Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) has long been heralded as one of the most established names in British horror history, and now he’s lending his producing skills to an exciting up-and-coming name in UK indie horror. The prolific director has teamed up with Janine Pipe, author of Sausages: The Making of Dog Soldiers and founder of Pipe Screams Productions, to executive produce her second short film, Footsteps – and Fango has all the deets for you below.
Footsteps is based on Pipe’s short story of the same name that was originally published in the 2020 charity anthology Diabolica Britannica: A Dark Isles Horror Compendium. The story was subsequently nominated for a Splatterpunk Award due to ‘the extreme nature of the violence and use of menstrual blood as a plot-point.’ It is also featured in Pipe’s collection, Twisted: Tainted Tales (2021). Horror fiction icon Ramsey Campbell praised the story for ‘…reclaiming sylvan menace. If the myth women can’t write extreme horror still exists, send its proponents here.’
The official synopsis for Footsteps reads as follows:
A group of young women head to Marshall Woods, intending to blow off steam and find inspiration for their book about local ‘missing person’ lore and legends. They soon discover they are not alone and unwittingly begin a bloody fight for survival against a terrifying and unnatural antagonist.
Pipe has of course collaborated with Marshall extensively in the past for her book Sausages: The Making of Dog Soldiers, which took a deep dive into the history behind the werewolf cult classic. The pair have also begun further collaboration on another book, The Making of The Descent, scheduled for release in 2025 and are currently in discussion regarding the possibility of making a documentary to go alongside it.
In a statement, Pipe spoke enthusiastically about reuniting with Marshall on the upcoming project:
I’m so excited for this production. It’s always been one of my best and most bloody stories and I can’t wait to start creating the creature and working with Georgie (Kerssenbrock, VFX artist on Footsteps) to come up with some great FX gags. And of course, having Neil on board as EP is both a huge honour and a massive boost for my confidence. It’s not every day your favourite filmmaker is able to support you in this way and I will never forget it. I have an incredible team assembled and we will make him proud to put his name to a Pipe Screams production.
You can check out all the latest updates on Footsteps over at Janine’s Twitter, as well as the first official poster reveal below:
