^{Photo: Rob Becker}

Traditionally, Dutch public funders and distributors have shied away from genre fare. “When I first started out on my film career 20 years ago, it was a lot worse than it is now,” Mitchell recalls. “There was an attitude that if a film doesn’t make society better, then it has no real place being made with Government money.” Now, Mitchell believes, there is less ‘snobbishness’ toward genre filmmaking and an acceptance that a film can be ‘art’ and ‘genre’ at the same time.

The Pool, which is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund through the low budget scheme of New Screen NL, had some strong elements in its favour. Mitchell recruited Gijs Scholten van Aschat (one of the Netherlands’ leading actors) to appear in the film. “When I had him on board, things began to go a lot more smoothly in all aspects because he is really taken seriously by the Dutch film world.”

The director was also backed by veteran producer San Fu Maltha (Black Book, Winter In Wartime). Mitchell refers to Maltha as “the father figure,” advising the filmmakers and putting his expertise behind the movie.

The Pool was made through House Of Netherhorror, founded by Jan Doense and Herman Slagter. The film follows two sacked bankers and their families as they head into the wilderness for a camping holiday. They end up becoming stranded by a pool in the forest. As their food begins to rot, it seems obvious that something unnatural is happening, and the campers become increasingly disturbed.

Mitchell managed to find a remote woodland corner of the Netherlands where the cast, director and cinematographer stayed in little houses. The rest of the crew camped out in tents. “For the most part, we were sitting around a camp fire every night, living the outdoor life,” Mitchell says. The weather varied from intense heat (30 degrees sometimes) to massive downpours. The worst problem was the tics - the blood sucking mites that relish human flesh – that the director had to get used to pulling out of his skin. The producers were startled by the amount of the budget that was spent on insect repellent. “The average per person was 15 tics,” Mitchell recalls. “Out of that, four people got Lyme’s Disease.”

Mitchell is a Brit who now seems a thoroughly naturalised member of the Dutch film community. Living in a north London squat in the 1980s, he fell in love with a Dutch girl and eventually followed her to Amsterdam. His first jobs in the film business were as a cleaner and a subtitlist. “I had a cinema pass ostensibly so I could check my subtitles but that meant I could go as often as I liked to the cinema.”

Gradually, Mitchell climbed the ladder, working as a video assistant, clapper loader and focus puller. Then he started making short films. After studying at the Binger in Amsterdam, he began to write for cinema (his credits include Süskind, which he co-scripted with director Rudolf van den Berg, and Frankenstein’s Army).

The Pool opened in Dutch cinemas early May. “People who know anything about genre are waiting for it with bated breath,” Mitchell stated a few days before its release. The aim, though, was always to reach a crossover audience as well as horror fans.

Now, Mitchell is back with Van den Berg working on a screenplay about Indonesian Japanese war camps. He also has various genre projects on the boil… and hopes to be back directing again soon. “But first I have to have a few months of pure writing!”

^{Chris W. Mitchell}

The Pool Director: Chris W. Mitchell Script: Chris W. Mitchell, Gijs Scholten van Aschat Production: House of Netherhorror (NL), Fu Works (NL), Nieuw Nederlands Film Platform (NL).