EMR
Year: 2005
UK: Dogwoof Digital
Cast: Adam Leese, Gil Bellows, Jemma Walker, Whitney Cummings, Guy Henry, George Calil, Anthony Azizi, Kate Buffery, Lara Cazalet, Kevin Christy, Toby Dantzic, Jose De Valencia, Richard Dillane, Jeremy Edwards, Jade Gordon, Adam Grant, Rebecca Greenwood, Tom Hardy, Ana Harrison, Alice Hart, Paul Herriott, Ben Illis, Chris Jarman, Andrew Keatley, Angelina Liu, Nicholas Maccarone, Ross McCall, Carl McCrystal, Jayne McKenna, Ken Norman, Kenn Norman, Alana Marie Silla, Keith Stie, Phil Talsky, Tony Taras, Matthew Thrift
Director: James Erskine, Danny McCullough
Countries: UK / USA
UK: 86 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and bloody images
UK Release Date: 15 July 2005
Synopsis
Newly formed company Dogwoof Digital has announced that EMR will be the first film in the UK to be simultaneously released in cinemas, on the Internet and on DVD. The filmmakers believe that the choice as to how consumers view films should rest with the consumer and that theatrical, DVD and Internet forms of distribution need not threaten each other, and may indeed be mutually complimentary."
Shot on location in both the US and the UK, EMR is a deft thriller that cleverly weaves together a host of urban myths: from kidney stealing and alien abduction, to manipulative drug corporations.
Londoner Adam Jones (Adam Leese) is stuck in a dead end job; lives alone with his cat and spends his free time obsessing over the latest conspiracy theories on the Internet.
Taking an experimental drug for his epilepsy, manufactured by the Pfenal corporation, Adam begins suffering from seizures, black outs and terrifying visions. When he wakes up in a hotel room in Mexico missing a kidney, he becomes convinced that he's unwittingly stumbled into the middle of a conspiracy.
Drugged by a mysterious paramedic (Gil Belows), Adam finds himself back in his London flat. Just as he assumes it's all been a bad dream, the pain from the scar on his back convinces him that something dark and disturbing is indeed happening.
Worse still, Adam's one friend at work, Tracey (Jemma Walker), informs him that he's been missing from work for a week and as a result has been fired.
His only confidant is his beautiful and mysterious Internet correspondent, whom he knows by her screen name CyberBunnyLily (Whitney Cummings) and who lives in San Francisco.
With his reality becoming more and more fractured, and unable to trust anyone - let alone himself - Adam sets about trying to uncover the truth about the mysterious drug company Pfenal.
But just as he finally feels able to rid himself of the terrible and unforeseen side effects of his medication, Adam finds himself confronted by two of the drug company's agents (Guy Henry, George Calil). And the reality of his situation turns out to be worse than his wildest conspiratorial nightmares.
Already the recipient of several major awards including Best UK Feature at the 2004 Raindance Film Festival and a veteran of many prestigious film festivals, from Korea to Germany, San Francisco to Oklahoma, EMR is a triumph of the spirit of Indie film making under adverse circumstances. Shot for less than £40,000, it was filmed in High Definition, the same technology used by George Lucas on the latest STAR WARS film and Michael Mann on COLLATERAL.