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The Otherwise
In 2015, Mark E. Smith of legendary post-punk group The Fall and screenwriter Graham Duff co-wrote the script for a horror feature film entitled The Otherwise.
The Fall are recording an EP in an isolated recording studio on Pendle Hill. The surrounding Lancashire landscape is at the mercy of a Satanic biker gang, and haunted by Scottish clansmen who have slipped through time from the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Every film production company they showed it to said it was “too weird” to ever be made. Yes, The Otherwise is weird. It’s also witty, shocking, and genuinely scary. Now the screenplay is published for the first time, alongside handwritten notes and previously unpublished photographs by Jim Moir and Smith’s widow and Fall keyboardist Elena Poulou.
Also within are essays by Duff and Poulou, and transcripts of conversations between Smith and Duff, in which they discuss creativity, dreams, musical loves (from Can to acid house) and favourite films (from Britannia Hospital to White Heat).
The Fall are recording an EP in an isolated recording studio on Pendle Hill. The surrounding Lancashire landscape is at the mercy of a Satanic biker gang, and haunted by Scottish clansmen who have slipped through time from the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Every film production company they showed it to said it was “too weird” to ever be made. Yes, The Otherwise is weird. It’s also witty, shocking, and genuinely scary. Now the screenplay is published for the first time, alongside handwritten notes and previously unpublished photographs by Jim Moir and Smith’s widow and Fall keyboardist Elena Poulou.
Also within are essays by Duff and Poulou, and transcripts of conversations between Smith and Duff, in which they discuss creativity, dreams, musical loves (from Can to acid house) and favourite films (from Britannia Hospital to White Heat).
297 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 5, 2021
This is the books blurb from the Strange Attractor website:
"In 2015, Mark E. Smith of legendary post-punk group The Fall and screenwriter Graham Duff co-wrote the script for a horror feature film entitled The Otherwise.
The Fall are recording an EP in an isolated recording studio on Pendle Hill. The surrounding Lancashire landscape is at the mercy of a Satanic biker gang, and haunted by Scottish clansmen who have slipped through time from the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Every film production company they showed it to said it was “too weird” to ever be made. Yes, The Otherwise is weird. It’s also witty, shocking, and genuinely scary. Now the screenplay is published for the first time, alongside handwritten notes and previously unpublished photographs by Jim Moir and Smith’s widow and Fall keyboardist Elena Poulou.
Also within are essays by Duff and Poulou, and transcripts of conversations between Smith and Duff, in which they discuss creativity, dreams, musical loves (from Can to acid house) and favourite films (from Britannia Hospital to White Heat).
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I should start by saying that I am not a big The Fall fan. Sure, there are some great singles (for me, the earlier ones such as ’Rowche Rumble’, ‘Totally Wired’ ‘Oh! Brother’, Cruiser’s Creek) but my interest in them as a studio band waned as the years went by although I continued to see them live. The latter could be hit or miss but luckily every time I saw them they were great.
Its also fairly well known that Smith was a fan of supernatural literature and was a paid up member of the Friends Of Arthur Machen (although sadly never attended any AGM I was at) so I had some hope that it might be a wonderful thing. As the blurb says, it was deemed “too weird” by everyone in TV-land, but this scarcely means anything as, lets face facts, that bar is set is pretty low.
Its also a collaborative effort with his friend Graham Duff, a name that meant nothing to me, but he has some ‘previous’ via the comedy horror ‘Dr Terrible's House of Horrible and Count Arthur Strong’s radio shows and so obviously knows his way around ‘the business’. It is impossible to tell who wrote what, although as part of the plot involves the Fall making a record at an isolated recording studio and parts of the plot are events that happened to Smith in real life one might imagine Smith probably wrote much of those sections himself.
The screenplay is set in the area around Pendle Hill (scene of some famous witch trials in 1612) and a witch does feature, as do a motorbike gang and The Fall themselves who are making a record at an isolated recording studio in the locality. One of the motorbike gang is the studio owners boyfriend, but he has designs on her friend who is visiting with her boyfriend…
Although there are some good/odd moments (mainly revolving around the Jacobites who are obviously the main supernatural elements) I cannot say that I found it overtly ‘weirder’ than other 'spooky' TV programme; for example sinister bikers in shiny helmets in old barns are surely something of a trope by now. Indeed, I think the screenplay might have been better without that whole sub-plot. But this project was intended as a commercial proposition and is thus already shackled to fulfilling a brief and aiming for a ‘market’ so perhaps I set my expectations too high. Duff writes of Smith as an “inventive and idiosyncratic [lyric] writer, and when it came to narratives, a supremely economic storyteller”. I don’t detect these elements much to the fore in the screenplay.
That above quote is from Duff’s accompanying essay on Smith’s lyrics in which, I assume, he tries to bolster this opinion with reference to various tracks indicating their possible supernatural references ’Spectre vs Rector’ (M. R. James, Peter Van Greenaway). ‘Impression of J. Temperance’ (Lovecraft), ‘Wings’ (Machen) etc. Its quite ingenious at times but I found myself wondering if perhaps Duff is attempting to elevate Smith into the ‘great song-writer’ category a bit too hard, in the same way that the 'weird music' world seeks to virtually diefy Jhon Balance of the popular combo 'Coil'. But, as I wrote earlier, I preferred them live. Much more interesting for me are the extracts of recorded conversations made while 'brainstorming' in which they chat about subjects like Lindsay Anderson, Can, Hebden Bridge (my parents lived there) and Freud’ House. In these Smith comes over as articulate, informed and amusing. On the extras downside the reproduction of the photographs is execrable.
I wouldn't have bought this book if it hadn't had Smith's name on it. It is not a bad volume, but it is not especially inspired either, a curiosity rather than an essential purchase.
My copy is one of the 500 h/bs with an extra book in which Duff comments on each of The Fall’s singles including interviews with the (numerous!) band members involved in them. I think it's really for the fans, but I enjoyed it more than I expected, especially as the later ones were just titles to me and I now want to check them out.
"In 2015, Mark E. Smith of legendary post-punk group The Fall and screenwriter Graham Duff co-wrote the script for a horror feature film entitled The Otherwise.
The Fall are recording an EP in an isolated recording studio on Pendle Hill. The surrounding Lancashire landscape is at the mercy of a Satanic biker gang, and haunted by Scottish clansmen who have slipped through time from the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Every film production company they showed it to said it was “too weird” to ever be made. Yes, The Otherwise is weird. It’s also witty, shocking, and genuinely scary. Now the screenplay is published for the first time, alongside handwritten notes and previously unpublished photographs by Jim Moir and Smith’s widow and Fall keyboardist Elena Poulou.
Also within are essays by Duff and Poulou, and transcripts of conversations between Smith and Duff, in which they discuss creativity, dreams, musical loves (from Can to acid house) and favourite films (from Britannia Hospital to White Heat).
----------------------------------------------------------------
I should start by saying that I am not a big The Fall fan. Sure, there are some great singles (for me, the earlier ones such as ’Rowche Rumble’, ‘Totally Wired’ ‘Oh! Brother’, Cruiser’s Creek) but my interest in them as a studio band waned as the years went by although I continued to see them live. The latter could be hit or miss but luckily every time I saw them they were great.
Its also fairly well known that Smith was a fan of supernatural literature and was a paid up member of the Friends Of Arthur Machen (although sadly never attended any AGM I was at) so I had some hope that it might be a wonderful thing. As the blurb says, it was deemed “too weird” by everyone in TV-land, but this scarcely means anything as, lets face facts, that bar is set is pretty low.
Its also a collaborative effort with his friend Graham Duff, a name that meant nothing to me, but he has some ‘previous’ via the comedy horror ‘Dr Terrible's House of Horrible and Count Arthur Strong’s radio shows and so obviously knows his way around ‘the business’. It is impossible to tell who wrote what, although as part of the plot involves the Fall making a record at an isolated recording studio and parts of the plot are events that happened to Smith in real life one might imagine Smith probably wrote much of those sections himself.
The screenplay is set in the area around Pendle Hill (scene of some famous witch trials in 1612) and a witch does feature, as do a motorbike gang and The Fall themselves who are making a record at an isolated recording studio in the locality. One of the motorbike gang is the studio owners boyfriend, but he has designs on her friend who is visiting with her boyfriend…
Although there are some good/odd moments (mainly revolving around the Jacobites who are obviously the main supernatural elements) I cannot say that I found it overtly ‘weirder’ than other 'spooky' TV programme; for example sinister bikers in shiny helmets in old barns are surely something of a trope by now. Indeed, I think the screenplay might have been better without that whole sub-plot. But this project was intended as a commercial proposition and is thus already shackled to fulfilling a brief and aiming for a ‘market’ so perhaps I set my expectations too high. Duff writes of Smith as an “inventive and idiosyncratic [lyric] writer, and when it came to narratives, a supremely economic storyteller”. I don’t detect these elements much to the fore in the screenplay.
That above quote is from Duff’s accompanying essay on Smith’s lyrics in which, I assume, he tries to bolster this opinion with reference to various tracks indicating their possible supernatural references ’Spectre vs Rector’ (M. R. James, Peter Van Greenaway). ‘Impression of J. Temperance’ (Lovecraft), ‘Wings’ (Machen) etc. Its quite ingenious at times but I found myself wondering if perhaps Duff is attempting to elevate Smith into the ‘great song-writer’ category a bit too hard, in the same way that the 'weird music' world seeks to virtually diefy Jhon Balance of the popular combo 'Coil'. But, as I wrote earlier, I preferred them live. Much more interesting for me are the extracts of recorded conversations made while 'brainstorming' in which they chat about subjects like Lindsay Anderson, Can, Hebden Bridge (my parents lived there) and Freud’ House. In these Smith comes over as articulate, informed and amusing. On the extras downside the reproduction of the photographs is execrable.
I wouldn't have bought this book if it hadn't had Smith's name on it. It is not a bad volume, but it is not especially inspired either, a curiosity rather than an essential purchase.
My copy is one of the 500 h/bs with an extra book in which Duff comments on each of The Fall’s singles including interviews with the (numerous!) band members involved in them. I think it's really for the fans, but I enjoyed it more than I expected, especially as the later ones were just titles to me and I now want to check them out.
April 21, 2023
Picked up a gorgeous paperback edition of The Otherwise (with cover art by Graham ‘Evil Dead’ Humphries) at Somerset House’s recent ‘The Horror Show’ exhibition, and so glad I did. It’s often very funny, sometimes downright disturbing, and offers a fascinating glimpse at what might have been. Like so many unmade would-be cult classics, The Otherwise just needed someone willing to take a risk on it. The feature screenplay itself is a head on collision between unsung Brit horror flicks ‘Funnyman’ and ‘Psychomania’, a strange and violent beast that has “cult classic” oozing from its speed-sweating pores.
The two versions of the duo’s TV pitch included here show how the story evolved, and the Hammer House-esque anthology (rather like Bill Hicks’ unmade Counts of the Netherworld) really should have become a series, complete with The Fall theme tune. The articles and transcripts feel a little bit like padding alongside the main attraction but do offer further context into the creative whirling dervish mind of Mark E. Smith, channeled by his structural medium Graham Duff. The wizards at Bafflegabble should turn this into an audio drama complete with squishy sound FX & Smith’s unique songs!
The two versions of the duo’s TV pitch included here show how the story evolved, and the Hammer House-esque anthology (rather like Bill Hicks’ unmade Counts of the Netherworld) really should have become a series, complete with The Fall theme tune. The articles and transcripts feel a little bit like padding alongside the main attraction but do offer further context into the creative whirling dervish mind of Mark E. Smith, channeled by his structural medium Graham Duff. The wizards at Bafflegabble should turn this into an audio drama complete with squishy sound FX & Smith’s unique songs!
September 13, 2021
The Otherwise is a composite of elements I don't know much about. Prior to reading, I had no idea who The Fall or Mark E Smith were, I didn't realise that Graham Duff was the creator of the BBC TV series Ideal and I wasn't well-read in terms of Jacobites or Pendle Hill.
What drew me to this book was the idea of 'a Horror Film That Never Was'. I love adding to my weird film trivia knowledge and so dove straight in. Of course, The Otherwise isn't just a screenplay, it is a collection of TV episode premises, music essays and transcriptions of creative conversations. While I can't say I'm now a keen fan of The Fall, I did find Smith's anecdotes and passion for macabre creativity appealing.
Initially I didn't feel up to reading a commemorative book about a talent I hadn't come across, but Smith and Duff won me over with their passion for weird storytelling in the style of The Twilight Zone. If I'm honest, The Otherwise screenplay seemed doomed never to be picked up by a film studio. It seemed much too short, more televisual than cinematic and skimped on resolving the bizarre concepts it juggled. Not only this, I didn't see how the title related to the plot, aside from being eye-catching.
I much preferred the episode pitches Smith and Duff created for The Inexplicable, a TV series with some rather unique one-shot premises. The Death of Standards struck me as being particularly intriguing, exploring violent hypocrisy as a form of demonic manipulation. Indeed a lot of the ideas and characters featured in The Inexplicable pages were sifted and re-appropriated into The Otherwise script though in a way I wasn't as impressed by.
Duff's essays on key songs from The Fall's back catalogue made for entertaining academic texts and his transcribed conversations with Smith really showed the joy their collaboration brought to both men. As such, I'm sure this book would be a lovely way for fans of Smith to say goodbye. I enjoyed the insights it shared but I still read these entirely without context.
Despite these grumbles, I found The Otherwise a poignant read with a lot of craft and dark humour. I recommend it to those who love The Fall and the creative process of Mark E Smith.
What drew me to this book was the idea of 'a Horror Film That Never Was'. I love adding to my weird film trivia knowledge and so dove straight in. Of course, The Otherwise isn't just a screenplay, it is a collection of TV episode premises, music essays and transcriptions of creative conversations. While I can't say I'm now a keen fan of The Fall, I did find Smith's anecdotes and passion for macabre creativity appealing.
Initially I didn't feel up to reading a commemorative book about a talent I hadn't come across, but Smith and Duff won me over with their passion for weird storytelling in the style of The Twilight Zone. If I'm honest, The Otherwise screenplay seemed doomed never to be picked up by a film studio. It seemed much too short, more televisual than cinematic and skimped on resolving the bizarre concepts it juggled. Not only this, I didn't see how the title related to the plot, aside from being eye-catching.
I much preferred the episode pitches Smith and Duff created for The Inexplicable, a TV series with some rather unique one-shot premises. The Death of Standards struck me as being particularly intriguing, exploring violent hypocrisy as a form of demonic manipulation. Indeed a lot of the ideas and characters featured in The Inexplicable pages were sifted and re-appropriated into The Otherwise script though in a way I wasn't as impressed by.
Duff's essays on key songs from The Fall's back catalogue made for entertaining academic texts and his transcribed conversations with Smith really showed the joy their collaboration brought to both men. As such, I'm sure this book would be a lovely way for fans of Smith to say goodbye. I enjoyed the insights it shared but I still read these entirely without context.
Despite these grumbles, I found The Otherwise a poignant read with a lot of craft and dark humour. I recommend it to those who love The Fall and the creative process of Mark E Smith.
February 14, 2022
I've long been a fan of Graham Duff's radio and TV shows but had little idea about Mark E. Smith and his band, The Fall.
Smith died before the publication of this book, so rather than it being just a film script, it also contains essays about the man, his outlook and significance in popular culture. I'll tackle these two parts separately.
The Otherwise would have made for a cracking film. Despite the contemporary setting there's a seventies Hammer/Amicus/Doctor Who feel to the whole thing - bringing folk magic, a biker gang and time-travelling Jacobites to an isolated recording studio. Weirdness abounds, along with plenty of dark but tongue-in-cheek humour. It's a fun, pacy read too. Great stuff.
The biographical and documentary material in the book was quite different. Here was an absorbing insight into the life and work of someone who must have been a great creative thinker, although some of the conversation transcripts seem more filler than anything else. I've never listened to The Fall before but I'm now intrigued by them and will be looking out some of their music.
Smith died before the publication of this book, so rather than it being just a film script, it also contains essays about the man, his outlook and significance in popular culture. I'll tackle these two parts separately.
The Otherwise would have made for a cracking film. Despite the contemporary setting there's a seventies Hammer/Amicus/Doctor Who feel to the whole thing - bringing folk magic, a biker gang and time-travelling Jacobites to an isolated recording studio. Weirdness abounds, along with plenty of dark but tongue-in-cheek humour. It's a fun, pacy read too. Great stuff.
The biographical and documentary material in the book was quite different. Here was an absorbing insight into the life and work of someone who must have been a great creative thinker, although some of the conversation transcripts seem more filler than anything else. I've never listened to The Fall before but I'm now intrigued by them and will be looking out some of their music.
July 8, 2025
dnf. Thought this would be a play from start to finish. The cover looked brilliant. I'm not one for biographies unless they cover a special interest. What I will say is it inspired me to write although best I got was to page 67. Which surprised me. Furthermore it was brilliant to read something a bit more local to me compared to most stories which are from outside the uk on my to be read or now read list.
June 3, 2021
Mainly of interest for the background observations and conversations recorded. The script itself is a bit thin and would need fattening up to be a film, although the obvious way to do that would be to insert more material from the TV series the writers originally pitched for. For more detail see here:
https://discontinuednotes.com/2021/05...
https://discontinuednotes.com/2021/05...
August 6, 2021
The notes, essays, conversations and other bits that bookend the screenplay are a welcome filler that helps humanise the prickly, enigmatic figure of MES, but the script itself is sadly nowt special.
September 17, 2021
The script itself is funny while flawed, and the additional bits are well worth having.
October 26, 2021
As a longtime Fall fan as well as a fan of Graham Duff's sitcom "Ideal", I was all in on this and it doesn't disappoint. Regardless of the cover and co-writing credit MES and The Fall aren't as large a part of the story as you'd think, damned shame we'll never get to see this film
September 22, 2021
The script itself was actually pretty interesting. The supplemental stuff interested me less honestly. I would have loved to see the movie or one of the tv shows work out. Seemed fun.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews