Big news folks, The Soldier has managed the get a nationwide cinematic release!!! Now you can go and watch it the way it was supposed to be watched.

The Soldier will be released through 6 Showcase Cinemas across the UK (Bluewater, Bristol, Leicester CDL, Derby CDL, Walsall and Teeside) It will be screened as part of the '7 Nights of Fright' halloween season.

The 10 minute short will play before all feature films including Saw IV, One Missed Call, 30 Days Of Night, The Eye, The Orphanage, REC and Prom Night.

Thats right, The Soldier has been awarded a 15 certificate from the BBFC. In order for us to screen to the public we have to be classified so we did.

Now to try and get the film to the cinema.....

Our very good friend 'The Mortician' has started work on a graphic novel version of 'The Soldier'. He promises to add more guts and gore and he wants to follow the original storyboards, which (I hope) will include the 'shower sequence' we never got to film for the short film due to time constraints. 

The Mortician has been a very good friend of ours for years and years now. He has worked on pretty much every Smudge Film Productions project to date and vice versa. In fact we even took a trip down to the mortuary just to film a part for him in 'The Soldier'. Check out the Morticians myspace page  (www.myspace.com/monnysmortuary)

The Mortician's graphic novel will be included in the up and coming DVD release of 'The Soldier' which will include loads of special features including where the original idea came from and what lies ahead for the feature length version. We also intend to have a limited number printed up for purchase, let us know if you are interested in a copy by contacting (shaun@spuk-films.com) remember these will be limited and extremely rare, can you afford not to own one?

If you haven't already, check out the short film 'The Soldier' on our profile, or watch our other stuff on our Smudge page (www.myspace.com/smudgefilms) 

Shaun Robert Smith has begun writing the feature length version of ’The Soldier’. Based on ideas he had 10 years ago when he directed his student film ’AWOL to Horror’. He then wrote and directed the unfinished ’The Twitching Dead’ (part 2 of AWOL) You can see clips of these films on the forthcoming DVD release of ’The Soldier’.

"We gave the world a little taster of what to expect in the feature through the short film ’The Soldier’. Expect to see more blood and expect to be freaked out, this film will contain some dark sinister shit!"

The script is due to be finished sometime in April/May. 

Please feel free to add your own reviews.

James Moran (Writer - Severence, Torchwood, Dr. Who)

Congratulations on Soldier doing so well at 2 Days Later - I thought it was great. The lighting and camera work were very distinctive, and consistent, the makeup was superb (particularly the zombie soldier in the screening room), and I think it had the best use of effects of all the shorts - by which I mean they supported the story rather than trying to stand out, and were very subtly used (a lot of short films try to overload the effects and say "look, we can do this" which has the opposite effect). I'm still amazed at what people can do in 48 hours, and many of the shorts I saw at 2 days, including The Soldier, were far better than some shorts I've seen at festivals (with full budgets and shooting times). But overall, it looked fantastic, and was a very professional, strong piece of work. Can't wait to see what Smudge Film Productions comes up with next!

Jean Lynch (Close Up Film)

BBC Radio Nottungham's John Holmes will be interviewing 'The Soldier's' director Shaun Robert Smith on Tuesday 29th January at 3:15pm on the afternoon show. You can listen to the interview on 95.5 or 103.8. Shaun will be talking about the award winning short and also the future of Smudge Film Productions UK and the prospect of a feature film.

The story can also be seen on the BBC website. Follow the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2008/01/30/smudge_short_film_feature.shtml

This Saturday (5th Jan 2008) 'The Soldier' is to be shown at the London Short Film Festival on the 'Late Night Horror' showing. We are also nominated for the 'Dead by Dawn' award.
This is a massive honour for us, as a film made in 46 hours and for £500 has never made it to LSFF before. We will be up against short films that have had decent budgets and had a bit more time. We will keep you posted on the outcome, but fingers crossed.

Wish us luck!!!!
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Well we didn't win the 'Dead by Dawn' award, but what a fantastic experience to be included in such an event. The line up was fantastic and 'The Soldier' was very well received!

The sound in the screen was awesome, the auditorium actually 'shook'. I must admit though, if there was an award for best sound at the LSFF I think 'The Soldier' would have scooped it.

On to the next event.

Shaun Robert Smith 

On 28th December 2007, The Soldier was promoted to the Featured videos list on the UK website of YouTube!!! In just a few hours over 4,000 people had watched the film, now (3nd Jan 2008) it has reached to nearly 28,000!!! We have had fantastic feeback from everyone who has seen 'The Soldier' on YouTube. We do have a feature version of 'The Soldier' scripted, well its nearly finished anyway. This has helped us gain plenty of interest about the film.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JuPgdTXxWgI

Shaun Robert Smith.

Answering many of your questions, yes the Soldier will be available on DVD. We are releasing it with tons of Special features, FX featurette, Interviews, Making of in early 2008!!! The DVD will be available all over the net but if you want to reserve your copy now please email shaun_r_smith@hotmail.com and we will keep your name on a list. Here are a few websites that will be stocking the DVD.

www.monnysmortuary.com
www.spuk-films.com
www.smudgefilmproductions.co.uk
www.myspace.com/smudgefilms
www.myspace.com/thesoldier2007
  
The DVD will also include Shaun Robert Smith's earlier attempts at the story, these are well worth a watch!!!!!!!!

Well on the night of 27th October The Soldier was screened at the Theatre Royal in Margate as part of the 2 days later short film festival. We won Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Edit and nominated for Best Sound.

Jean Lynch (Competition organiser) said;