The Unlock

The Unlock is a genuine first of a kind.

The actor playing the lead role, Stephen, has not seen a script and knows nothing about the story. Not even the genre of the film. He was isolated entirely from cast and crew until filming ended. Being completely in the dark even reaction is real. We call it Hyper Real filmmaking and it has never been done before.

Waking up chained to the ceiling in a warehouse somewhere in Lithuania Stephen, an ex-soldier, is faced by his interrogators. They tell him that he was involved in the kidnap of the Russian Foreign Minister by a far right group in a NATO country who will execute the Minister live on the internet in 90 minutes. An act of war between a NATO country and Russia which could trigger World War 3. They believe Stephen knows the whereabouts of the kidnapped Minister, but Stephen has amnesia and time is running out. His interrogators however have been given permission to use any means necessary to unlock his memories - and that means taking them all to some very dark places.

  • Simon Tate
    Director
    A Serial Killers Revenge, Weapoon
  • Simon Tate
    Writer
    A Serial Killers Revenge, Weapoon
  • Jamie Mollart
    Writer
  • Jamie Mollart
    Producer
  • Simon Tate
    Producer
    A Serial Killers Revenge, Weapoon
  • Jo Stanhope
    Producer
    Revolution X
  • Ciaran Kellgren
    Key Cast
    "Stephen"
    Weapon, The Unsinkable Titanic
  • Fab Santino
    Key Cast
    "Jay"
    Captain America: The First Avenger
  • Tina Barnes
    Key Cast
    "Max"
    The Hunt for Gollum, Fyre Rises
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 31 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    300,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Simon Tate

Simon is an award winning film maker who’s first feature 'The Point Of Regret' was an official UK Film Council applicant to the Sundance Film Festival. FMV magazine called it “one of the most important British films of this generation.” It’s released internationally on various streaming platforms including Amazon Prime by Reality Films (under the title 'A Serial Killer’s Revenge') . His second feature, the thriller 'Weapon' was released internationally in 2020 through Evolutionary Films and can be seen on Amazon Prime. Simon has experience working on international commercials (adidas, 02, Virgin) and documentary programming for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic channel and CNN.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I had an idea to create a film where the lead actor was completely in the dark about the plot and even the genre of the film. I contacted long-term collaborator and best selling novelist Jamie Mollart and asked him if he wanted to work on the script with me.

We devised a situation where it was possible to write an entire script without the lead character, give the other actors enough guidance to be able to lead him, whilst allowing every reaction to be real and in the moment.

We interviewed brain surgeons and psychologists about the nature of memory and stimulation, and spoke to ex-military personnel on the nature of interrogations, to ensure we had something that is fact based and plausible.

The result is an incredible performance and an entirely new type of film making. It takes the free-form improvisation of films such as “Boiling Point” and pushes them to a new level. The character of Stephen is not acted, he is totally embodied by Ciaran Dow Jones and everything you see on the screen is his genuine reaction to the situations put in front of him.

We wanted to create something tense, watchable and revolutionary, and 'The Unlock' is the result.