A long, long time ago, in a pub not very far away, Mike Askew and Jo Edye talked up an idea for a short film involving supermarket trolleys and Norwich market place at night. (if you don't know Norwich, the market at night is a wonderfully atmospheric labyrinth).
And so was born a project that would burn in their hearts for many years.
They started filming on an old VHS camcorder, using Tom Carver as the Trolleyman & Martin Felstead as the Yob.
They stopped filming 'cos they didn't know what they were doing.
They applied to Anglia TV's 'First Take' for funding, and were turned down
Eons passed.
And then came Crude Apache.
And then came Bert Eke.
and then Chris Bond, and Tim Lane...
and Qarky... and Nick Warburton... and a wave of enthusiasm that picked us up and carried us away.
And so it came to pass that 12 years after the idea first surfaced, blinking in the bright light of their diseased imaginations, Revenge of the Supermarket Trolleys finally got made.
This is it's story.
Mike Askew and I first came up with the idea for Revenge of the Supermarket Trolleys in that creative hotbed of the eighties - the Plough Public House on St. Benedicts.We were particularly gratified with the response - a full house of invited guests (over 200) roared with laughter from the outset, and the party afterwards was excellent.
Originally conceived as a proposal for Anglia TV's First Take series, it was rejected twice before we made an aborted effort to film it ourselves.
The project then lay dormant for several years until the subsequent success of Crude Apache - formed in the early nineties - provided the human and physical resources which enabled us to dust it off again.
We started filming in the summer of 1998 - in locations in and around Norwich - and wrapped up early 1999.
I was confidently expecting to edit and put the sound track on in a couple of months, but the post-production was a very steep learning curve for all involved, and the film was finally finished in September, 1999.
Trolleys is a direct descendent of, and also a homage to, the classic fifties B movie - complete with monsters, baddies, a tart with a heart and a flawed hero, and some genuinely appalling dialogue. It also has more than a couple of nods in the direction of genuinely great films.
As a first effort at film-making we think wešve done reasonably well. We hope you agree. Enjoy.Jo Edye - Director
They're back and they're rattled
Let's hear it for Norwich's own Crude Apache Theatre Company. They've delighted thousands over the years with their anarchic, thought-provoking and wildly funny dramas, now their talents are celebrated in a new medium.Return (sic) of the Supermarket Trolleys was a long time in the planning. Writer and director, Jo Edye has spent many a long year mulling over the intricacies of the plot, and each nuance of characterisation, to good purpose. What we have here is a tribute to the sci-fi B-movies of the fifties, interwoven with post modernist references to key classic Hollywood motifs.
The day will come, this movie presupposes, when shopping trolleys will decide that enough is enough. How much more abuse can they take? Left half-drowned in rivers, abandoned on waste ground, open to maltreatment by all and sundry.
In fact, sundry is played by Qarky, Dave Popkin and Chris Phillips; three colourful anti-social ne'er-do-wells who don't realise the full consequences of their inebriated trolley ride.
Our hero, the trolleyman, is dashingly played by Crude Aache stalwart Tom Carver. I don't think it's giving to much away to reveal that he doesn't only win our hearts with his bravery and integrity, but also that of Qarky's girlfriend, subtly portrayed by Lucy Beaumont.
Other highspots include horror scenes reminiscent of The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, an excellent use of original music and a delicate cameo by Bruce Lacey, who I first saw on stage over thirty years ago in An Evening of British Rubbish.
This is Jo Edye's first film and he, along with his team are to be congratulated on a highly entertaining pastiche.
Roger Whittaker, Norwich Advertiser, 18/9/99