Lewis Andrews mini horror film series was featured in the Hertfordshire Mercury. Read the story here.
The Clown Returns” began as a small, late-night creative experiment and evolved into a local cult project. Filmmaker Lewis Andrews, then 22 and already running his production company Wonderfilm Pictures, teamed up with long-time collaborators Richard Akam and sound designer Morbid Tales to revive a character they first introduced in 2016—a lone clown roaming Hertford after dark.
The original video gained unexpected traction, hitting 5,000 views and generating strong reactions from locals. But for the return project, the motivation was deeper. Over the years, Lewis and his family noticed the decline of Hertford’s town centre, particularly the empty, deteriorating Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. The clown became a symbol of that change—an unsettling figure wandering a place that felt abandoned.
From a production standpoint, the goal was simplicity, tension and atmosphere. Lewis chose to film late at night when Hertford’s streets were completely empty, turning the town into a natural film set. The quiet was so intense that the camera’s internal motors could be heard while shooting. That silence created the eerie tone of the video without needing heavy effects or complex lighting.
The concept was designed to feel almost theatrical: a clown searching for something that no longer exists. The team played with the idea that the clown is trying to shop, only to discover there are no shops left. The final moment—when he arrives at the closed gate where Bircherley Green once welcomed visitors and breaks down crying—was crafted as the emotional centrepoint. It’s unsettling, but purposeful.
Sound played a crucial role. Richard Akam’s atmospheric design layered subtle tension beneath minimal visuals, giving the deserted streets weight and unease. The team kept the production compact, agile and guerrilla-style, allowing Hertford’s natural emptiness to become the film’s aesthetic.
Lewis and the team now plan to push the concept further with larger, more ambitious night-based projects—expanding both the scale and the mythology of their Hertford universe.
