Breeder is the first feature film in the gore genre to bear the made- in-Malta label.

They’re cheesy and they’re certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but gore films – or splatter films, as they are better known in the US – have an undeniably strong fanbase, including in Malta.

With cult classics like Andre de Toth’s 1953 House of Wax and Tobe Hooper’s 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre leading the way to more recent blockbusters like Saw and Hostel, it was only a matter of time before Malta, too, got its own gore full-length feature film, Breeder.

Breeder had, in fact, already created quite a bit of buzz when the project first originated as a short last year. And, while this genre of film is unlikely to attract the admiration of the more puritan class of filmgoer, it does have one thing going for it; it doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is - a great dose of ridiculous fun.

“The production is a continuation of a project which started last year, with the creation of the short film called The Breeder,” says the film’s director Patrick Vella. “Back then, it was an experimental horror film and it did very well in many countries, including Spain, the US, Italy, Poland, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil – countries which are known to enjoy such horror films.”

The Breeder did so well, in fact, that it was officially selected in 40 horror film festivals, won four awards, including the Truly Disturbing Award and was nominated four other times for Best Short, Best Horror and Best Horror Director.

There are not enough producers here in Malta who would do it because it is not thought of as a moneymaker

“I teamed up with Evolution Media to produce a feature-length film based on the same concept,” Vella tells us. “To create a more linguistically universal feel, we dropped the article in the title.”

The film sees our islands as the set of a storyline that taps into the most primeval of fears. Breeder is a vermiphobic’s worst nightmare. The story sees living humans being turned into worm farms in a grisly celebration that finds its inspiration in countless splatter and slasher classics.

Vella’s role in Breeder was more than to simply direct it, however. Throughout the six-month process, he doubled as co-producer, co-screenplay writer along with Stefan Magri and as one of the cast members.

“Why? Well, there are not enough producers here in Malta who would produce such a film because it is not thought of as a money-maker,” Vella says. “Breeder is undoubtedly a niche film and will, therefore, face various restrictions, including an 18+ classification.

“Also, due to the size of the industry, film actors are somewhat scarce in Malta. Thankfully, I had a great cast and together we went through a series of method acting at pre-production.”

The film, as Vella says, took seven months from pre-production to post-production. As with any unfunded project, the biggest hurdle was the budget and, although Breeder can still be considered a low-budget film by international standards, the amount forked out by him and others, including Evolution Media, was not low at all.

Besides producing and directing short films for the past two years, Vella has had many of his titles selected for various international short film festivals. Many may remember him winning the Best Local Director and Best Original Concept with his short film The Elected at the Malta TV Short Film Festival. His passion for horror has also given life to Dar il-Waħx, a yearly pop-up house of horror with live actors that has become a seasonal favourite.

“The trick is to have thrills, gore and a good story,” says Vella. “Yes, Breeder is graphic and explicit, the language is harsh, and some of the visuals are in-your-face, but there is a story to follow. I made it a point to include not only suspense and scares, but also an intriguing flow.”

One intriguing aspect of the movie is the language, which is not limited to Maltese. Why?

“Malta has Maltese speakers, English speakers, and what I call the ‘in-betweeners’. I wanted to have all three of them in this film, in order to reflect the cultural reality. Breeder is not here to educate the Maltese public correct language usage. There are already many films that do that very well.

“What we wanted was a representation of how the Maltese truly converse with each other according to their cultural background and upbringing… Love it or hate it, this is Malta,” Vella concludes.

Breeder premieres at Eden Century Cinemas on Wednesday. Tickets are available online.

www.edencinemas.com.mt

Filming facts

• Real worms were used during filming, which actors found particularly ticklish.

• Actor John Peel had a scene where he was immersed and filmed under water. The one-minute scene took two hours of filming and the actor re-emerged in a less-than-pristine condition. The director swore to never again use industrial black tape to tie an actor’s hands.

• One of the scenes involved actor Bryn Manning taking on the part of a corpse that is found in Delimara. Manning says that playing dead in the rough sea was one of the toughest roles he’s had.