 We love Jake West here at Zone Horror. His movies contain a visceral and unique style making him one of the most exciting directors around. Anyone who caught his movie Evil Aliens recently on Zone Horror will agree to this. His latest film, Doghouse is due in cinemas on June 12 th so we thought we’d chase Jake down and lead (lead, get it?) him into answering some questions for us.
ZH: I recall talking to you a few years back and you mentioned Doghouse then, it’s been a long time to get this together but how did the project originally come about?
JW: I developed it over a long time with Dan Schaffer, the comic book creator of Dogwitch and he had this idea for a sort of battle of the sexes zombie film.
ZH: That’s pretty original!
JW: Yeah, well the “Zombirds” in the movie are visual metaphors for male anxieties of relationships so “Snipper” is castrations, “Bride” is marriage but I don’t know if all the audience will get this. They could just see a kick-ass horror flick that’s a lot of fun.
ZH: Well that’s what makes it such an original horror film isn’t it?
JW: Yeah, that’s what we’re hoping for. I think a better horror film always has another layer to it. Something like Evil Aliens, which I love and I think is great fun but it doesn’t really have much subtext to it (laughs)
 ZH: Agreed and that’s the sort of horror film that doesn’t need one.
JW: Yeah, well that’s what I’ve been saying to a couple of people about Evil Aliens as it’s a great ride and that’s what it was intended to be.
ZH: For zombies especially the genre has needed a new subtext hasn’t it, you can’t have them just shambling around can you?
JW: Exactly, there’s got to be a point to it, we have some real fun in how the virus is spread but I won’t spoil it for you!
ZH: Have you aimed for an 18 or 15 certificate with Doghouse?
JW: My feeling is this more likely to be 15 rather than an 18. There is nothing that could be regarded as “sexual violence” though there are blokes attacking women and women attacking blokes.
ZH: But it’s all in a context.
JW: I’d be surprised if it was an 18, its not as overtly gory as Evil Aliens, but all the spirit of that gore is there.
 ZH: Doghouse also boasts a great cast that reads like a Who's Who of the best new talent around.
JW: Yeah, we’ve got Stephen Graham, Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke and some up and coming talent. Lee Ingleby is fantastic, Christina Cole they are all so good.
ZH: Jake West, thank you very much
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