Director Richard Raaphorst reveals new horror projects

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At the end of our interview with Richard Raaphorst, the director of Frankenstein’s Army, he mentioned two new biological horror projects that he’s developing, both of which are conceptually great.

One of them Raaphorst described as follows:

…one is based on Dutch legends in which there are children who are buried in the soil. They come back. Their hands grow above the surface, and the hands are in the shape of mushrooms begging for mercy. And when you eat those mushrooms, those kids are going to haunt your head.

The second project involves scientists tampering with the Higgs boson, also known as the God particle. I’m still a bit hazy on what it is, actually, but if I’m understanding this right, the Higgs boson is supposed to confer mass to all objects in the universe.

After the cut, Raaphorst describes both projects. In the gallery is some concept art that Raaphorst created for both of these films, which are tentatively titled Fungus and Higgs. [Editor’s note: As Roscoe pointed out in the comments, the mushroom project is actually Children of the Moor rather than Fungus. I’ve included concept art from Children of the Moor to reflect this correction.] To view more of Raaphorst’s concept art and other work, visit richardraaphorst.com.

What’s next for you? Any projects down the pipeline?

I’m developing two scripts very seriously and I’m going to shoot two trailers for both projects, and I’m going to the market at the end of this year. Also I’m very open-minded to do a sequel to Frankenstein’s Army.

There’s a lot of potential there.

As a matter of fact, we have an outline already, and it’s… Well, I cannot say anything but I can’t wait too break it out. I have keep myself, or I have to control myself not to work it out too early. [laughs]

Can you say anything about the other two scripts you’re working on?

Ummm… They’re both biological horror. And one of them is more science fiction and it’s about the Higgs boson.

And the other one is based on Dutch legends in which there are children who are buried in the soil. They come back. Their hands grow above the surface, and the hands are in the shape of mushrooms begging for mercy. And when you eat those mushrooms, those kids are going to haunt your head.

That sounds incredible! [laughs]

[laughs] And the Higgs boson is about the discovery of the Higgs. Do you know what the Higgs is?

I’m not familiar.

They call it the God particle.

Ah, okay.

They discovered it in Geneva in the CERN. The particle has no mass but it’s… Okay, the Higgs boson goes like this. [Editor’s note: Raaphorst demonstrated a path with his finger traveling through a Coke can on the table.] And it goes slow, slow, slow, and because it’s going slow here that this can materializes.

So [the characters in the film] fuck up the Higgs boson, so you can imagine what will happen with a Coke can like this, but also human beings!

That sounds awesome! Both of them sound awesome. [laughs]

[laughs] So I’m making designs right now, and I want to try to be as original as H.R. Giger in Alien.

Hubert Vigilla
Brooklyn-based fiction writer, film critic, and long-time editor and contributor for Flixist. A booster of all things passionate and idiosyncratic.