CINEMATIC DIY BLOODBATH MEETS BRITISH SKATE VIDEO: THIS IS BLOKES

July 3, 2025/ / INTERVIEWS/ Comments: 3

photo by: jack lammas


Most skateboard videos follow a pretty similar formula: tricks to music. You’ll occasionally get a slam thrown in there or a filmburned shot of someone laughing, but that’s about it these days. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but because the format rarely varies, anything that’s even slightly different stands out.

Blokes stands out.

Well, actually, Blokes punches a heavily ringed hand through your screen, grabs you by the throat and rips you into their alternative reality, where anything goes, and the tricks are almost the filler between the skits.

There’s almost no point in describing the Blokes videos, you just have to watch them. Many of the easter eggs and references will go over your head if you didn’t grow up in Britain with the Eastenders theme song ingrained in your head, but wherever you’re from, the videos just make you want to skate and hang out with your friends.

They’re gnarly, nostalgic, concerning on multiple levels, and highly entertaining, and at the heart of it all is a bunch of mates who just wanted to make something together.

Jack Lammas, the writer/director behind Blokes spilled the beans on how he, Ed Hubert (Director/DOP), Jake Snelling (co creator/lead role), Dan Singer, Craig Questions Scott and a whole host of others are managing to make this stuff happen on a shoestring budget, all while working a regular 9-5 to put food on the table.

WATCH BLOKES 2 HERE

Cinema is clearly a big part of your life, and looks like it’s had a big influence on what you’ve made with Blokes.
I always loved the classics as a kid, so making Blokes is like living out a childhood fantasy. I had a weird obsession with the Nightmare on Elm Street films. Me and my little brother used to wander around charity shops at weekends hoping to one day collect the entire franchise on VHS.

What’s your favorite movie, and favorite director?
My all-time favorite movie is Jaws without a doubt. From the first viewing I couldn’t get it out of my head, and it’s the one that really kicked off the obsession with film. An absolute masterclass from the young [Steven] Spielberg, a genius in fleshing out and creating multidimensional characters.

My favorite director is a tough one, but I would have to say [Stanley] Kubrick. A real visionary who brought images to life that had never been seen before. That’s the real challenge, creating shots that don’t exist yet, creating a blueprint for other filmmakers.

photo by: rich west

As a kid, did you think you could ever work in the film industry?
No, never. Not because I didn’t want to, but it never seemed accessible. Films always seemed like something that happened a million miles away in Los Angeles or something. Jake [Snelling] and his family took me in when I was 14 and adopted me. His Mum and Dad are amazing people and really changed my life. His dad loves films, and we’d watch them all the time together.

“It doesn’t matter what your budget is and if you have to wear ten different hats to get it done, just graft, graft, graft and make it happen.”

I would make masks and puppets in the bedroom, and me and Jake would re-enact film scenes. I can’t remember the exact quote, but Werner Herzog said something about just getting out and filming. It doesn’t matter what your budget is and if you have to wear ten different hats to get it done, just graft, graft, graft and make it happen. Everybody dreams of doing their own work with a decent budget behind it, but the only way to get to that point is to get out there and make stuff on your own first.

Jake seems like a natural playing the main character in the film. Is he as mental as he looks?
So many people see him and think, “Fuckin’ hell, that bloke is probably gonna knock me out.” I mean, you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him as he doesn’t take any shit, but he’s also one of the nicest blokes you’ll ever meet. Jake’s got his own family, a kid and a missus, but will still put time aside to check up on people. He’s a proper diamond. His dad is the same, so I think he gets it from him. He’s the kind of guy that if he had his last fiver and went to the shop to get a six-pack of beer, three of them are for you.



How did Blokes begin?
You meet people in life who you learn a lot from and have a really positive impact on the way you look at things, and push you to new avenues. Ed Hubert is one of those people. Me and Jake were already massive film nerds living in South London, skating every day with the Kentish equivalent of ourselves, Dan Singer and Craig Questions Scott. I wanted to make a skate video that was more reflective of skating in the United Kingdom. Ed had been to film school and then moved to South London, so when we all started hanging out, the fuse was lit [laughs].

What’s the origin story of the name?
We had a skate trip to New York booked, and Jake said it was just like the film Kids, but we were in our late 20s, so I said it would be more like “Blokes”. I took that and ran with it, rustled up a copy of the Kids poster but with me, Ed, Jake and Dan on it. It became a thing that stuck, and we’d shout it all the time.

Around the same time, my missus hadn’t seen the Nick Love films for a while, so we did a bit of a marathon. I kept thinking about how funny it would be to create something like the Football Factory fight sequence. I went home and drew a storyboard and wrote it out, and Ed got a film crew together. That’s the one that started it all.

“Every film ever made is a collaboration, so if you have mates who are down, you are halfway there.”

How do these things go from idea to reality?
Everyone’s been down at the pub saying, “Imagine if this happened or that happened” with their mates, but when you go home and start writing it down, it becomes tangible. I’ve always got a notebook and I’m always writing things as they pop into my head.

Every film ever made is a collaboration, so if you have mates who are down, you are halfway there. We’re all from working-class backgrounds where you meet so many characters, so we just put them into something and mash it with the love of film.

photo by: dan singer

Which skit are you the most proud of?
I will always have a soft spot for the Millwall fight in the first film because that’s the one that started it all. But the curry chest burst scene is one I’m most chuffed with. I got a Stanley Kubrick book for Christmas and the ideas started turning straight away in my head. Then me, Jake and his Dad watched the anniversary edition of Alien, and the idea all fell into place. Everyone has had food poisoning or a sickness bug and knows that feeling. And as soon as you see a picture of a curry, you can smell it.

How hard is it to get people together and actually get these skits shot?
Our budget usually means most shoots can only be a single day, which limits the runtime to about two minutes if you’re lucky. Then it’s who you can afford to get involved and if you can get hands to help with lighting and stuff like that. So much of Blokes is really pulling out favors and people chipping in. So when writing, I’m always asking what story can be told within this limit. The dream one day would be to make something much longer.

“Seeing people squirm and wince at the visuals was the confirmation that we managed to create some genuine comedy horror.”

It must be pretty sick seeing this stuff on the big screen?
Watching people’s reactions at the screenings was the most rewarding part. Seeing people squirm and wince at the visuals and burst into laughter and cheer and clap at the skit climax was the confirmation that we managed to create some genuine comedy horror. Ed’s an amazing DOP, and the shot from the side when Jake’s head bursts out is so good. Harry Coward told me afterwards they were almost relieved when it happened because Craig dribbling curry was more disgusting than the actual chest burst.



Have you ever had a skit that totally failed?
We’ve always managed to make it work. Of course there are bits in hindsight that you want to do better. I would have liked to have had more gore in the prison riot in Blokes 2, but we only had two days to film. The first day was with a smaller crew shooting dialogue and the second was for the riot with 20+ extras from the skatepark. It was towards the end of COVID, so people were stoked to hang out again after so long. Trying to actually film in a prison was like herding cats. Everyone had a bangin’ time though.

Can you tell me about the car chase scene? How’d you pull that off?
Charlie [Rizik] is an amazing steady-cam operator. He’s worked on Mission Impossible and other mad films. He needed to train up some new guys on some equipment and asked us if we had an idea to test it. I got to writing something that was way too ambitious in the end, but we managed to get a decent sequence out of it.

Who’s the best actor in the crew, and who’s the worst?
Jake’s acting and delivery is so good, he gets so into it. He has such a presence on screen, I think he could be an actor if he wanted to be. If he had an agent he’ll be the next Vinnie Jones. Stu Graham is brilliant too. He’s got presence. If the camera is far away, you want to animate yourself a bit more, and when it’s closer, you only need very subtle eye movement, and he knew it. You don’t even have to direct him. He just has this perfect eyebrow raise and mean look.

And I don’t know about the worst. Considering no one is a trained actor I think it’s all pretty sick. Everyone fucks it up in some way, and it’s mostly hilarious and ends up in the film.

photo by: rich west

What’s up with the naked guy, and what’d you use for the dick rip scene in the first Blokes vid?
Ross Brunton, he’s another one of the OG crew. The naked thing started in Paris. We were skating a DIY under a bridge, and we just started yelling, “Ross, get naked!” and it became a thing. [In Blokes] we got an extra-long frankfurter from the deli counter. Once it’s covered in fake blood, you can’t really see it. Jake rips it off and raises it in victory [laughs].

Do you have fake blood and guts dialed now?
We use a lot of vampire blood from Amazon. You can also put food coloring in porridge. It works, but sometimes the coloring washes off the grains, and you can see that it’s just porridge. I make a lot of special effects in my spare room or garden. I’ll watch videos of Tom Savini, Stan Winston, or Rick Baker who did American Werewolf. I’ve got loads of making-of books about movies, and I’ll just look at them for inspiration and try to work out if we can do it on a shoestring budget. We also embrace the B-movie aspect. You can get away with a lot when you embrace that look. So if anyone ever says something looks a bit fake, it’s like, yeah, it is. That’s sort of the point.

“If anyone ever says something looks a bit fake, it’s like, yeah, it is. That’s sort of the point.”

How did Stockwell skatepark end up becoming the home of Blokes?
I think it’s all the interesting, mad characters there. Like the first time me and Jake met Questions there, we just knew this is our kind of park, we just felt like we gelled in. Brixton is such a mad place where you meet and see so many different characters walking down the street, and the skatepark is just a reflection of that. A hub for different stories, walks of life, music, and everything in one big family. It’s bangin’. Loads of good memories down there, wouldn’t trade it.



Are you working on Blokes 3?
Not at the moment. I have written a lot of skit ideas, that’s how Blokes 2 actually started. The ‘To be continued in Blokes 2’ at the end of Blokes 1 was a joke me and Ed put in at the end. We were making skits for Instagram after Blokes 1, and the chest burst came out way better than we intended, so we thought we might save it and put it aside. Then the momentum built for Blokes 2. The same thing might happen with number three. It’s a lot of work though. At one point me and Ed booked an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere stranded by the coastal tide just to get number two edited with no distractions [laughs].

What’s coming up next for you?
I wrote a new Blokes skit that’s in the pipeline for a run of Blokes boards. You heard it here first. It’s been a mad year. The beginning of the year/end of last year was tough, tough. I lost my little brother Harry to suicide, so it’s been hard getting back on the horse that is life.

photo by: dan singer

Fuck, so sorry to hear that Jack.
He was an amazing, amazing skater. I wanted to get him in Blokes, but he was always quite introverted and just skated for himself. A real skate rat. He would disappear and pop up in random parts of the UK. We would ask him how he got there, and he would say he skated along the coast. Kept the sea to his left so he never got lost and went until he was too tired or just liked a spot.

I really shut myself away from everyone at the beginning of the year, but you just gotta hold on and keep going. When something good happens I look up and say, “Cheers bruv, miss ya.” We had a rough time growing up. As I said, Jake’s family adopted me when I was 14. I was homeless at the time with two bin bags with all my stuff down at the skatepark, and Jake’s family took me in, but they didn’t have space for my brother as well. They already had a full house.

“You can go two ways when you lose someone. It can either turn you bitter and nasty, or you learn to look at life differently, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Homeless at 14? Damn, dude, that’s heavy.
Yeah. So I was a kid at a low point and had to graft to get out of it, but these things always catch up with you. December last year, things got too much for Harry, and I’ll always regret not being able to stop it. I carry that guilt that I couldn’t take away his struggles, but it’s tough when you’re struggling yourself, you know? Despite all the running and moving forward away from the shit times, all that baggage of childhood caught up with me in the worst way and I lost my brother. It was hard for him and skating was his freedom. We started skating together, so in many ways he’s given me everything I got in skating now.

I miss him every day, he’s taught me a lot. I’m grateful for so many things now in life. You can go two ways when you lose someone can’t you? It can either turn you bitter and nasty, or you learn to look at life differently, so that’s what I’m doing. There’s a stereotype for people from broken homes and what society expects you to be, but you gotta do everything in your power to not fall for the trap. Keep taking lessons from life’s hardships, keep a good heart, and look after each other.

photo: harry lammas shot by matt tozer

Thanks for sharing that with me Jack, glad to hear you’re able to find that perspective on such a tough situation.
Maybe reading this might encourage someone to ring their mate or family member and hang out. You never know, but you could change the course of something you never knew would happen. I always thought I had more time with my brother, but time is precious, what you don’t do today, you might regret tomorrow, so go hang out. With Blokes, people could take the film literally and think you have to be a big tough guy, but it’s all tongue in cheek. The more important message is actually that you and your mates are there for each other when you need it. When I watch them back, I see it as a document of all our friendships, and I’m grateful for everyone who’s a part of that.

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Comments

  1. Hassan

    July 7, 2025 1:12 am

    The Blokes crew is the shit! They may not be professionals but they’re real deal passionate filmmakers and I’m stoked on them. Condolences for the loss of your brother, Mr. Lammas.

    • Leave a reply

  2. C3770

    July 8, 2025 3:57 pm

    (These)Blokes made me really appreciate the UK scene even more. Very inspiring and motivating stuff – keeps me going!

    • Leave a reply

  3. horst

    July 12, 2025 10:55 am

    Biggups to the Blokes! onelove

    • Leave a reply

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