Tori: The isolation of the location played a huge role in the initial inspiration of the film as well as the story and the atmosphere of it. Can you tell us more about the setting and the role it plays in this film?
Q: From ‘The Shining’ to ‘Midsommar’, isolation is often such an important and effective tool of the horror genre. Her friends were sent to find Persephone and when they failed, their punishment was to be transformed into sirens, luring sailors to their death with their spell binding song. This reminded us of the Greek myth of Persephone and when she was abducted by Hades her mother, Demeter, cursed the land bringing famine for six months of the year until her daughter was returned to her. Being on the island you can’t help but think of the community that used to live and thrive in this isolation.įrom there we researched into the reasons behind its abandonment in the mid 1800’s and discovered it was due to a food plight. Inspiration when staying on the island came easily, from the spectacular dramatic landscape, the dark mysterious woodland and the miles of solitary Atlantic Ocean out to the west. We went up to Eileen Shona for a recce and immediately feel in love with it, it’s hard not to. We were approached by Louis Devereux who explained that his family owned this magical island in Scotland and they’d always wanted to film something there but the BBC had deemed it too difficult to shoot on, due to the incredibly difficult access and non-existent roads. Matthew: The main inspiration came from the island itself.
Where did you draw inspiration from when constructing this story?
Q: Peter Bradshaw commented that there are ‘hints of Shakespeare and classical and Scots mythology’ in ‘The Isle’. Set against stunning Scottish scenery, the film harnesses haunting visuals and an evocative score to creep unnervingly into your bones and leave you full of atmospheric unease.Ĭlose-up Culture’s James Prestridge caught up with the couple behind The Isle – Matthew and Tori Butler-Hart – to learn more ahead of the film’s release on EST (15 July) and TVOD & DVD (22 July). Dark Victorian ghost story, The Isle, has drawn high praise from the likes of Stephen Fry and critic Peter Bradshaw.
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