Lucy Rose

Lucy Rose (INFP/T) is a prose writer and an award-winning writer/director. She is a charity shop addict and can be found drinking copious amounts of tea. She has a BA (hons) in Film and Television Production and is currently studying her MA in Creative Writing part time. Her most recent film, ‘She Lives Alone’, was financed by the BFI Network and is currently visiting festivals, a number of which are BAFTA & Oscar-qualifying. Words for Small Leaf Press, Boshemia, SINK Magazine, The Selkie, Kandisha Press and more. Find me on Instagram, TikTok & Twitter @LucyRoseCreates

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Alter Films

SHE LIVES ALONE

Q & A

Name a Horror character you relate to on a spiritual/personal level?

This is a newbie character, but I think I relate to Shirley Craine from the Haunting of Hill House Netflix adaptation. I think a lot of people didn’t enjoy her character because she was bitter and flawed, but I really loved that about her. None of us are perfect. I think she’s relatable because while she doesn’t give up on self-improvement, she accepts her flaws and she is honest about them with herself in the end.

You’ve gotta go through some bad ideas to get to the good ones. Tell us one of your bad ideas. How do you get past the bad ones to find your spark?

I have a little book of terrible ideas and a whole bunch of terrible shorts I’ve made. But I love them all. I think it’s important not to reject the part of ourself that make bad things. It’s almost like you’re rejecting a part of yourself, and that’s not good for nurturing good ideas. In my own experience, I think lots of people have bad ideas because they haven’t found their voice yet. So just keep making bad things until you make a good thing.

Do you consider yourself part of a horror community?

I’d like to think so.

When you’re building the world of your film, where do you look for inspiration?

I always re-read my favourite authors (some horror, some literary fiction, all traumatised). I go back through pages and pages and pages of Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Carmen Maria Machado and Angela Carter and really soak in those voices. I watch my favourite gothic/horror films and I just really immerse myself in spooky storyworlds. I look at my own life – things that have frightened me or not made any sense and I attempt, in my very small space, to answer the questions I have about life, hoping that someone else has those questions too.

What would you do if you woke up inside of your film?

I’d just want to chat with my characters and have a cup of tea with them. I’d probably die or get maimed, but I’d try to enjoy it haha.

Who would be on your ultimate horror villain squad?

Carrie, Bathsheba, the shark (from Jaws), Jennet Humfrye, The Babadook, Jennifer (from Jennifer’s Body) and The Girl (from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night).

Lightning round: Freddy or Jason? Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft? Practical or CGI? Post Apocalypse or Pre Apocalypse?

Jason. Stephen King. Practical. Pre-Apocalypse.

What scares you, and does it inspire your storytelling?

I think that’s a big question. I’m scared of lots of things. I’m scared of losing people. I’m scared of things that have happened to me in my past. I’m scared of the unpredictability of life. It inspires my storytelling because I am always frightened by lots of things. My mind is always going to the worst places and horror became a way to explore that.

And finally, Ghostface would like to know ‘What’s your favourite scary movie?’

That is such a hard question. I think it has to be The Innocents (1961) by Jack Clayton