What looks as though it could prove a delicious mix of Hitchcock and Argento, Grand Piano looks like being one of the more intriguing offerings in the Cult strand at this year’s London Film Festival.

A Spanish-USA production, the flick stars Elijah Wood as a virtuoso pianist, returning to the concert spotlight after five years in the darkness following a tragedy.

Wood’s Tom Selznick is already crippled by stage fright as it is, but that is nothing compared to the realisation that he is being watched by a madman, who is threatening to kill both Selznick and his wife if the musician plays a single wrong note.

Wood is on a bit of a horror roll at the moment, what with his eye-catching turn in the brutal remake of Maniac recently.

And Grand Piano, directed by Eugenio Mira, seems set to be a potent mix of dark humour, visual trickery and sustained tension, so we have high hopes for this one.

Below is a behind-the-scenes video of the production, which if you speak Spanish I am sure will prove an enlightening watch.

If you don’t, skipping to about 2:40 into the video sees Wood being interviewed for his thoughts on the film.

Grand Piano screens at the festival on both the 15th and 18th of October.

 

About The Author

Simon Fitzjohn

Simon is a journalism tutor in London, who also just happens to be a movie fanatic, with a craving for the darker side of cinema. He has written two books, one on the horror films of director Bob Clark (2014) and the other on the history of the character Norman Bates (2015). His third book, on the work of British exploitation director Pete Walker, is due in 2017.