When I first saw the Trailer of Strange Factories I instantly wanted to see the whole film. Luckily I was able to visit London around the time when FoolishPeople screened the film at the Cinema Museum. What a perfect location. All events with FoolishPeople are always a surprise to me and they create unforgetable moments. I love that you never know where their stories will take you within. And I love that the film is held in black and white, the dark environment and the landscape. the mysterious and unknown. Mixed with the live part it has been an exciting experience. Every cast member lived their roles. We were guided through the Cinema Museum to explore the characters stories in a different way. Music and sound effects were perfectly chosen and merged with the film and the live experience. A very well created piece of art. It is definitely more of an art film experience to watch Strange Factories. For myself I can say I had an amazing evening and the film is definitely a creation worth watching. I would go see it again! FoolishPeople deserve more notice and I wish them the best of luck for their future projects and films. Can't wait to see what more is to come. A fan from Germany Mirjam

STRANGE FACTORIES is a typical black and white indie arthouse movie that straddles genres. It's been made on a tiny budget and consists of a plot involving a writer journeying through a mysterious rural landscape. He encounters oddball characters en route and finds a conspiracy of sorts. This feels much like a student film with an extended, overlong running time. It might have been interesting at ten minutes but at this length it's just a bore. There's some nice imagery here but that's about it.

Review of Strange Factories Live Cinema event at the Cinema Museum, London, UK as published in Londonist (http://londonist.com/2013/10/cinemamuseum.php )Go down a dimly-lit side road to a doorway where you are greeted by silent, masked Chaplinesque characters. They inspect you, and after much furtive gesturing and whispering, you are ushered inside. You are invited to drink a small glass of an oddly viscous liquid, and you might be fortunate enough to peruse some pages from their manuscript — secretly, of course. You are taken to your seats within the red-velvet-curtained theatre, and the show commences.Dark forests, a terrible, unfinished story which develops a strange life of its own, a tormented writer, a mysterious, horrific fire in an old theatre, a tragic clown, a binding contract, a beautiful, yet doomed dancer, sacrifice, Mr Punch, a play within a film, a vast Kafkaesque country estate from which there is no escape. Above it all, the ominous, throbbing hum of the Factory. What is it? Most of all, how does it end? This is what you may discover upon entering the darkened corridors of the London Cinema Museum for FoolishPeople's production of Strange Factories.Immersive theatre pioneers, FoolishPeople have manifested a live cinema production that takes you deep into the heart of a horror film, albeit a surreal one. Their work is a unique alchemy of film, live theatre, artwork and location-specific dance and lighting to create an ambient experience which, in this case, is one of mystery and suspense. The intimate, spooky setting of the Cinema Museum contributes to this state of haunting, with its many antique film cameras, and posters. Look carefully among the exhibits on display, and you might also find some of the artefacts of Stronheim's Settlement and props from the film itself.The film, written and directed by John Harrigan, is a labyrinthine story of madness, and your perceptions of reality start to blur as the evening progresses. What is happening on the screen and around you as the characters from the film come to life? Is it all just the imaginings of Victor, the tormented writer?The suspense is drawn out over the course of the evening, until it reaches a powerful crescendo of drama and dance, immersive theatre at its best. One even begins to suspect fellow audience members of being part of the theatre, particularly as the intimate setting within the Cinema Museum and silent interactions with the characters encourage this. Definitely a performance for the curious and those who wish to explore. Be brave and venture within. Only beware of the machines

I'm enthralled by the element of surprise so decided not to research any further information when offered a ticket to this "interactive film and theatre event" (the screening I attended was sandwiched between two brief participatory theatre performances). The experience was more superficial and drawn out than that previous sentence. Arriving in darkness, we were welcomed outside the venue by masked members of the cast. After waiting a few minutes for other audience members to arrive, we were each requested to hand over a possession which would be returned after the event (travel cards, conkers, buttons, pieces of string, etc.). As my friend later pointed out, this was little more than a thinly veiled attempt to prevent audience members from walking out part-way through the torturous monotony that lay ahead. The small crowd of giggling couples was split into two and I was lead through a gate to a courtyard. There, I witnessed some irrelevant balcony dancing and some brief but pointless interaction between two cast members. Soon after, we entered the venue and some of us were offered shots of what resembled (and I imagined tasted like) wallpaper paste. After a bit more hanging around/time wasting we were shown to our seats for a film screening. I was expecting this to last no more than thirty minutes... at a rough guess it lasted almost two hours. From the start, it had "hammy, poorly made student film" stamped all over it. To explain the 'plot' would be a waste of time (but it wasn't confusing as the director had probably hoped it to be) - check the official website for more information. There's dream-like sequences, badly performed sex scenes, pointless nudity and unexplained/irrelevant dialogue. It's a completely unqualified disaster. It progresses slowly (to nowhere) and there's no character development whatsoever. All but one of the female roles are indecipherable from each other... and it's shot digitally (in black and white, of course). This last point would make no difference to me, except the cinematography (if you can call it that) and grading/enhancement of the picture (if there was any) took absolutely no advantage of shooting the film this way. Nothing interesting happens (there's a few shock value pot shots - they all miss) and as an audience member I didn't care about any of the characters, or how the film would end... I just prayed that it would have ended sooner than it did.I found it sad in many ways - not the film itself, but the comprehension that this project was allowed to get off the ground in the first place. Out of all the cast and crew, why didn't anyone have the balls to confront the director/producer/lead actor (yep, it's one person) and just say "Look, this idea is really poor. I've read the script and your vision is clouded in pointless pretension. It's not dark enough, clever enough, exciting enough and there's no depth to it."? I assume to most involved it must have been a case of the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome. There is literally nothing good about this film. Even much of the acting is sub-standard; particularly that of the director's sister/wife/cousin (not sure which one) - grinning at inappropriate moments. I believe if you have the resources to make a feature film, you make the best film you can. Did the director walk away from the final edit with a sense of contentment? Surely not. Keeping the audience satisfied is essential. Justify all of your decisions - if not to the audience then to yourself. For example, why was there dancing at the end of the film? Why utilise elements of the theatre when they bring nothing (but prolonged disappointment) to the experience?I love film and I love theatre, but to categorise this 'experience' as either (or both) would be an insult to these art forms. Ignore the IMDb ratings - these are clearly the work of the cast and crew (or their friends) - as will be the probable rebuttal to this review. This is a bad film with bad theatre either side - it's a cultural turd sandwich. It's also a hugely wasted opportunity. That said, the violin tune played by that barmaid from The Glasshouse Stores was great. So, every cloud...