SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

Horror-comedy Slaughterhouse Rulez has very British scares up its sleeve

THE BOARDING SCHOOL is a staple of British culture and films, from Goodbye Mr Chips to Harry Potter. But it’s never been treated as irreverently as in Slaughterhouse Rulez, the horror/comedy that’s the first film from for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s new production company, Stolen Pictures.

Pegg and Frost both take roles in the film: Pegg as wellintentioned, slightly ineffectual teacher Meredith Houseman, and Frost as local drug dealer and weirdo Woody. “They’re national treasures,” says director Crispian Mills. “Now they want to launch a new generation of actors, [so] they’re playing these supporting roles and letting the kids really drive the movie.”

Those ‘kids’, led by Asa Butterfield’s Willoughby Blake, Hermione Corfield’s Clemsie and Finn Cole’s Don Wallace, will have to fight gruesome, shit-spewing monsters unleashed by the headmaster’s (Michael Sheen) decision to allow fracking on school grounds in his attempt to “make our school great again”.

For Mills, the film was a chance for catharsis. It was shot amid the grandeur of Stowe, a distinguished public school that he attended for a year of his own education. “In one of the script discussions Simon paused for a moment and said, ‘This is very expensive therapy for you, isn’t it?’ [The story] is a rite of passage, about finding your voice and rebelling against the status quo.” Or terrifying beasts from the netherworld, whichever comes up.