2 Muggers Productions return with the sequel to their 2022 ATVA, Dead Nuts II.
The directing duo spoke to Brig about the behind-the-scenes of the film and it’s inspirations.
This being their last ATVA, there were a lot of ideas about what it could be about, and whether things should go bigger. But instead, the duo decided to revisit the story behind their first ATVA back in 2022, something that had been considered even since the first film was handed in.
There were a lot of script ideas for Dead Nuts II and while the final product is not the first AIRTV sequel ever made, it could be considered the first legacy sequel by the station.
Dead Nuts II is lovingly influenced by the brother’s favourite horror directors and franchises. Part slasher, part Evil Dead with a bit of Dog Soldiers in the mix.
“Act 1 is the [original] Evil Dead, the middle part is Evil Dead 2, and then the end is Army of Darkness.”
“There’s a lot of horror influence throughout. Peter Jackson is one of our big inspirations and the first Dead Nuts was inspired by Bad Taste, this one a bit less so. But that didn’t stop us from getting our other horror influences in there. There are a lot of surprises in act 3, it’s a bit weird…”
In keeping with their past projects, Dead Nuts II makes heavy usage of practical effects.
“The effects were a blend of stop-motion, we like to get stop motion in there. We had better effects in this film because of the two first years who helped us. They done a lot of great makeup which helped with the film. We thought we’d wing it again like we did in the first, but they mentioned that they could do makeup and the film changed for the better in a lot of ways. We wouldn’t be able to make these films without the incredible behind the scenes talent, so a big thanks to Emma and Rebecca for their incredible makeup.”
Making a film is never without it’s challenges, however, and there was one unsurprising one when filming in Scotland in March.
“When we started in March, it got dark at 6pm. Then the second week, times changed and we had to wait until 9pm for it to get dark. By the end of the film, when we had pick-ups to do, it’s getting dark at like half nine, so we lost a lot of time to play with. Which was a big lesson. By the time we were filming in our flat, we still needed darkness, which meant filming later and later into the night. We had 3 visits by police on different occasions due to noise complaints. Which was a new challenge we’ve not faced before. When we were filming a particularly bloody scene in our bathroom at about half 11, there was a knock on our flat door, like “what’s going on” and Nathan answered the door with his hands covered in fake blood”.
The original idea for the first film started out as a zombie feature but the brother’s thought a squirrel would be funnier instead. “One of our big wants is for the uni squirrel to meet ours but they haven’t met yet.”, they said, “The squirrel mascot is kind of lame, he gets brought out twice a year, then he hides. I’d like our squirrel to meet and maybe Dead Nuts could become the new mascot instead. Take the normal squirrel down and see the freakish one, destroy the reputation of the Stirling Squirrel, bit by bit”.
The film was highlighted by the McQuaid’s a very collaborative one.
“We’ve got Dylan, Haydn, Noah and Logan who bring a fresh energy into things. We wanted to explore group dynamic, as most our films follow only one or two characters. We wanted a core group and we thought the four of them worked very well together. We hadn’t worked with Haydn or Noah before and they threw themself into it well. We had first years working with fourth years and it helped to get their energy on sets, and their ideas.”
“The most meaningful thing was that Dead Nuts was made when we were first years, with third and fourth years collaborating. At the time, a lot older and wiser than us. We wanted the new one to be collaborative like that was, with new people involved, as Emma and Rebecca were obviously in the crew too. Although they’re first years, they’re incredibly more confident and talented than we were back then.”
“The film was also scored by our younger brother. The first was us recording him playing at the piano, this time he wanted to make even better music and the score is the best we’ve had recorded. A lot of organ music, gothic influences, very Frankenstein.”
The end of the film leaves things on a classic cliffhanger, in the vein of classic 80s slashers but the two directors are happy to pass the baton on to any other AIRTV filmmakers who want to take on the franchise. “If anyone wants to buy the rights from us, they can make that phone call.”
“At AirTV you can make whatever you want to make. When we were in first year we wanted to make a squirrel splatter, nobody knew how we would do that. We got help from a lot of older years who didn’t know what they were getting into. Two very little naive quiet first years and they took a risk on us helping us make it. And anyone after whose helped us make them has taken risk letting us use them and the most important thing is throughout the 4 years we’ve been able to make what we wanted. The important thing about the ATVA‘s is you should always make the film you want to make, not just to win. Make what you want to make and with who you want to make it with.”
Featured Image Credits: AirTV/2 Muggers Productions
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Arts Editor 24/25
Press email: arts@brignews.com
