According to filmmaker Lawrie Brewster, the launch of The B-Team marks one of the most significant shifts in British indie horror in recent years.
The world of independent film has witnessed an explosion in the number of horror titles, with some claiming that in-production projects in the UK and the USA have quadrupled over the last five years. In this increasingly competitive environment, the flood of content has tipped the distribution market into unprofitability for many distributors and most indie producers.
In such a challenging landscape, larger distributors and sales agents, those with links to fashionable taste-making festivals, have closed ranks. They keep their own in work, while much of the wider indie film world is left to stumble about, commiserating in film forums and Facebook groups.
The eternal question arises when they look toward the ivory towers of A24, Neon, or those securing deals with Shudder and invitations to exclusive parties at Cannes or Fantastic Fest: why does it seem so much easier for the interconnected few than it is for them to earn a living? And the second question, asked with no small measure of panic, is whether survival is even possible outside that prism.
Yet, there is hope beyond the established cliques that dominate the fates of aspiring filmmakers. Around the world, new communities are emerging. Their tastes are different, as are their films, and the festivals that champion them.
Some, like Troma, have long existed outside the mainstream. But others, such as the British Horror Studio, based, as the name suggests, in the UK, have sparked something of a revolution within the horror scene. Initially conceived as a cohesive identity encompassing venerable indie horror outfit Hex Studios (responsible for the Owlman films) and the revival of Amicus Productions, the British Horror Studio has since expanded substantially. Today, it boasts a thriving online community through Patreon, Instagram, and Facebook.
This community has already worked together to finance and produce several features, most notably Amicus Productions’ In the Grip of Terror and Hex Studios’ haunted film noir Black Chariot.
The breakthrough, however, came with the enormous success of their recent campaign for the 1990s-set horror thriller Mr Whispers. Not only did the project raise funds, it set a precedent. Its leaders and popular figures did not just create a film, they launched an entirely new studio.
The studio is called The B-Team, a name that playfully references the moniker once used by Hex Studios’ junior crew when working on second-unit shoots. In collaboration with rising indie star Megan Tremethick (The Reign of Queen Ginnarra, In the Grip of Terror), producer Paul William Kelly, and familiar names within the British Horror Studio such as Dorian Todd, Novarro Ramon, and Sam MacMillan, The B-Team has proven that the formula for growth and success might just be contagious.
Director Dorian Todd described the creative approach:
“Personally I find genre films of this style to be the most frightening. When the camera exists in the story it feels real. With Mr Whispers I wanted everything to feel raw and genuine. The characters, their reactions and of course the scares.”
It is also peculiarly regional. Fife, Scotland has become something of an epicentre for independent horror, thanks not only to the British Horror Studio but also to filmmakers such as Robbie Davidson, whose WWII exploitation horror Dick Dynamite gained cult traction.
With a nod to classic British horror, The B-Team has fashioned an identity loosely inspired by the tiger logo of Tigon Productions, the studio behind Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan’s Claw. Where Tigon had a tiger, The B-Team has a black cat. Their design evokes the same spirit, while their ethos is rooted in Tigon’s penchant for adult, ambiguous morality, standing apart from the Gothic grandeur of Hammer or the dark morality tales of Amicus.
Actor and producer Megan Tremethick, who co-leads the studio, explained the choice:
“The Black Cat is eternally linked to witchcraft and superstition. It is also a beautiful and misunderstood beast, much like the team of underdogs that have come together to form this studio, with the aim of providing inspiration to indie filmmakers and fans around the world.”
Their debut film, Mr Whispers, is set in the late 1990s and follows a group of local filmmakers investigating the disturbing history of an abandoned cinema linked to child disappearances. The atmosphere recalls the spirit of early indie horror’s push into the mainstream, inviting comparisons with The Blair Witch Project. The difference here, however, is that Mr Whispers himself is far more present.
Taking a collaborative approach, the film was directed by Oliver Revie, Dorian Todd, and Seumas MacNeil, filmmakers who had already clocked countless hours working on productions from Lawrie Brewster and Sarah Daly’s Hex Studios. Though not officially part of the British Horror Studio (a partnership between Amicus Productions, Hex Studios, and the charity Fife Creative Studios), the wider community rallied behind The B-Team’s very first Kickstarter campaign.
Its success was far from guaranteed. This was an experiment, either a studio would perish at birth or it would rise as a new force within indie horror. The verdict came on 28 August 2025, when the campaign closed with startling results.
From a standing start, The B-Team raised over $100,000 with Kickstarter pledges and outside investment. Not bad for a team whose connections to the industry are not nepotistic or exclusive but thoroughly independent.
The secret to their success appears to lie in patience and grassroots community-building. It offers no quick fix for distributors or freelancers living project to project, but for those willing to think long term, perhaps the British Horror Studio, and now its offspring The B-Team, represents a hopeful new model.
About Lawrie Brewster
Lawrie Brewster is a veteran horror film producer with over 15 years of experience. He leads Hex Studios, serves as president of Amicus Productions, and runs the British Horror Studio project in collaboration with filmmakers from around the world.
You can follow Lawrie Brewster on his official website: www.lawriebrewster.com
Lawrie has recently published a series of fascinating articles, including his five top tips for indie filmmakers, his thoughts on the current state of film distribution, the creation of the British Horror Studio project, his journey from outsider to filmmaker, and his staunch defence of 1980s-style Sword and Sorcery.
He also recently interviewed Tony Mardon and Andy Edwards on the challenges, stresses, and psychological battles involved in producing films and remaining (somewhat) sane. Do give them a read!