Stepan Kora: A Monster from Irkutsk (2018) was originally planned by Alex Wesley and Philip Brocklehurst to be a homage to Lucio Fulci's film A Cat in the Brain (1990) where Alex would play a version of himself, a horror film director who finds himself going insane because of all the violence in his own work, much like Fucli did in his film.
Alex loved the idea but decided to change a factor to it, Philip would play a screenwriter of horror films who goes mad while writing a script for his latest movie.
The concept was changed one last time before the script was written, Alex wanted the film to be about an author who writes a book about a deranged serial killer and goes crazy in the process.
Alex loved the idea but decided to change a factor to it, Philip would play a screenwriter of horror films who goes mad while writing a script for his latest movie.
The concept was changed one last time before the script was written, Alex wanted the film to be about an author who writes a book about a deranged serial killer and goes crazy in the process.
The name Donald Roeg is a reference to directors Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. Their film Performance (1970) is a favorite of Philip Brocklehurst's.
Alex Wesley wanted the film to be in black and white to give it a gritty feel like Man Bites Dog (1992), one of his favorite films.