Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

BFI will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Steve Oram’s horror comedy, Aaaaaaaah!, with a special screening – on Wednesday 20th August.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Steve Oram & (work permitting) Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Toyah Willcox.

Debauchery, chaos and the jarringly mundane unfold in weird ways, and amid drab suburban contexts, in actor-comedian Steve Oram’s strange and unpredictable feature directorial debut. Humans act like apes and physical, dialogue-free powerplays remap the Ryan family household when a visitor challenges the precarious hierarchy. Oram and his cast go ape in this wildly original, gleefully animalistic film – a true one-off for 21st century British cinema. The Q&A will be hosted by the BFI’s William Fowler and Ruby McGuigan.

• Continue reading/Book tickets here. Browse our huge Aaaaaaaah! archive.

Far Out Magazine has just published a new article on the 2015 film, Aaaaaaaah!, in which Toyah had a lead role.

‘Aaaaaaaah!’: The surreal British comedy that sees everyone pretend to be monkeys

British cinema has long championed experimental and offbeat ideas, funding arthouse and non-commercially viable films that have gone on to become cult classics. The work of Derek Jarman, beginning in the 1970s, helped to establish the prominence of art cinema in Britain. His transgressive films, establishing him as one of the most important filmmakers in the queer cinema canon, came to inspire many other budding artists.

Of course, Jarman wasn’t the only experimental filmmaker active when the genre began to gain traction. Other notable avant-garde works of art include Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath and Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx, inspiring generations of British filmmakers to lose all sense of cinematic abandon. Britain has since gained a reputation for producing unique, unconventional films, continuing into the 21st century.

In 2015, actor Steve Oram, known for starring in countless British films and television shows, from The Mighty Boosh to Paddington, released his feature directorial debut, Aaaaaaaah! The movie is perhaps one of the most courageously subversive works of cinema released in the past decade, throwing all sense of convention to the wind. The movie, which stars Oram alongside some well-known British faces – Toyah Wilcox, Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Alice Lowe and more – features no dialogue. Instead, the characters all communicate through movement, animalistic noises and facial expressions.

• Continue reading at Far Out Magazine. Browse our comprehensive Aaaaaaaah! news archive.

Aaaaaaaah!, the film by Steve Oram, is being screened at the London Podcast Festival 2021 this weekend – Saturday 11th September. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

90 Minutes Or Less Film Fest: Robin Ince on Aaaaaaaah!

Special guest Robin Ince presents Steve Oram’s 79 minute opus Aaaaaaaah!

London Podcast Festival 2021
The podcast that celebrates films under 90 minutes long returns to Kings Place with a brand new live show! Sam is curating a fictional film festival. He’ll accept almost anything, but the movie must not be longer than 90 minutes.

Each episode a special guest selects a length appropriate movie and discuss why it should be included in the festival’s line up.

For this live edition of the show, we will be joined by comedian, writer and fellow podcaster Robin Ince (The Infinite Monkey Cage, Book Shambles with Robin and Josie).

We will watch Robin’s chosen film, Aaaaaaaah!, together on the big screen and discuss the film with Robin during our live podcast recording straight after.

• Continue reading at Kings Place What’s On. Browse our Aaaaaaaargh! news archive.

Aaaaaaaah!: Film 4: Thursday 19th July: 2.25am
Writer-director-star Steve Oram’s experimental satire is set in a parallel present in which, despite wearing clothing and developing advanced technology, mankind never attained the power of speech. Instead, people communicate in gestures and non-verbal vocalisms, ranging from grunts to whistles and growls. And this isn’t the only similarity to our great ape cousins, as social and sexual behaviour is closer to that of gorillas or bonobos and is completely shorn of social niceties. The film opens with a grieving alpha male and his companion ritually urinating on a photo of the dominant male’s wife to mark her loss. They then move through woodland and into London’s sprawling suburbs, intent on staking out new territory for themselves…

Starring: Jade Alexander, Julian Barratt, Missa Blue, Holli Dempsey, Marcus Dempsey, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox.

• Aaaaaaaah! @ Dreamscape: Browse all of our related news…

Aaaaaaaah! is airing again, mid-December, on Film4.

Check out our huuuuge Aaaaaaaah! news archive here or by clicking on the screenshots to the left.

Aaaaaaaah!: Film 4: Friday 15th December: 2.20am
Writer-director-star Steve Oram’s experimental satire is set in a parallel present in which, despite wearing clothing and developing advanced technology, mankind never attained the power of speech. Instead, people communicate in gestures and non-verbal vocalisms, ranging from grunts to whistles and growls. And this isn’t the only similarity to our great ape cousins, as social and sexual behaviour is closer to that of gorillas or bonobos and is completely shorn of social niceties. The film opens with a grieving alpha male and his companion ritually urinating on a photo of the dominant male’s wife to mark her loss. They then move through woodland and into London’s sprawling suburbs, intent on staking out new territory for themselves…

Starring: Jade Alexander, Julian Barratt, Missa Blue, Holli Dempsey, Marcus Dempsey, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox.

Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Friday 8th December: 2.50am
Features interviews with the talent behind FilmFear 2017′s British premieres: actor-director Alice Lowe talks about Prevenge; actor-director Steve Oram talks about Aaaaaaaah! and A Dark Song; director Gareth Tunley and star Tom Meeten talk about The Ghoul; director Liam Gavin talks about A Dark Song; and director Nick Gillespie talks about Tank 432.

Aaaaaaaah! receives its UK television premiere this weekend on Film 4.

Check out our huuuuge Aaaaaaaah! news archive here or by clicking on the poster below. (Thanks to Darren)

Aaaaaaaah!: Film 4: Sunday 29th October: 00.30am
Writer-director-star Steve Oram’s experimental satire is set in a parallel present in which, despite wearing clothing and developing advanced technology, mankind never attained the power of speech. Instead, people communicate in gestures and non-verbal vocalisms, ranging from grunts to whistles and growls. And this isn’t the only similarity to our great ape cousins, as social and sexual behaviour is closer to that of gorillas or bonobos and is completely shorn of social niceties. The film opens with a grieving alpha male and his companion ritually urinating on a photo of the dominant male’s wife to mark her loss. They then move through woodland and into London’s sprawling suburbs, intent on staking out new territory for themselves…

Starring: Jade Alexander, Julian Barratt, Missa Blue, Holli Dempsey, Marcus Dempsey, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox.

Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Tuesday 24th October: 11.20pm
Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Saturday 28th October: 8.55pm
Filmfear Interview Special: Film 4: Monday 30th October: 3am
Features interviews with the talent behind FilmFear 2017’s British premieres: actor-director Alice Lowe talks about Prevenge; actor-director Steve Oram talks about Aaaaaaaah! and A Dark Song; director Gareth Tunley and star Tom Meeten talk about The Ghoul; director Liam Gavin talks about A Dark Song; and director Nick Gillespie talks about Tank 432. (Photo © Film4 FrightFest)

• Quadrophenia: Zavvi recently announced an exclusive slipcase Steelbook release of, iconic, classic, legendary etc, Quadrophenia for October 2016. A fantastic collectable limited to just 2000 copies. With a couple of months until it is available Zavvi is saying it has already sold out, but steelbookbluray.com say “Pre-orders aren’t live yet, so ignore the ‘sold out’ button for now”.

• Crime and Punishment: Rock music is the perfect medium with which to express the energy, rebellion, and passion of its youthful characters, particularly the restless fury and alienation of the books ant-hero, Raskolnikov. Accordingly this new musical adaptation will feature specially written songs and favourite tracks by British rock legend, Toyah Willcox and her song writing partner Simon Darlow – Continue reading…

• Screen Relish: Screen Relish’s Saturday Screamer: AAAAAAAAH!: Aah, the precarious position of the alpha male. Oh should I say AAAAAAAAH!? Because that is the delightfully appropriate title of Steve Oram’s feature directorial debut – Continue reading…

• Fashion Scout: Typical Freaks: Typical Freaks is a bold, colourful and cenceptual fashion brand from London… Their most recent collection, shown as part of Fashion Scout’s ‘Ones to Watch’, took inspiration from British seasides Derek Jarman’s ‘Jubilee’ and Nigerian basket sellers – Continue reading…

• Evensi: Each month Future Film picks out a number of films that will excite, stimulate and inspire you!: In August, Future Film recommends one of the punk classics Derek Jarman’s apocalyptic fantasy JUBILEE to coincide with BFI Southbank’s celebration of all things punk – Continue reading…

• Arab Times Online: Humor, gore in Oram’s ‘Aaaaaaaah!’: Though it’s at once too subtle and too extreme to attract a broad audience, those who get something out of gross-out humor, silent film and British comedy will treasure “Aaaaaaaah!” as a rare cult gem – Continue Reading…

• Wet Paint Theatre/Films: Hound: Lots of info on this new film, currently in production, here…

• New York Times: In London, A Celebration Of All Things Punk: Corbin’s “Visible Girls” series is part of a digital presentation during the gallery’s “Punk Weekender”: a three-day event incorporating exhibitions, a screening of Derek Jarman’s film “Jubilee” and a performance by the postpunk all-female band the Raincoats – Continue Reading…

• Warrington Guardian: Eighties Night: Win a VIP Package and a Pair of Tickets to the Eighties Night with Rick Astley, Toyah and Paul Young on the 22nd July – Continue Reading…

• Essex Chronicle: Chelmsford City Racecourse hosts second annual Ladies’ Day extravaganza: Tickets are still on sale for Simply Red’s performance on July 1, while Katherine Jenkins, Paul Young, Rick Astley and Toyah will all take to the stage next month – Continue Reading…

• Radio New Zealand: The World’s Greatest Guitar Solos!: Robert Fripp with Brian Eno: ‘Baby’s on Fire’ from Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets features an off the wall solo, triple-tracked by Robert Fripp, originally a founding member of King Crimson. Eno and Fripp have collaborated a lot over the years on all manner of records including ‘No Pussyfooting’ and contributions to David Bowies single ‘Heroes’. Robert Fripp is a most unusual man who is married to singer Toyah Willcox – he’s had an amazing creative career – Continue Reading…

Steve Oram’s deeply British feature debut is the kind of mesmerizing cult oddity whose fan base will be limited but passionate.

It may be filmed in the Academy ratio, but Steve Oram’s low-budget feature debut “Aaaaaaaah!” could hardly be considered a nod to classic Hollywood. Rather, the 4:3 frame indicates something more primal, evoking the so-called “video nasties” (a wave of mostly cheap horror films banned on VHS in the U.K. in the 1980s, following a wave of moral panic over the perceived degeneration in values these films would cause when made available for home viewing). “Aaaaaaaah!” is set in exactly the kind of world Mary Whitehouse feared, and functions as a kind of loving Swiftian satire on the more brutish aspects of modern life. Though it’s at once too subtle and too extreme to attract a broad audience, those who get something out of gross-out humor, silent film and British comedy will treasure “Aaaaaaaah!” as a rare cult gem.

• Continue reading at Variety.

17. Aaaaaaaah!

Fans of the early John Waters and early Gregg Araki oeuvre may feel right at home with all the vulgarity and body fluids on display in Steve Oram’s Aaaaaaaah! This is adventurous and crude postmodern cinema, and the easily offended need not apply.

Oram displays a ruthless instinct with sadistic lapses into camp and caricature with Aaaaaaaah!, a film hell bent on upsetting the audience in this tale of society’s collapse. In the film the human stock has downgraded, and devolved into grunting, drooling, depraved, inarticulate primitives.

Robbed of the capacity to speak beyond gorilla-like elucidation, chest-beating, and genital-waving, I found the film to enact a Beckett-like scenario but at least half the audience I saw it with thought it was just shit. Their loss.

A winning cast of Brits including Oram, Julian Barrett, Noel Fielding, and Toyah Willcox add street cred to this one-of-a-kind mindfuck. Aaaaaaaah! is a strangely sublime picture, in turns delicate and disorienting, with a Buñuelian bite and a whiff of nasty nihilism, too. You’ll either love it or you’ll hate it but you won’t ever forget it.

• Continue reading at Taste Of Cinema. Browse our Aaaaaaaah! news archive…

• Southern Daily Echo: All Star Line-Up Confirmed For Wickham Festival: Spike’s All Stars Band with a line-up which will include Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Marillion lead singer Fish, Madeleine Bell and solo artist/actress Toyah Willcox with a chance of other top names also making a guest appearance – Continue reading…

• Virgin Media: Shakespeare in pop: It’s 400 years since Shakespeare died! Yes, a rum anniversary (23 April 1616), but one which allows us to celebrate his input towards music culture… The Tempest: You would think with something like The Tempest, that the goths would be all over that, but no: only the Deftones and not-that-spooky-just-a-bit-darkish Pendulum have co-opted it for a title. One of Toyah’s pre-pop jobs was a role as Miranda in Derek Jarman’s interesting film version from 1979 – Continue reading…

• Vodzilla: Shakespeare 400: BFI brings the Bard’s films to VOD: With Saturday 23rd April marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the UK is going into overdrive celebrating the Bard, and the British Film Institute is no exception. This month, the BFI presents Shakespeare on Film, a UK-wide series of 300 special screenings and events celebrating the enormous impact the playwright’s life, work and legacy has had on cinema – Continue reading…

• Flickering Myth: Aaaaaaaah! Still: Toyah Willcox as Barbara – Continue reading…

• Lou Reviews: Shakespeare 400 in images: Heathcote Williams as Prospero and Toyah as Miranda in the 1979 film of ‘The Tempest’ – Continue reading…

Only two days until Aaaaaaaah! is screened at LOCO 2016, with Steve Oram and Toyah in attendance and participating in a Q&A.

As well as Aaaaaaaah! being screened at the LOCO Film Festival 2016 on Saturday 23rd April, Steve Orman and Toyah will also be in attendance for a post screening Q&A at the BFI National Film Theatre 1, South Bank, London.

Aaaaaaaah! will be screened at the LOCO Film Festival 2016, the UK’s only international comedy film festival. It takes place between Wednesday 20th April and Sunday 1st May at BFI Southbank, London and other selected cinemas. Toyah will attend the Aaaaaaaah! screening on Saturday 23rd April. More info by clicking below.

Aaaaaaaah! is being screened at the Indie-Lincs International Film Festival 2016 this Friday.

What strikes you most upon viewing Aaaaaaaah! for the first time, is that as a viewer, you become very accepting, very quickly of the crazed way in which the story plays out. Perhaps writer/director/actor Steve Oram forces this acceptance; the film in many ways is a wild and frenzied ambush upon its audience, which is by no means a bad thing.

The script — translated into grunts and shouts — tells a tale of monkey-like humans enacting their elemental thoughts and desires upon one another. With performances from a frankly spectacular cast, it’s difficult to not enjoy this seemingly mind-boggling viewpoint on an alternative modern day life.

Aaaaaaaah! will be screened at Indie-Lincs 2016 on Friday 11 March; between 19.00 and 21.30 in a screening with Jake Hovell’s I Could Eat a Horse, Cristian Sulser’s Scrabble and Mark Brocking’s The Barber’s Cut.

• Continue reading at Eyes on Screen. Visit the Indie-Lincs Film Festival website.

There’s a new screening for Aaaaaaaah!, along with another Q&A session with Director/Actor Steve Oram, at the Club Haus Bar & Cafe in Bristol this Saturday.

Aaaaaaaah! We Are Not Men
Film Screening at Club Haus

Portable Pictures present Aaaaaaaah! We are not men, a film by Steve Oram. The screening begins at 8pm and will be followed by a Q&A session with Steve Oram. Tickets £5 in advance.

Steve tweeted earlier this week: “Aaaaaaaah! in Bristol next sat, can’t wait. I’ll be there talking ape nonsense and pissing in the corner, come down!”

• Continue reading at Visit Bristol. There’s also more info at Portable Pictures. Browse our comprehensive Aaaaaaaah! news archive here.

Win Aaaaaaaah! on DVD at Scream Horror Mag (Closes on 2 Feb).

Out of the primordial soup we clambered, dragging our knuckles through the evolutionary steps. Now here we stand: upright, hairless (well, mostly), and with enough rudimentary intelligence to master simple tasks and ask ourselves the age old question, ‘what does it mean to be a man?’

While we go around and around in circles, scratching our heads like chimps as we try to find a purpose for masculinity and avoid extinction, British comedy Aaaaaaaah! manages to lampoon the entire farce in just 79 minutes of scything, armpit-scratching brilliance.

• Continue reading at The Telegraph.

• Aaaaaaaah!: Is released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 18th January…

• Front Row Reviews: Steve Oram chats Aaaaaaaah!

You’ve said the film is based on nature documentaries but there are a lot of filmic references in there as well, like the opening scene of 2001 in there, and the close ups of the eyes was like something from Sergio Leone’s film
Steve Oram: 2001 wasn’t consciously aped – excuse my pun – nor was Sergio Leone – it was all about the intensity of feeling. It mainly came from the idea of observing and being a voyeur – that was my main vibe with it and we worked really hard on that.

Toyah Willcox’s performance is amazing – did you write her part specially?
I didn’t write it for her, and in the casting process it was ‘can we find a 55 yr old woman who’s up for doing these ridiculous things…?’ and she came to mind – Continue reading at Front Row Reviews.

• Win Aaaaaaaah! on DVD: at Entertainment Focus…

• Aaaaaaaah! News: Browse Dreamscape’s Aaaaaaaah! news posts…