Under The Apple Tree

‘Under The Apple Tree’ (UTAT) is a blend of personal childhood memories, heroes, guilty pleasures and ‘the Betuwe’, the region where I live. Among other things…

Each day I cycle past a tiny church in Arnhem that serves as a model for our miniature film set. The atmosphere of the Betuwe - the little villages, the apple farmers - is tangible in UTAT, in a somewhat tormented way. The numerous antipoles are true slices of Betuwe life: priest - farmer, crow - worm, man - woman.

A couple of years ago I wrote a poem, vaguely reminiscent of the work of Edgar Allen Poe or Oscar Wilde. The dark humor of Roald Dahl has been an equal source of inspiration. As a little boy I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula several times. My love for thunderstorms, fluttering curtains and long, dark corridors has finally brought me to Jamoigne, Belgium, where I was lord of a castle for two years. I slept in the tower room and woke up to the croaking of the crow.

This poem became an illustrated book called ‘Under The Apple Tree, a Badtime Story’, offering the reader a simple explanation for a universal law in horror stories: after a rainy funeral the deceased comes crawling from his grave, at ungodly hours. Impossible? Nonsense? UTAT explains that it’s true, and why this happens. It describes a remarkable encounter between two worlds - the human world and the animal world - influencing each other. A humorous horror-fable that satirically outlines the resemblance between man and worm, resulting in the unification of the two: the walking dead.

I used a classical screenplay structure and made a simple but important modification to the poem: the main characters are now all related. They are engaged in feuds and brotherly strife. This enriches the story from the book with an emotional charge: family problems. People who know me suspect the family theme to be an autobiographical element. I prefer to leave that open. UTAT is an absurdist view of humanity. That's all.

Even though I am by no means presenting the horror genre in its pure form, the premise is reminiscent of a classic B-movies. Old American films, black and white, shot on rickety sets with over-acting B stars. These visual elements fit to the UTAT universe perfectly.

UTAT is a movie full of contradictions: absurdist but sobering, bizarre but touching, animal story but human drama, cliché but bewildering, staged as a feature film but dialogue in rhyme. A story about the inner world, literally and figuratively.

It is my hope that this horror comedy will appeal to a wide audience. Not only to animation and horror buffs but also to satire and literature lovers. And, do not forget, children who come to see their first creepy movie. I lovingly remember Ray Bradbury's children's horror film ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ from the Walt Disney studios. Hopefully my audience will later lovingly remember ‘Under The Apple Tree’.

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