When an unlikely group of teens blows the whistle, Death comes for them all in personal, nightmarish ways. Independent Film Company and Shudder are releasing the teen horror movie in theaters this Friday, February 6.

Director Corin Hardy spoke with Bloody Disgusting about the film’s gnarly kills and catchy soundtrack ahead of the release, citing cult classics like The Lost Boys as influences. At least in terms of tone. But the appeal of Whistle was that Egerton’s script provided Hardy with two things the seasoned horror fan had never seen before: rich new mythology and a centerpiece kill so gruesome and imaginative that it was a fun challenge to translate to the screen.

Hardy explained, “Ultimately, the mythology of the whistle is that if you hear the sound of the whistle, it calls upon your future death to hunt you down, which was a really creepy idea. Actually, what’s nice about it is within that mythology, it determines once you know what that death is going to be, whether you die in five years from a car accident or whether you die in 90 years from old age, whatever it is, it’s going to come early and it’s going to visit you in the next day or two. So it was a bit like once you knew that, it informed how the death would have to play out in the movie and how I would then have to approach it. Obviously, being a lover of all things creative and inventive horror, I was relishing the chance to try and create some of these.”

Without spoiling the death itself, Hardy reveals the gory process of nailing this instantly memorable kill. “It tended to be a real kind of mixed set of ingredients with regard to practical effects and puppetry and visual effects and mixing techniques because I wanted every death to… It almost resembles a slightly different subgenre of horror with each death. I wanted the way we could create that to be different every time. And that one that you’re talking about was written on the page, and I read it, and then I stopped and reread it, and I was like, ‘Oh, not seen this before!’ Big sort of tick, that’s exciting. I want to do it. Almost want to do the movie because of this.”

Hardy continued, “But then I was like, how am I going to do that? That’s when the journey starts. I put together lots of storyboards and had lots of meetings with different departments, prop department, set design, production design, prosthetics, animatronics, and visual effects so that we could try and create a different illusion every time so that it happens before your eyes and you’re hopefully just taken in by it.”

Despite its modern setting, Whistle feels like a throwback supernatural slasher in part because of its earworm soundtrack. The film’s music was incredibly important to Hardy, who also ensured the music had a narrative purpose. So much so that the soundtrack is meant to immerse you further in the world of Whistle and its characters.

“I love music, and I almost work musically as I do visually. So any project I’m doing, I’m putting together a playlist,” Hardy explained. “I always used to make lots of compilation tapes and cassettes for people. I made a big compilation for this, which you can see; it was called Death Lives, two opposite names that work within the Grief and the Memento Mori of this concept of Whistle. The music, I had a number of tracks, like the Tiger Army track, like The Concrete Blonde track, ‘Joey,’ the CHVRCHES track ‘Final Girl,’ which I’d been saving up like, ‘I’d really love to put one of these in a movie.’ You then need the movie to be able to make the track work. This movie, for me, is an ode to some of those slightly more retro movies as well, and felt like the one. So I wrote a lot of these tracks into the draft, but then I needed a reason. So I had this idea, which was that Chrys Willet, played by Daphne Keen, is grieving with guilt surrounding the death of her father.

“She inherited not only his jacket, this kind of army jacket that she wears that’s like her armor, but also she’s inherited his record collection, which just happens to be similar to mine. So it was a nice way to be able to put a lot of these tracks. But again, I wouldn’t want to crowbar a track in for no reason, but I had a strong feeling of where these tracks were. So in a way, the music you’ll listen to is effectively what Chrys is listening to, which is her dad’s record collection. Then there are other songs like the Gunship track, which is a Cyndi Lauper cover, which is more like Rel’s [Sky Yang] music. It comes in when we have a sequence in Rel’s romantic heartbreak moment. So yeah, I made a character list of who might be listening to what.”

“I was really thrilled to be able to get these tracks because I know quite a lot of the bands, like The Prodigy. I’ve done videos for Gunship and Iron Maiden as well,” Hardy points out an emerging music trend in horror. “It’s funny seeing the Bone Temple the other day and seeing this big ‘Number of the Beast‘ sequence. Then, in Stranger Things, they had ‘The Trooper.’ Now in Whistle, we’ve got ‘Killers.’ It’s the year of Iron Maiden.”

Hardy also acknowledges that Whistle presents the perfect scenario for continuation and that he’d be open to the idea of a sequel. “It would be one that you could tell more stories with, especially given the mysterious nature of this whistle and how it seems to keep managing to show up. So the idea that it’s been passed through hundreds or thousands of pairs of hands over the last thousand years means that it probably would keep going, and it would be exciting to tell more stories with.”

Whistle is now playing in theaters nationwide.

The post Corin Hardy Talks Iron Maiden and the Gory Kills of Cursed Horror Movie ‘Whistle’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The cursed object horror movie opens in theaters on February 6 via Independent Film Company and Shudder.

The high school horror movie centered around an Aztec Death Whistle, known for its shrieking sound, also stars Dafne Keen (Logan, “The Acolyte“), Sophie Nélisse (“Yellowjackets”), Sky Yang (Rebel Moon), Jhaleil Swaby (“Supergirl”), Ali Skovbye (Grizzly Night, “Firefly Lane”), Percy Hynes White (“Wednesday”), Michelle Fairley (“Game of Thrones”), and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead).

Watch the clip below that sees Grace Browning (Ali Skovbye) stalked by an eerie presence in her own backyard, summoned by the whistle’s sound.

You can also spot little nods, like the can of “Wook juice” in homage to filmmaker Park Chan-wook.

In Whistle, “a misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down. As the body count rises, the friends investigate the origins of the deadly artifact in a desperate effort to stop the horrifying chain of events that they have set in motion.”

Owen Egerton (Blood Fest) wrote the script, based on his own short story.

David Gross (Room), Whitney Brown (The First Omen), Macdara Kelleher (Evil Dead Rise), and John Keville (Evil Dead Rise) produce. John Friedberg (Longlegs) is among the executive producers.

Whistle is rated R for “strong violent content, gore, drug content, and some language.”

Related: Bloody Disgusting is hosting free sneak peeks for Whistle in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The post ‘Whistle’ Exclusive Clip Summons Death for a Poolside Scare appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

So, in the spirit of Halloween I thought that I would take two of my passions and marry them together into something hopefully interesting for all of you! That’s why I put together a list of instruments made from actual bones, some of which are human! There’s also one cheat instrument in here but I’ll let you read about it and hear my argument.

Bone Guitar

The below piece was a one-off construction that was a collaboration between New Zealand luthier David Gilberd of Goldbeard Guitars and bone artist Bruce Mahalski. What happened was that Gilberd had a guitar design that he was testing out and it got put to the side over time. He then decided to work with Mahalski to convert the instrument into something far more unsettling and eerie.

Mahalski took the instrument and completely covered it in the bones of various animals. He says that it features skulls of, “hedgehog, stoat, weasel, rabbit, rat, magpie, hawk, gull, possum, duck, sparrow, thrush, sting-ray and part of an extinct moa’s jawbone.It also contains bones and teeth from cat, dog, sheep,wild pig, cow, wallaby, swan, seal, and snapper.” The neck was also redressed with, “…trimmed cow ribs and the bones of various birds,” according to Mahalski’s site.

The guitar is only playable with a slide, which I still think is rather awesome.

Jawbone

Used as a percussion instrument, the jawbone is originally an African instrument that became popular in Latin countries when Africans were brought during the colonial era. It is usually made from an equine, most often a horse, mule, or donkey, and is played usually by striking with a stick to cause a rattling sound or by scraping a stick across the teeth, creating a ratchet-like sound.

This instrument is often used during celebrations or religious ceremonies, although it is also used in other styles of music.

Kangling

Primarily made from the human femur of a criminal or someone with a violent past, the Kangling is a Tibetan instrument that sounds like a horn. It is only to be used during a very specific ritual, one called “chöd”. This ritual is to be played outdoors with two other instruments: a damaru and a bell. The purpose of this ritual is fascinating in that the performer is essentially calling forth spirits and demons that are full of anger or hunger. The performer offers themselves as a way to appease these entities, so as to grant them peace in the afterlife. It is an act and a ritual of selflessness and compassion.

Bone Flutes

The oldest instruments known to mankind are a pair of flutes found in a cave in southern Germany. Estimated to be between 42,000 and 43,000 years old, they are carved from bird bone and mammoth ivory. They don’t appear to be able to create a lot of tones as they only have a few finger holes but it’s still amazing that the foundation for an instrument that is used so widely today has such a long history and evolution behind it.

Bones

Yes, that’s honestly the name of this instrument, which is essentially the same as “spoons”. Played by clacking together two treated ribs, usually from a cow, bones provide a sharp percussive tone, one that can easily pierce above most instruments. Their history dates back thousands of years, which makes sense as it’s a rather rudimentary instrument in concept yet requires practice and talent to appear proficient.

Aztec Death Whistle

Okay, so I’m 100% cheating here because nowhere have I been able to find one of these made from bone. It makes sense that I can’t because while the exterior often resembles a human skull, the interior has to have a specifically constructed set of chambers so as to create the haunting sound of this ancient instrument.

The purpose of the Aztec Death Whistle is relatively unknown, despite what many say. Archaeologists have had trouble finding connections between the Death Whistle and ancient tradition, although a paper published by Salvador Guilliem Arroyo explains that a set were found at the Tlatelolco temple of the wind god Ehecatl, suggesting that they may have played a role during sacrificial rituals (source).

Though their purpose is unclear, their resonating sound is absolutely haunting, sounding almost like the screams of tortured humans or animals.

The post Behold a Few Instruments Made of Real Bones appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the videos below, you can hear the Aztec Death Whistle and how it sounds, no joke, like someone screaming. Imagine hearing hundreds of these, all at once, as though a sea of people were all crying and shrieking in agony. Then imagine that you see an army of Aztec warriors and the screams are coming from them. I’d lay down my weapons, throw my hands up and walk away, no questions asked.

Listen below and prepare to feel chills run up and down your spine.

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