Glenn Standring is a New Zealand scriptwriter and movie director, working in the horror and fantasy genres.
Standring studied film at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, and completed a first class honours degree in Archaeology from The University of Otago in Dunedin. Later he moved to Wellington and began to direct comedy for television.
His first feature film as writer/director was the low-budget success The Irrefutable Truth about Demons (2000),[1] which was nominated for best film awards at fantasy film festivals in Portugal and Spain.[2] The movie was retitled simply The Truth about Demons in many countries. Set largely after dark, Demons follows a rationalist university lecturer (played by New Zealand actor Karl Urban) as he attempts to escape the attentions of a satanic cult.
Standring's second film remains one of the most expensive New Zealand films set on its home turf (as opposed to being filmed there, but set in another locale, a la The Lord of the Rings). Perfect Creature, released in 2007, is an ambitious horror/thriller set in an alternative universe New Zealand that incorporates elements of past history and fantasy. In this world vampires are protectors of mankind, rather than the enemy. Though many New Zealand actors appear in the cast, most of Perfect Creature's lead actors are from Great Britain, including Dougray Scott and Saffron Burrows. In 2005 key theatrical rights to the film sold to distributors 20th Century Fox at a reportedly record price for a New Zealand film,[3] creating expectations it might join the relatively small list of Kiwi movies to get wide release in North American cinemas. Perfect Creature later saw a theatrical release in some countries, but in the United States was ultimately released direct to video in 2007.[4]