Young Harrogate director races to make last film following terminal diagnosis

A young Harrogate director who has been given just five more years to live is racing against time to make his final film. 

Joe Cash, 30, has enjoyed a successful career working as a stuntman and prop artist on big-budget Hollywood movies including the Mad Max, Jurassic Park and Fast & Furious franchises. And when the Covid pandemic shut the film industry down, he started to make his own independent horror films. 

But in October 2022 he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and in December he received worse news still: he has a brain tumour and his life expectancy has fallen to five years. He is expected to lose his memory within the next 12 months. 

Joe said:

“There’s stuff I’ve forgotten already.

“We’ll be filming my last film, Carnal Redemption, in Harrogate and Driffield in August this year. I’ve already storyboarded the whole thing, so that if I’ve lost my memory by the time we begin filming, I can use it as a cheatsheet. 

“After I was diagnosed, I decided to use my life savings to make this film happen, so it now has a £130,000 budget. Most of that is going on stunts with helicopters and cars – which we’re going to smash up!” 

Joe’s Hollywood work started in 2005, and since then he’s been shot by Han Solo when playing a stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and even broke three vertebrae when a stunt when wrong while standing in for Johnny Depp during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Director Joe Cash gives instructions to two young female actors in a car.

Joe Cash will be directing on the set of his last film, Carnal Redemption, this summer.

His more recent work has involved a radical change of genre, and an inevitable drop in budget. His made his first independent film, Jezebel, for just £30.

He said:

“The shoestring budget was the whole point.

“I thought I could make a film for less than the price of a night out. It was a terrible film, but it ended up being shown at 150 film festivals, winning 30 awards, and gaining lots of recognition from the film industry. It taught me a lot.” 

His next film, Carnal Monsters, was made for just £500, and his last film, Calling Nurse Meow, was banned in 40 countries, reportedly becoming the most banned film in for 42 years – a record Joe is proud of.

The cast of Joe Cash's independent film, Carnal Monsters, in costume and posing with weapons.

Joe Cash made Carnal Monsters on a budget of just £500.

Joe added:

“For me, that’s a badge of pride. For a horror film to get banned gets people talking about it. We’re trying to set a new Guinness World Record.”

Carnal Redemption will start filming in the summer and Joe hopes it will be ready in time for a premiere in January and release next spring. 

Joe said: 

“I’ve put most of my life savings into this – I’m going all out. If there’s one film to remember me by, this is it.” 

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Horror film festival coming to Harrogate this Halloween

A horror film festival is coming to Harrogate this Halloween in a supposedly haunted Victorian ball room of the Crown Hotel.

Harrogate Horror Film Festival will return with coronavirus safety measures in place, including limited places for its film screenings and splitting into two rooms if there’s enough demand.

Organisers Dead Northern will kick off the week on October 26 with a pub quiz. There will be lots of pop up events around the town leading up to the weekend at the Crown Hotel.

Highlights of the festival include an exclusive screening of Host, a film made during lockdown, as well as a night of dinner and live entertainment at Cardamom Black.

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The organisers had planned to hold a daily ghost walk, but that is now up in the air following the government’s ban on gatherings of more than six.

People will be able to watch some of the shorter independent films for free during the week but there will be a charge for the more polished viewings.

Josh Lawson, one of the founders of Dead Northern, told the Stray Ferret that only the ghost walks will be affected by the new government restrictions:

“Dead Northern has been in talks with cinemas about the new rule of six. We think it is something we are exempt from. We can keep people in bubbles of six and apart from others.

“It will be less family friendly compared to last year. There will be films like Ghostbusters but we need to bring in a more adult audience because of coronavirus.”

Tickets will go on sale next week on the Dead Northern website from £5 for a screening and goes up to £100 for the full week. The full week ticket includes every event except the evening at Cardamom Black which will cost an additional £40.