Weekend Retreat
Written & Directed by Brett Harvey
Produced by Simon Harvey & Denzil Monk
Weekend Retreat, O-Region’s latest full length film has been delighting audiences across Cornwall and rightly so. Although still a work in progress, Brett Harvey has created a comedy horror story that is both wickedly funny and shockingly violent – think Pulp Fiction meets Shaun of the Dead without the zombies.
Brett’s natural humour shines through with words and visuals as the story unfolds of a couple attempting to rekindle the passion of a marriage very much on the rocks. But Karen and Duncan’s Cornish weekend does not go as planned when they come into contact with desperate step brothers Kevin and Gary Tregidger. The weekend rapidly descends into madness and mayhem as the Tregidgers’ plans careen out of control and they lurch from one serious incident to the next, until the sorry mess reaches a surprising conclusion.
With an unbelievably tight budget, O-Region managed to pull together a superb cast with delightful Esther Hall as the spurned wife and Duncan Campbell as her spineless husband. Dudley Sutton, much loved as Lovejoy’s sidekick Tinker, plays an oddball character also caught up in the craziness of the Tregidgers’ useless attempt at burglary. Simon Harvey, true life brother of Brett, plays one half of the Tregidgers with Dean Nolan completing the hapless duo – the constant sibling rivalry and bickering between these two makes for classic comedy throughout. Dan Harvey – yes, another Harvey brother - makes his mark in a cameo role as a lecherous garage mechanic complete with oily overalls and leering grin.
The film is high comedy with buckets of blood, but also contains some beautifully scripted scenes of genuine pathos; one scene in particular typifying the breadth and depth of Brett Harvey’s writing as broken wife Karen sits in a field pouring her heart out to slow witted Gary Tregidger - a lump in throat moment if ever there was one.
Weekend Retreat is a brilliant piece of writing brought to life by a fine cast and topped off with a great soundtrack. Mad, bad and wildly funny Weekend Retreat is poised to take Cornish film to a wider audience; watch out Simon Pegg – Brett Harvey is on the horizon.
Although in post production, the film will be shown in it’s current form at Grampound Village Hall on Saturday 2nd July call 01726 883874 for details.