About

Witchman Films is a new production company set up by Paul Duane and Nick Franco at 1185 Films to make genre films in Ireland & the UK. Their first film, All You Need Is Death, premiered in October 2023 at the prestigious Beyond Festival in Los Angeles, and goes on theatrical release in the USA, Ireland & the UK in April 2024.

Strong, original and surprising genre films, made with ambition and skill, will never go out of fashion. While big-budget middle-of-the-road dramas crash and burn without finding an audience, smaller, more niche films are finding success via the multitude of streaming platforms and the online word-of-mouth that passes through the genre film community.

About

Witchman Films is a new production company set up by Paul Duane and Nick Franco at 1185 Films to make genre films in Ireland & the UK. Their first film, All You Need Is Death, premiered in October 2023 at the prestigious Beyond Festival in Los Angeles, and goes on theatrical release in the USA, Ireland & the UK in April 2024.

Strong, original and surprising genre films, made with ambition and skill, will never go out of fashion. While big-budget middle-of-the-road dramas crash and burn without finding an audience, smaller, more niche films are finding success via the multitude of streaming platforms and the online word-of-mouth that passes through the genre film community.

Projects

All You Need Is Death - Trailer

All You Need Is Death - The story

All You Need Is Death tells the story of two young folklore collectors who accidentally record an ancient and taboo Irish ballad, which when translated into English releases a terrible curse. The film’s score is composed by Ian Lynch of the hugely successful ‘doom-folk’ group Lankum.

Upcoming

Photo of the director of All You Need Is Death, Paul Duane. Taken by photographer Claxton.

Our future productions will include Fiesta, a dark comedy about terrorism; The Empty Cell, a tense, extremely violent prison horror film; The Something, which returns to the cosmic Irish horror landscape of All You Need Is Death, and Para, a folk-horror film set in the 1970s in the North of Ireland.

The film was shot in fifteen days, in freezing cold Irish January weather. XYZ Films, who have made such internationally successful genre classics as The Raid and Mandy, picked up the film for distribution while it was still shooting, on the basis of two edited scenes sent to them while they were attending Sundance.

It features Simone Collins, Charlie Maher, Nigel O’Neill and Catherine Siggins, as well as cameos by the iconic Olwen Fouéré (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Northman) & Barry Gleeson (the brother of Oscar-nominee Brendan Gleeson in his first film role).

ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH GALLERY

Olwen Fouere's character Rita Concannon drinking while sitting down in her room with a bottle on her hand. The room has a statue of Mary and bottles on a table.

Ben Stewardson who plays Aleksagnes / Emaciated Aleks.

MORE INFO

The film is a co-production with 1185 Films. Paul Duane and Nick Franco have worked together on many projects and with Witchman Films they are making their association even closer. Paul Duane has been a working writer/director since 1989, when he sold his student film, Ink, a short horror film, to Irish TV – the first short film ever bought by the station.

An overlay of Olwen Fouere's character Rita Concannon over a landscape of a forest.

Actor Charlie Maher who plays Aleks in the movie All You Need Is Death.

Catherine Siggins's portrait, as Agnes.

Ben Stewardson who plays Aleksagnes / Emaciated Aleks.

A selfie taken by director Paul Duane with Actress Simone Collins. Covered in fake blood smiling.

A scene from the film All You Need Is Death. Gary Whelan's character, The Old King. He has eyes painted on his hands and a white stripe going down on his face in the middle.

A scene from the film All You Need Is Death. Situated in an abandoned warehouse where Nigel O'Neill's character Breezeblock Concannon tied up Simone Collins' character Anna.

A scene from the film All You Need Is Death. At the end of the corridor you can see Catherine Siggins' character Agnes walking away.

Investors

Between Paul Duane’s range of experience as a producer/director over several decades, and Nick Franco’s producing and post-production skills, it will be possible to make quality genre films that have great production value on economical budgets.

Nick Franco and Sam Nandra at 1185 Films are in the process of setting up an EIS fund for their slate of films; please contact us below if you wish to invest.

Investors

Between Paul Duane’s range of experience as a producer/director over several decades, and Nick Franco’s producing and post-production skills, it will be possible to make quality genre films that have great production value on economical budgets.

Nick Franco and Sam Nandra at 1185 Films are in the process of setting up an EIS fund for their slate of films; please contact us below if you wish to invest.