Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith (born 13 September 1972) is an English director, producer and screenwriter. His love of genre cinema led him to study BA Film & Drama at the University of Reading, where he wrote and directed Cold Wood (1994), a horror-Western short which won a British Amateur Video Award and the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers' Youth Trophy and International Award. With director and fellow graduate Julien Magnat he co-wrote The All-New Adventures of Chastity Blade (2000), a fantasy-action short starring Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 &5), which was nominated for a Student Academy Award. In the 2000s, Kelly worked on the editorial team for such features as The History Boys (2006), The Queen (2006) and In Bruges (2008). He collaborated with director Julien Magnat again as additional screenwriter of Faces in the Crowd (2011), a high-concept psychological thriller starring Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon and Marianne Faithfull. Kelly's debut feature as director Don't Let Him In (2011), a retro-style rural slasher starring Sophie Linfield (The Football Factory) and Sam Hazeldine (Mechanic: Resurrection), was selected to screen at the 22nd Festival of Fantastic Films. His short psychological thriller Friend (2020) was selected to screen at the Romford Horror Film Festival in 2022.