Glenn Standring

Glenn Standring is a New Zealand scriptwriter and film 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.^[1] Later he moved to Wellington and began to direct comedy for television.

Career

Standring's first short was 1992's Zerographic, a love story built around man, woman and photocopier.^[1] His last short film was the experimental computer animation Lenny Minute One which was selected for the 1993 short film competition at Cannes Film Festival.^[2] He also directed the music video Gimme Gimme by the influential band Shihad.

After the success of Lenny Minute One he was approached Wellington television producer Dave Gibson, who was considering adding animated segments to the comedy show Skitz.^[3] Standring went on to produce special effects sequences and the opening credits of a number of Gibson Group television shows and directed some of Skitz's live-action sketches.^[1]

His first feature film as writer/director was the low-budget film The Irrefutable Truth about Demons (2000),^[4] which was nominated for best film awards at fantasy film festivals in Portugal and Spain.^[5] The film 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, Perfect Creature,^[6] released in 2007, it 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). The film was an ambitious horror/thriller set in an alternative universe New Zealand that incorporated elements of history and fantasy. In this world vampires are protectors of mankind, rather than the enemy. Though many New Zealand actors appeared in the cast, most of Perfect Creature's lead actors were from Great Britain, including Dougray Scott and Saffron Burrows. In 2005 key theatrical rights to the film were sold to distributors 20th Century Fox at a reportedly record price for a New Zealand film,^[7] creating expectations it might join the relatively small list of Kiwi films 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.^[8]

His fourth feature film, The Dead Lands, was released in 2014. The film is an action feature shot in Auckland and the central North Island of New Zealand. It features the Māori martial art Mau Rakau, a unique hand-to-hand fighting style not well known outside of New Zealand.^[9]

References