Indie Scottish horror film The Bench began filming 17 years ago, and it’s only now streaming on Amazon Prime.
When writer/director Sean Wilkie set out to make horror film The Bench 17 years ago, he surely couldn’t have imagined it would take until 2024 for audiences to see it.
According to the BBC, production began in 2007, with scenes shot in the Caves venue in Edinburgh, with exterior scenes shot in Lochwinnoch and Drumpellier Country Park.
The synopsis reads as follows:
A breakdown. A kind invitation. A cabin with a bloody past. Alex and her newfound friends face a nightmarish reality as they are picked off one by one, drawn to the sinister bench below. Inspired by low-budget horror films of the 1970s.
The cast includes Jennifer Byrne, Matt McClure Ilaria Nardini and Joy McAvoy.
Wilkie wrote and directed the film. Of the delay, he said, “The first two weeks on location were fine but we couldn’t keep that up. I wish we’d have someone following us all the way though, as it would have made some documentary. Due to the weather and other things we couldn’t finish filming as planned, so we were coming back on odd weekends here and there to complete it”.
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Weather, money and cast availability meant that filming wasn’t completed until 2011. An arduous post production period led Wilkie to put the film away in a drawer, until Lost At Christmas director Ryan Hendrick convinced him to finish it.
The experience inspired Wilkie to continue making films. He confirmed that, “I’ve mostly been writing, but we showed it at Cineworld recently and the audience seemed to really like it. Shooting in 2007 has worked out for us as it gave us a production value we could never have afforded now – it’s almost like a period piece!”.
The Bench is available to stream on Amazon Prime. Meanwhile, here’s a trailer:
