Don’t Answer the Door
Don’t Leave the House.
Don’t Answer the Phone.
But Most of All, Don’t SCREAM.
Prepare yourself for the ultimate fear roller-coaster, beamed directly to the internet off of a VHS from the year 2000. Stunts performed by absolute amateurs, accompanied by clips of some of the greatest films to ever feature on the shelves at Blockbuster Entertainment!
The Terrible Company & FractureTV presents
A full-length video by Ade the Terrible
Filmed by Ade the Terrible, Robin Freemantle & Dane Barker
Featuring:
Charlie Kerr
Alex “Formy” Formstone
Chris Mander
Alex “Moose” McGhie
Jack Taylor
Ade “The Terrible” Cottrell
Harry Myers
Connor “Duffman” Lomas
Stephen “Joxa” Delves
Lewis Guest
Zac Parkinson
Behind The Video
3 years in the making, and Rated R (for “Rad as Fuck“) – GHOSTFACE has been a labour of love. We spent a long time focusing on the best video we can put together, whilst trying to remain true to the core ideals of The Terrible Company. It’s grimy, it’s raw, it’s full of clips from 90’s movies, it doesn’t give a fuck if you hate skatepark footage, and it’s daft as hell.
For the first time in a long time, this Terribleco video is also a Coventry scene video. It’s been a collaborative effort: The people involved have had access to their parts (when they are basically done), with a sort of “sign off” process to make sure what we have is something they are stoked on. Every single person in this video has a strong, personal connection to the Coventry scene, and has left a huge impact on the city at some point in their lives.
Big thanks to Dane Barker, Robin Freemantle, Charlie Kerr and Harry Myers. Dane donated a chunk of footage to the video (far more than I expected truth be told) and lent his eye to the project via his “FractureTV” media channel. Teaming up with FractureTV, which usually documents the hardcore music scene, exposes the Coventry skate scene to a lot more people than just me posting lengthy blog posts.
Charlie and Harry became a bit of a sounding board for the ideas going into the video, and it was good to share shit with them as the video came along. Robin stepped up in the last year of filming and donated a ton of footage of Duffman (Robin basically filmed Connor’s entire part). I also want to give a special shout out to Moose and Formy, who tried out a process where I gave them a “loaner cam” to grab some Dad Cam footage for sessions where I couldn’t be around.
Whilst this video doesn’t sum up the vast and amazing expanse of what modern Coventry Skateboarding is about (there are countless awesome people missing from this video whose contribution to the city cannot be overlooked), it certainly shows some of my favourite individuals I have met skating in and around the city over the last couple of years… And me doing my dumb shit.
Dedicated to Eustace “Jerry” Cottrell
My Dad passed away earlier this year. He was incredibly supportive of me doing this silly little blog, making these videos, running events. He shaped who I was, and during 2022, when it became obvious we might not have much time left with him, I wanted to honour him by dedicating this video to him. The craft and care I put into this thing is directly influenced from the upbringing I had, and Dad was a big part of that. Rest in peace Jerry. X
Parts
Charlie Kerr
I’d been meaning to film a part with Charlie Kerr for ages. He’s got a proper varied mixed bag of tricks, and he’s not afraid to get down and dirty into the nastiest, crustiest spots. He also constantly surprises me with the shit he can pull out consistently, with some real left field crazy tricks in his part. This video was a bit of a wild ride and at times I was unsure if we’d ever get enough clips of Charlie due to the pandemic, moving about and logistics, but what we got is fantastic and I’m stoked on him being the person to open this video.
Formy
Coming from the school of quirky, daft tricks on banks and quarters alike, Formy is my kind of skater. Mind-blowing No Comply variations, revert business out of most, if not all, lip tricks – he’s got an unconventional grab bag of tricks that started to become a perfect fit for this video very quickly. He’s also one of those people who just is unintentionally comical, so whether you are filming him skating or just giving bants, it’s always a good time. The 1-2 punch of Kerr and Formy set this video up nicely.
Chris Mander
Chris Mander fully got back into skateboarding fairly early on in the making of this video, and to be honest he didn’t get back on it for this video, but it’s all the better for it. Chris is synonymous with my videos and to have him come back and bust out this banger full part, with him doing his staple tricks bigger, better and faster than ever before (along with some new surprises) is just such a rad thing to have on film here. Love ya bruv.
Moose
I’ve talked at length about how rad Moose is many times before, so if you regularly check in on this blog you don’t need to read more of that. He shreds all terrain, he will skate anything, and he always does it with style. He has the best Backside Full Cabs and isn’t averse to a cheeky footplant. During the filming of this video, he suffered from a collapsed lung which took him out of action for months, which, combined with a global pandemic, meant he spent ages recovering.
Jack Taylor
Jim The Skin said that Jack Taylor was one to watch. I guess I always registered in my brain that he was good on a skateboard, but throughout making this video he was always just up for filming and putting down all kinds of rad shit. The energy and enthusiasm he brought to his part was just incredibly awesome and infectious. He was always up for pushing himself a little bit more to try and get good tricks on camera. It got me hyped on making the video and made me want to get out and film more stuff in Cov.
Ade The Terrible
Around 2019 I made a decision to stop beating myself up over tricks I no longer had the confidence to do and start learning new stuff – inspired by some of my favourite skaters (shoutout Ragdoll, Chris Pulman, Craig Questions and Ben Koppl). The reason I did this was because I was pretty convinced this part was going to be my last, and I wanted to duck out on my own terms. New shit, weird shit, or my go to tricks on very horrible terrain (example above with a boneless on the horrendous Tattenhoe bowl), just a different type of part to the same old tired tricks you have seen me doing previously. This might not be the best part I have ever filmed, but it’s certainly my favourite. “That’s it, I’m out, I’m done, bye.”
Harry Myers
These days you would be incredibly lucky to spot Harry Myers. He’s still out there skating, but since the pandemic he has largely kept himself to himself – hiding away at local mini ramps, doing the best Mayday grinds around. Before all this kicked off, I got about 2 minutes of heavy transition shredding on film from Harry, proving once again he’s one of the most interesting and wild transition skaters to come out of the Coventry area.
Duffman
Connor Lomas‘ long awaited return to a Terribleco video was long overdue, but logistics and timing were not on our side, stopping me from getting out to Birmingham to film him. I was incredibly lucky that Connor, who is always down to film and work out a way to be involved with the blog, regularly skated with Robin Freemantle. Robin was more than happy to film Connor for Ghostface – and not just throwaway clips either. This was proper rad, amazing footage: some of the best footage in the video. It’s video proof that Duffman is a fucking force of nature, with pure all terrain destruction that takes the baton from Harry Myers and knocks it up to 11. Big up the Kings Norton crew!
Joxa
Ghostface marks possibly the last time Joxa will make an appearance in a Terrible Company video. Having spent years filming shit together and being influenced by Steve’s skating, it only made sense for us to be the old guard of The Terrible Company, and to pass the torch and put our final stamp on one of these videos. This part isn’t really a radical re-invention of the Northern Duke of Tea, but rather Joxa doing a farewell lap – it’s Steve bringing out all the old favourites in textbook form, proving why the UK skateboarding scene just can’t get enough of this guy.
Lewis Guest
Don’t get me started on Lewis Guest’s pop. I have no idea how anyone learns to pop tricks as high as this guy. It’s not even ollies, he can pop flips just as high. It’s ridiculous. For a long time, I thought I wouldn’t ever really get the chance to film a part with Lewis, but during the tail end of making this video I got heavily into street skating and found myself skating (and filming) with him a fair bit. This part is short, sweet and filled brim to brim with big pop, wild flip variations and Lewis’ signature golden mohawk.
Zac Parkinson
I caught up with Zac Parkinson out of the blue in the summer of 2021 and it quickly became apparent that I needed to film a part with him. He is just so incredibly unpredictable, high energy and stylish that watching him skate is endlessly entertaining.
Moreover, as we filmed the pieces fell into place: I needed someone to fill the last section slot who was local, could rack up enough footage to fill a last section, and could pull out some wild surprises to close the video. Zac was local, eager to film, and an undeniable hype man who got everyone stoked. He could throw down all manner of amazing tricks on any terrain, so there was honestly no better person to close this video.
Final Words
Ghostface is a video which was perhaps made with a slower pace than I am used to, but I filmed it with a methodical nature and a higher focus on quality than I have for maybe any video I’ve made before. It may still not be up there with the likes of anything Get Lesta or Baghead Crew put out, but for a Terrible Company video, it is perhaps the best thing I’ve ever made. It’s certainly the first time I’ve felt like I’ve made a video that comes close to previous films I am most proud of, like Batface or Cthulhu.
It would be nothing without the skateboarders who put in the time and effort to skate for my lens, and it would be nothing without Coventry: the city where I grew up, and the place that will always feel like home no matter where I move to. The skate scene in Coventry made me who I am, and I hope that videos just like this one goes on to define what Coventry skateboarding is all about – that was this blog’s aim way back when it was a website about the skate scene in the city, and for the first time in many years, Ghostface feels like a Terribleco video worthy of being representative of that same skate scene again (if only through my very limited snapshot of it).
Thanks for watching and reading.
The Terrible Company 