each written and directed by a different person: Dave Allen, Band, John Carl Buechler, Steven Ford, Peter Manoogian, Ted Nicolaou and Rosemarie Turko. The film's theme was influenced by the popularity of Disney's 1982 film Tron and the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons.
The Legacy is a 1978 horror film directed by Richard Marquand, in his directorial debut, and starring Katharine Ross, Sam Elliott, Roger Daltrey, John Standing, and Margaret Tyzack. It follows an American couple who are summoned to a British mansion while visiting England for a work obligation, where they stumble upon its family's curse.
Cellar Dweller is a 1988 American monster horror film about a comic book artist who unleashes a demon after drawing it. It was directed by John Carl Buechler, written by Don Mancini, and stars Debrah Farentino and Brian Robbins.
Jack Alexander Huston is a British actor. He appeared as Richard Harrow in the HBO television drama series Boardwalk Empire. He also had a supporting role in the 2013 film American Hustle, portrayed the eponymous Ben-Hur in the 2016 historical drama, and appeared as one of the main characters in the fourth season of the FX anthology series Fargo (2020). In 2023, he starred in the supernatural television series Mayfair Witches.
Brad Sykes is an American screenwriter and film director.
Timon C. West is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and occasional actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films The Roost (2005), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), The Sacrament (2013), X and its prequel Pearl, and the Western In a Valley of Violence (2016). He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.
Vengeance of the Zombies is a 1972 Spanish horror film directed by León Klimovsky and starring Paul Naschy, Mirta Miller, Vic Winner and Aurora de Alba. The film was shot in July 1972, but was only theatrically released in Spain in June 1973. It was shown in Italy as La Vendetta dei Morti Viventi. The film was shown in Germany over the years under three different titles....Rebellion of the Living Dead, Invocation of the Devil and Blood Lust of the Zombies.
Adam Richard Steigert is an American filmmaker, featured in books, newspapers, magazines, podcasts, and various interviews. He is known for his films OMBIS Alien Invasion, A Grim Becoming, Fang and The Horrific Evil Monsters. He co-founded the Buffalo-based production company 388 Studios in 2018.
Epic Pictures Group is an independent film and television studio engaged in the development, financing, production and distribution of film and television. Epic Pictures produces, finances, and distributes approximately twenty-thirty independent genre films a year. In 2013, the company established Epic Pictures Releasing which is its US focused distribution division. In 2017, Epic Pictures acquired the horror website, Dread Central, and launched its unique horror label, Dread, followed by its AVOD channel, DreadTV. In 2019, Epic Pictures started the horror gaming site, DreadXP, with a focus on editorial, reviews, podcasts, and original streaming content. In 2020, DreadXP began a video game publishing division with the launch of The Dread X Collection, an anthology of horror games in collaboration with some developers in the independent gaming space.
Terrifier is a 2016 American slasher film written and directed by Damien Leone. The film stars Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, David Howard Thornton, and Catherine Corcoran. The plot centers on partygoer Tara Heyes (Kanell) and her sister Victoria (Scaffidi), who become targets of the enigmatic serial killer only known as Art the Clown (Thornton) on Halloween night.
The Huntress is a 1923 American drama film directed by Lynn Reynolds and written by Percy Heath. It is based on the 1922 novel The Huntress by Hulbert Footner. The film stars Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Russell Simpson, Walter Long, C.E. Anderson, and Snitz Edwards. The film was released on August 20, 1923, by Associated First National Pictures.
Nightmare Factory is a 2011 documentary film directed by Donna Davies about KNB EFX Group, a special effects company.
In Search of Darkness is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by David A. Weiner and executive produced by Robin Block of CreatorVC Studios. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film explores the development and lasting impact of the horror film genre during the 1980s, and features interviews with numerous horror icons both from that decade and from the modern era, along with popular horror influencers.
Aiyai: Wrathful Soul is a 2020 Australian psychological, supernatural, mystery thriller directed by Ilanthirayan Alan Arumugam in his directorial debut while the script was made alongside Mukund Ramanad and Charles Benedict. The film was produced by Kanesh Mohana Sundaram of Aiyai Pty Ltd. The film premiered on 28 February 2020.
The Krays: Dead Man Walking is a British crime drama film written and directed by Richard John Taylor and starring Rita Simons, Josh Myers, Christopher Ellison and Guy Henry. It was released on 10 September 2018.
