Ian Benjamin Kenny, creator of the new family-fiendly comedy horror series Do Not Watch Alone, was inspired by some classics when he brought creatures to life.
Do Not Watch Alone is a combination of all the things I loved growing up. As a kid in the ’80s and ’90s I would spend hours wandering around video rental shops, staring at all the amazing, often completely bonkers VHS cover artwork.
Movies like The Evil Dead, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, where the horror is mixed with completely ridiculous, almost cartoon-like comedy. One minute you’re hiding behind a cushion, the next you’re bursting out laughing at something utterly absurd.
I suppose Do Not Watch Alone is my attempt to capture a little bit of that madness for a younger audience. Something spooky, silly, slightly disgusting and, above all, fun. I’ve always wanted to make my own funny, scary little films, and I’ve managed to convince people to let me make ten of them all at once.
Fiona Afunbom and Ian holding the pot monster!
When it came to writing the episodes, some were based on short film ideas that had been rattling around in my head for years, waiting for an opportunity to escape. Others started with nothing more than a title or a one-line idea that I thought sounded funny or intriguing. A Goblin Ate My Dog, for example. That practically writes itself!
Turns out, writing a story about a dog-eating goblin for an audience of nine to twelve-year-olds is a little trickier than you might imagine. And that was always the balancing act with the series. We wanted it to be
genuinely scary, but not so scary. Thankfully, humour is a brilliant way of taking the edge off the horror. You can build up the tension, give the audience a proper fright, and then puncture the whole thing with something completely ridiculous.
For me, that’s where the real fun is. I’ve always been fascinated by Irish folklore, and it was really important to me that some of those creatures, myths and strange ideas from our own culture found their way into the series.
They’ve been passed down through generations, and there’s something wonderfully unsettling about them. I also draw monsters all the time! So, getting to design all the weird and wonderful creatures for Do Not Watch Alone has probably been my favourite part of the whole process.
Ian’s very own goblin puppet was made for the show.
There’s something incredibly satisfying about dreaming up a horrible little creature on a piece of paper and then figuring out how to bring it to life. The response to our casting call was incredible. We received around 170 audition tapes, narrowed those down to 80 children who we saw in person, and somehow had to whittle that down to just 18.
Not only were they fantastic performers, but they were brilliant fun to work with too. As were our brilliant adult cast, who threw themselves headfirst into all the madness, embracing the ridiculous characters and increasingly bizarre situations with an enthusiasm that made them an absolute joy to work with.
We only had three days to shoot each episode, which is pretty bonkers when you consider the complexity of some of the stories. There were definitely moments when I wondered how on earth we were going to get everything done. But when you’ve got an incredibly talented, hardworking crew around you, all pulling in the same direction, it’s amazing what you can achieve. Personally, this was pretty much my dream job, so I was determined to enjoy every minute of it…even the slightly terrifying ones.
Reegan Raffo (left) and Senan McArdle (right) pose with
Ciarán Bonner in the amazing monster suit made by ArtFX.
There’s something magical about having a real monster standing in front of the camera when you’re working with actors. I built two puppets myself, including a goblin and a rather unpleasant mutant chicken-rat, while the brilliant team at Art Effects created two full-body creature suits.
Of course, there’s only so much you can achieve with foam, fur and a glue gun, so we’ve also had the incredible talents of First Element and Piranha Bar joining forces in post-production to bring some truly mind-blowing visual effects to the series. It’s been fantastic seeing all these different elements come together and watching the creatures finally come to life.
If kids come away from Do Not Watch Alone having laughed, screamed a little, and maybe even been inspired to make their own ridiculous monster movies, then I’ll be very happy. And if all it takes to frighten someone is an old sock and a bit of imagination, well, that’s a pretty good result.
Do Not Watch Alone – Saturday, 24 October at 5.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.