''Strange Factories'' is a 2013 British

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

written, directed by John Harrigan and produced by the British immersive

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

collective FoolishPeople. The film is an example of

interactive cinema Interactive cinema tries to give an audience an active role in the showing of movies. Another newer definition of interactive cinema is a video game which is a hybrid between participation and viewing, giving the player – or viewer, as it were ...

, featuring a mixture of film and live performance. It centers on a writer, who travels through a mysterious landscape filled with cultists, hallucinatory visions, and a mysterious factory that emanates a strange humming sound.

Plot

A tormented writer named Victor journeys through a mysterious, dream-like landscape in search of a group of performers from a theater that mysteriously burned down. As he continues through the landscape, he begins to uncover a bizarre cult under the hallucinatory influence of a nearby factory, and a sinister pact he once made with its owner. All the while he is tormented by visions and a strange humming sound that emanates from the factory.

Cast

*John Harrigan as Victor *Annalisa Astarita as Hettie *Rachael Blyth as Emma *Tereza Kamenicka as Lady Thayn *David Monard as Sam *Claire Louise Oliver as Jessica *Lucy Harrigan as Rose *Claire Tregellas as Jess *Mark Postgate as Arlec *Xanadu Xero as Marina

Reception

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...

gave the film a positive review, writing, "''Strange Factories'' may not be for the more literal-minded of horror fans. But fans of the theatrical side of performances, the technical side of writing, and the appreciators of the surreal and offbeat will find a lot of things to appreciate." Sarah Stewart from '' The Londonist'' praised the film's atmosphere, suspense, and innovative blending of celluloid and live-action performance. Rachel Simm from ''The Latest Brighton'' gave the film three out of five stars, praising the film's atmosphere, and suspense, calling it "eerie, unsettling and somewhat puzzling".

References

External links

* * * * {{Rotten tomatoes, strange_factories_2013 2013 films 2013 horror films 2010s avant-garde and experimental films 2013 independent films British avant-garde and experimental films British horror films British independent films British black-and-white films Crowdfunded films Films shot in Hampshire Indiegogo projects Interactive films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films