In 2009, Otto Baxter gave an interview to the BBC’s disability website Ouch! in which he outlined his ambitions: the 21-year-old hoped to one day become a porn star, make a rock record, star in Phantom of the Opera and direct “the greatest horror film ever”.
More than a decade later and there is no X-rated, thrash-metal version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical on the horizon. But Baxter has made one of the most unusual horror films you’re likely to see. The Puppet Asylum is a 30-minute short inspired by Jack the Ripper, A Nightmare on Elm Street and, crucially, his own experience of living with Down syndrome.
“My life is a bit like a horror story,” says Baxter, now 35, when we meet over video call. “But mainly, I made the film because I just love horror.”
The story revolves around a mother who gives her “monster” son away to a freakshow owner known as The Master (Paul Kaye). This baby is rescued by a kindly woman called Lucy who adopts him and watches him grow into a fulfilled young man – but when The Master returns, disaster strikes. Can this “monster” (played by both Ruben Reuter and Baxter himself) triumph over his evil custodian? Along the way we get gruesome murders, foul-mouthed ventriloquist dummies and family showtunes such as, erm, Fuck You I’m Evil, all taking place in Victorian London – the setting of Baxter’s recurring teenage nightmares of Jack the Ripper.
“I’d been reading lots of books about him, but in my dreams, Jack the Ripper wanted me to do the killing,” he says (Baxter’s life frequently involves people telling him to do things he doesn’t want to). “Eventually we had to burn the books.”
The film is accompanied by Not a F***ing Horror Story, an incredibly moving documentary about Baxter’s life that explores the deeper motives behind The Puppet Asylum. As a rule, Baxter would sooner talk about other things – girls, wrestling, anything that avoids deep emotions – but as the documentary progresses he opens up and we learn how the horror short was inspired by traumatic events in Baxter’s life. Like the monster baby, Baxter was given away after his birth. He was also rescued by the real-life Lucy Baxter, who has adopted three other boys with Down syndrome and has made it her mission to treat her sons like adults in the real world, rather than children who need to be partitioned off.
Baxter used to attend a day centre for people with learning disabilities but found it intolerable. “They treated me like a child: ‘You! Sit in the corner!” he says. During the pandemic, he baked a cake with the day centre over video link, and the recipe required a dash of brandy. “I said: ‘One for the cake and one for me!’” he says, mimicking downing a shot. But he was admonished for it. “A 32-year-old man in his own kitchen!” exclaims Lucy, who has joined us on the call today.
Also on the call is film-maker Peter Beard who, along with Bruce Fletcher, helped Baxter shape his ideas. The pair first met Baxter when they made the 2009 documentary Otto: Love, Lust and Las Vegas about Baxter’s attempts to lose his virginity. They have all since become firm friends.
“Our rule for The Puppet Asylum was that we weren’t allowed to make anything up – Otto had to do it all himself,” says Beard. Occasionally the film-makers would begin to intrude on this process. “So I’d say: ‘Fuck off! I’m the director!’” laughs Baxter.
Still, some of Baxter’s deepest fears had to be coaxed out by Beard and Fletcher, including the greatest one of all: what will happen once Lucy is no longer around to advocate for him? Baxter says he finds it very hard to talk about this, yet it’s explored courageously in The Puppet Asylum.
“When I first wrote down ‘Lucy dies’ as an idea, Otto asked me to instead write ‘pretend Lucy dies’,” says Beard. “He just didn’t want to think Lucy would die.”
Beard and Fletcher have also given thought to Baxter’s future. And around the time they started making The Puppet Asylum, they were added to a small circle of Baxter’s “deputies” who will be able to help him make important life decisions in the event of Lucy’s death.
It’s all about empowerment. And The Puppet Asylum is proof of what can happen when you give someone like Baxter the creative control to tell his own story. Certainly, ideas for future projects are not in short supply. Baxter wants to make “a Christmas horror” next, while Beard and Fletcher are keen on a show in which he lives with celebrities for a weekend, Louis Theroux style (“Because he’s not scared of asking them anything,” grins Beard). Once Baxter is on a roll, his ideas can’t be stemmed: “I want to host a horror gameshow, open a horror theme park,” he says, before adding: “Dream big!”
Otto Baxter: Not A F***ing Horror Story and The Puppet Asylum will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 1 September and on Sky Documentaries and NOW from 23 September.
