EMPRESS CLAWSCREAM
SYNOPSIS:
‘Empress ClawScream’ is an anarchic LGBT+ comedy short film about fandoms, first loves, and being yourself no matter what.
GCSE results day, Slough, 1992. When gawky Irish teenager Róisín discovers she’ll soon be parted from her best friend and the object of her affections - riot grrrl punk-pixie Jess - she is determined to confess her true feelings and ask Jess out.
On the eve of the local sci-fi convention where they’re due to sell their homemade feminist zine about the cartoon villainess ‘Empress ClawScream’, a desperate Róisín takes matters into her own hands. Róisín summons the help of this fictional cartoon character to help her tell Jess how she really feels about her.
Arriving at the sci-fi convention, Róisín and Jess find themselves at the bottom of a male-dominated sci-fi hierarchy with strict rules they unwittingly keep breaking. But that’s the least of Róisín’s troubles, after she discovers a real-life, living, breathing Empress ClawScream in the ladies’ loo – hell-bent on fulfilling the quest Róisín summoned her for . . .
Meanwhile, after befriending kindly stallholder Oleg, Jess is outraged at the inequality at the sci-fi convention and vows to fight for equal rights for all fandoms, much to the ire of convention overlords ‘V’ and Crispin.
While Jess battles the patriarchy, Róisín’s battling her own insecurities with Empress ClawScream in the bathroom, until a heartfelt revelation for both leads to a revolution at the convention.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
Unrequited love. A toxic patriarchy. A terrible sci-fi convention. And a cartoon villainess brought to life . . . What’s a girl to do?
The brainchild of Director Stephen T Lally, ‘Empress ClawScream’ is a joyfully subversive twist on an LGBT+ coming-of-age story. As an anarchic homage to 1980s toy crazes and TV series, Stephen has created a quirky, tongue-in-cheek love letter to shows like ‘He-Man’, ‘Thundercats’ and ‘She-Ra’, along with the home-spun enthusiasm of fandoms and science fiction conventions.
‘Empress ClawScream’ began life as an extensive catalogue of concept artwork and photography by Stephen - which he created in order to establish the "world within a world" of its fictional cartoon series and characters. The project blossomed into a film concept. The 'Empress ClawScream' short film was completed at the end of 2022 and was selected to Festival Formula’s slate - where it began its film festival journey worldwide. So far, it has won BEST SCI-FI FILM at the Berlin Short Film Festival and BEST HAIR & MAKE-UP at the British Short Film Awards. It has screened at numerous international film festivals including the BIFA-qualifying Beeston Festival (where it was nominated for both BEST IN PRIDE and BEST IN FESTIVAL), the Academy Award-qualifying deadCenter, the British Council-listed Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, the Leeds Queer Film Festival, and QFest St Louis.
In addition, we also have a concept dossier at first draft stage for a feature-length version of this unique story. As the film revolves around two teenage girls being obsessed with the villainess of a 1980s TV show, we created a website for the toy manufacturers of the action figures from this TV show. The tongue-in-cheek, action figure-centric website for the 'Empress ClawScream' film is visible here.
The multi-media website goes into the mythology of the 1980s Saturday morning cartoon series that the character of Empress ClawScream originated from - "Princess StarShimmer and the Joy Crusaders". The website is in the guise of the fictional toy company that created the action figures for this cartoon series, and who is bringing out a 35th-anniversary edition of the "Princess StarShimmer and the Joy Crusaders" toyline. However, the deeper you delve into the website, the more infected it gets by the mischievous Empress ClawScream . . .
Stephen created a host of fake catalogue posters for the tie-in toys to this fictional cartoon. Stephen also shot a promo film that serves as a seemingly authentic “found footage” 1980s TV commercial for the action figures and playsets from the fictional 1980s cartoon series ‘Princess StarShimmer and the Joy Crusaders’.
The film was lensed by DoP Michael Spry and used action figures designed by Stephen T Lally and created by Jim Henson legend Steve Allen. The very first movie Steve worked on was ‘Labyrinth’, and he has 36 years of experience working for Jim Henson's Creature Shop and Gerry Anderson Productions building and designing puppets and creatures - and all manner of Muppets, Mystics, Skekses and 'Labyrinth' Goblins!
The fictional 'Empress ClawScream' 1980s toy commercial and catalogue posters are viewable on this page - alongside the teaser feature film poster created for the 'Empress ClawScream' film itself by Rob Fuller.
For more information on the project - or to get involved in its production and/or funding - please send a message to: stephen@stephentlally.com
Copyright © 2022 Stephen T Lally & ClawScream