28 Days Later

Posted on October 24, 2016 by casewright

There are A LOT of bad horror films out there and I mean Halloween Resurrection bad, but when you get a truly great one, it sticks with you for your life. This movie is more unique in that the writer Alex Garland really peaked with this film and there are IMDB credits to prove it. Danny Boyle directed the piece and you really feel as though you were inhabiting the after-times of a dead world….well, undead. Danny Boyle did Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 hours, but I know what you’re thinking- Did he write anything besides family films for Disney? Yes, he made this awesome zombie film.

We see shots of terrible violence and realize that monkeys are being forced to watch it. Then, Animal Rights Activists enter heavily armed with guns and sanctimony. The researcher begs them not to release the animals because they are infected with a terribly contagious disease and that the goal of their research is to find a cure for rage. The Animal Rights Activists patiently listen to the scientist instead of acting purely from smug instinct, dooming us all. Just kidding, they release one of the monkeys, it rips the animal rights activist apart, barf bleeds all over her, making her patient zero, and I try really hard not to root for the diseased monkey. The disease is out! Of course, many of us always knew that animal rights activists would lead to the zombie apocalypse. Just read their twitter feeds and you’ll know that they’ll doom us all. Fade to Black and 28 Days Later… appears as a subtitle in the bottom right….BRILLIANT!!!

Jim wakes from a coma to a dead world. Sound familiar? Yes, TWD went beyond homage there. He leaves the hospital to amazing details that really sell a dead London. Empty hospital, empty streets, garbage, worthless cash everywhere, a bus is overturned in front of parliament, and an amazing score reveals a World without people. If you’re looking for the song that plays when he’s walking around dead London during the opening – it’s by Godspeed You! Black Emperor – East Hastings – Long Version.

HOW DID THEY MAKE LONDON EMPTY? MERLIN! This is England, after all. Nah, Danny Boyle got MANY government officials to agree to let the production shutdown huge traffic arteries for 90 seconds at a time. London is one my most favorite cities and I would love to live there and it is Europe’s New York City, therefore, imagine shutting down Times Square for filming.

Jim gets chased by fast-moving zombies and meets Selena and a Red Shirt. He goes with them and realizes very quickly that he was probably better off in a coma. Jim insists on seeing his parents. They agree to take him and he finds them suicided on the bed clutching a note that reads- “With endless love, we left you sleeping. Now, we’re sleeping with you. Don’t wake up.” This is not your dad’s zombie movie. They decide to stay at his house for the night, but are attacked by zombies. Red Shirt gets infected and is dispatched by Selena. Jim and Selena must flee.

Jim and Selena venture forth and find Frank and his daughter Hannah. It hasn’t rained for some time, therefore -no water. For survival, they have to leave the city. Selena doesn’t want to go with Frank and his daughter because she sees them as anchors, but Jim insists and Hannah explains that we actually need each other. Frank plays a radio signal that beckons them to safety and they leave as one tribe. Along the way, there are some intense scenes and some shopping. They arrive at the salvation location, but Frank gets infected and is killed by soldiers.

Right away, you can tell that the soldiers are goofing off too much. I have commanded soldiers and there’s some level of goofing off, but this had an air of creepiness and broken discipline. The soldier’s have taken over a residence as their HQ and have put up defenses to keep zombies out and people in. We quickly learn that the radio message was a trap. Corporal Mitchell harasses Selena and a fight erupts. The Major breaks it up, but it’s clear that Jim, Hannah, and Selena are prisoners. The Major explains that the soldiers could not face a dead world and one attempted suicide. The Major had a plan- lure women to the compound with a radio signal. When they arrived, they would keep them prisoner to breed with his soldiers to restart civilization. He puts it simply: women equal hope. His logic and delivery is truly chilling in its cold mathematics.

They decide to execute Jim and a SGT who gets in their way and keep Hannah and Selena for reproduction. Corporal Mitchell and another Soldier take Jim and the SGT out for execution to a killing field. Corporal Mitchell wants to bayonet Jim, the other Soldier can’t handle that kind of intimate murder, leading to a melee. The SGT is killed and Jim escapes.

The next sequence is truly amazing because we see our hero morph from the sensitive man that he is naturally to a state of feral revenge indistinguishable from the fast-moving zombies. He’s shirtless to further emphasize his lack of civility as he makes short work of many of the soldiers to rescue Hannah and Selena. Corporal Mitchell who wanted to bayonet him and rape Selena becomes the focal point of Jim’s rage- Jim puts his thumbs deep into Corporal Mitchell’s eyes until he’s dead. This is a critical act of monstrosity because it shows not tells in the clearest finality that there is no separation between Jim’s blind rage and the rage that has infected the human population.

I don’t want to totally spoil the ending because this film will remain with you and is a must see. It’s commentary on violence and society is forever salient: Violence is horrific, but forced civilization is worse and will lead to the ultimate act of revenge – THUMBS IN YOUR EYEBALLS or some such equivalent. The other important lesson the film tries to inculcate is to beware of self-certain sanctimonious people because their grandiosity could doom us all.

28 Days Later (2002, dir by Danny Boyle)

Channel Zero: Candle Cove Episode 2, ALT Title: Choosy Tooth Monsters Choose Teeth

Posted on October 22, 2016 by casewright

Cold Open: There’s an Old Man walking around who sees corpses of kids on the ground and in a tree and doesn’t seem to care. Frankly, this is kind of how I felt about this episode. It wasn’t great. It had popping moments, but an overdose of sighs, pauses, and stares. I mean Twilight levels of stares. The pilot and episode 2 were written by Don Mancini of Child’s Play and Halloween Wars Season 6. I was really surprised that Don wrote episode 2. The pilot was creepy and popped, but episode 2 fizzled. This was a missed opportunity for a good show. Here we go.

Katie is back home and watching Candle Cove on the tv and then stabs her brother with a hook. Then, the show slows down to a crawl again.

Mike’s mom investigates the show and we get a lot of exposition about how the show was pirated onto RF signals and such. Honestly, this was the nadir of the show, but it still has promise, if the writers decide to stop feeding the story shots of nyquil and turkey sandwiches with gravy.

Hospital: Katie is under observation and their son Dane is in surgery. This will be an awkward Hallmark Card! Jessica (Katie’s mom) asks Mike to come back and talk to Katie. The Cop kinda doesn’t like this, but doesn’t put up much of a fight either. This is the theme of the whole episode…build up…fizzle…light random pop…fizzle. Mike goes to talk to Katie and sees a crayon picture on the wall depicting Candle Cove. He shows Katie the drawing, which….doesn’t achieve much. However, out of nowhere, Mike breaks the touch barrier with the kid, sending the dad into WTF-mode?! The action happens through a screen: once Mike leaves- the tooth monster snuggles Katie. This is creepy and gross, but not connected to the scene before it. Therefore, the discourse between Mike and Katie didn’t need to happen and was a time waster!

Mike goes back home and shows his mom the drawing. She believes it’s an “abandoned” cement plant. Mike and Mike’s Mom (MM) go to cleanest and still seemingly operational cement plant- No graffiti, no beer bottles, no trash, nothing to indicate that the cement plant is not kept up and will be turned back on in 30 minutes. In fact, it’s clinically clean. The art department really dropped the ball on this one. Mike goes into the spooooooky cement factory and finds his brother’s corpse. Then, Mike flashes back to stabbing his brother with a hook and burying him.

Mike goes to bed and sees the One-Character from Candle Cove who looks a lot like the lobster-thing from Futurama – upon research, it’s called Zoidberg and that’s what I’m calling this One-Eyed thing- Hi, Zoidberg. Zoidberg causes Mike to flash again to his mom talking to her beat up son. She says that when she told the bully’s parents, the bully’s mom laughed at her. This was not my upbringing. My mother, a 12 Generation Tarheel, is perpetually armed. If someone laughed at her after they had just ganged up and beat me up, I’d be visiting my badass Mom in Prison.

Mike goes to the kitchen and tells his mom, ‘BTDubs, I killed my brother.’ [paraphrased] She tells him to leave, he won’t, she cuts him with a big knife. Then, Mike takes a nap. I’m starting to wonder if any of these writers grew up with human families. The Cop shows up purportedly to arrest Mike, but not really. It’s very vague as to what he plans on doing besides putting him in the backseat of his car.

They make a big deal out of this backseat thing; therefore, I will address the stupidity. A cop needs to maintain control of a suspect for his safety and the safety of suspect. The car did not have a partition, therefore, having Mike in the back is stupid and dangerous. Furthermore, Mike is not restrained in any way. In this instance, the cop has a confessed murderer in custody and just has him in the back, with no cuffs, a clear shot taking out the cop, and relieving him of his service weapon! This show really needs to think sometimes with a bit of commonsense.

Cop doesn’t take Mike to the station; instead, Cop just keeps driving … for some reason. It’s not spooky, it’s just kinda dumb.

The show ends with Mike’s former English teacher feeding the tooth monster teeth. GROSS! Maybe, it’s Steve Martin under all of those teeth?!! HA HA!

The episode has some good creepy parts, but it seems to lack a strong reality through story to contrast the weirdo elements of the story. Channel Zero really needs to keep the real elements of the story real or this show will turn into a steaming pile very soon. I have a lot of faith that this was just a bad second episode, which is not uncommon if your pilot had so much meat that second episode seemed like leftovers. It would’ve benefitted from some sort of side-quest for Mike to accomplish.

Happy Halloween- it’s just around the corner!

Channel Zero: Candle Cove Season 1, Episode 1, ALT Title – The Tooth Fairy is Real … Real Hungry!

Posted on October 12, 2016 by casewright

Gentle Readers, it’s time to take a break from my stand alone film reviews and get something we can all sink our Teeth Into (you’ll get the pun later). It’s the Syfy Channel’s return to their awesomely dramatic roots. I will begin by writing that they delivered! If you dig suspense, good writing, and intricate plots, this show is not a bad bet.

Cold Open: A nightmare. Mike Painter, America’s Child Psychologist, is being interviewed by an asshole. The host pries deep into Mike’s private life and how his twin brother disappeared, several children were murdered in 1988, his blood type, and pictures of his colon – ok the last two were false, but the interviewer is a jerk. The host gives Mike water that has a dying fly in it. He puts Mike on the spot to talk to a creepy kid on the phone… who says “Why are you afraid to go home?” Then, the cameraman is a mannequin. What we got here is an unreliable narrator. We smash to the first of many odd smash cuts: a scarecrow on fire.

Mike heads home and briefly talks to his mom. She’s concerned that he is looking into the murders. He lies and says no. Mike goes to the Sheriff’s office and it’s a bit of exposition time, but not too bad. We learn that Mike’s buddy has become Sheriff and that the Sheriff’s son is a bit of a misfit. Mike wants the files on the murders. Mike dissembles that he’s writing a book about the murders. Sheriff wants to makes sure the book will be respectful and mentions that the victims were missing their teeth. YEECH! Sheriff is worried that his son is a weirdo and offers to trade files for some free psychoanalysis…. as you do. We also get a clue as to weirdness: there are reports of a person breaking into homes, but not stealing anything. Yikes!

Dinner Party: They discuss how the kids are watching too much tv. Mike checks in on Katie – the Sheriff’s daughter – who is watching a creepy puppet show. Mike mentions this when he returns to the dinner table. The show was called Candle Cove. The same show that they watched as children in 1988. It has a super creepy host called Jawbone – a puppet skeleton. The adults discuss the show some more and Mike leaves abruptly.

Mike has a flashback to bullies messing with his brother and he does nothing. They go home and the tv turns on and it’s the creepy puppet show Candle Cove. This show really ratchets up the creep factor. Seriously, you will be scared. We flashback back to Mike’s childhood room. He wakes and sees Jawbone in his room and Mike approaches him. When he touches Jawbone, he wakes in a field looking out at the woods. He notices a man in the woods as well.

Diner: Mike runs into his old English teacher and she quizzes him on grammar. We cut away to Katie’s room. She’s vanished. This show’s creep factor really goes up and up and up. A search party forms to look for Katie. Katie’s mom Jessica confronts Mike because she’s learned that he was not home for five hours the previous night. We learn that he was in psych ward a week ago. He begins to rave that it’s the show that somehow took Katie away. She rationally calls for help and he disappears. Mike is convinced that he can find Katie.

Mike goes to the Sheriff’s house and sees Dane the Sheriff’s son. Dane says, “She said you would ask” Taking a moment. This is becoming The Ring, Ju-on, When a Stranger Calls levels of creepy. Mike is convinced that he knows where Katie is. He flees into the woods towards a place called “Crow’s Nest”. We see a number of cutaways of burying bodies and hooks to the chest. Yep, hooks to the chest.

Mike sees Jawbone and reaches to touch it. Jawbone flees and leads him to Katie. Mike rescues Katie and when they leave, we see the MONSTER: a Thing Covered in Teeth. The Tooth Monster reaches out where Katie was sitting and takes away two bloody teeth. You wanna be scared, watch this series!

They have thrown Mike in jail because he rescued Katie…come again? Well, he’s in jail and gets released. When he gets home, he mentions Candle Cove to his mom. She responds that show was just static. We cut to all of the children of the town watching Candle Cove.

This show is absolute gooseflesh inducing. Where Stranger Things was dripping with nostalgia and gothic horror, Channel Zero taps into sheer Hitchcock suspense and Rod Serling terror. It’s a great show for October and just a great Thriller!

Ginger Snaps, Reviewed- BAM!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by casewright

54c00238fc9688b71b648e0086b09a3b

I need to begin this film review by writing that I LOVE THIS MOVIE…A LOT! There will be some geeking out- prepare yourselves. The ideal horror film takes an issue or life lesson and hides the message in something scary. The horror genre is not alone; good science fiction does this, but it’s rare. “Ginger Snaps” takes the milestone of 50% of the World’s population – the menarche and uses lycanthropy as a metaphor for it. Yes, you read that right- Werewolfism as a metaphor for the first menstrual cycle. I have two very young daughters and in an odd way, I feel a little more prepared. This film’s got it all: werewolves, a coming of age story, and Mimi Rogers. Yes, Mimi Rogers – a Voluptuous Artsy Smarty Pants (VASP) and the uber crush of my youth – is in Ginger Snaps.

We open in suburban Canada- every house looks the same. A mom is cleaning up yard waste and her son is playing in the sandbox with…. dog gore. The mom sees her son covered in their dog and their dog is opened all up. She freaks in the neighborhood and no one cares.

The story moves onto Brigitte and Ginger. Brigitte is the introspective sister and Ginger is the more gutsy one. They both are very Alternative and Gothish. In high school, these would be the girls whom I would’ve crushed on very awkwardly and they would’ve thought I was boring because I was into sports and pretty stammering. The sisters are obsessed with death. They stage elaborate death scenes of each other impaled, hanged, poisoned, overdosed, and suffocated (list not exclusive). They present this avant garde masterpiece to their teacher who thinks they’re whacko. Sidenote: I truly love the 1990s vibe the high school has!!!

The girls are trying to play Field Hockey. Brigette is being bullied by a Mean Girl. Then, Brigette trips into a dog and what I mean by into I mean there is ANOTHER mauled dog and Brigette is sitting in him. YEECH!

They get home and their mom- Mimi Rogers- is trying to connect with them. She recognizes the premenstrual symptoms that Ginger is having and tries to bond with her. It fails- Poor Beautiful Mimi Rogers. The girls sneak out of the house to kidnap the Mean Girl’s dog. While canine hunting, Ginger gets her period as she calls it The Curse and the Werewolf attacks her. Also, they call the lycanthropy a curse throughout the film. Ginger is mauled by the werewolf and is saved by Brigette, but the werewolf gives chase and is run over by a Drug Dealer’s van. Yep, forget silver to kill Werewolves; it’s all about an old school car. A Prius, however, would not likely save you because they suck and are terrible.

The girls get home and Ginger’s wounds are already healing. The movie continues with references to lunar cycles in relation to Ginger’s lunar and menstrual cycle. Ginger rapidly leaves Brigette behind as she begins to chase a bad boy and the occasional neighbor dog for a snack. Ginger also begins to dress more provocatively. Then, Ginger porks her boyfriend and she grows a tail. See what premarital sex will get you?! A Tail!

Brigette attracts the Mean Girl’s ex the Drug Dealer who ran over the werewolf. He comes up with some nifty werewolf-be-gone remedies: One being for Ginger to get a belly piercing- Ok, whatever works. Ginger gets more aggressive at school and beats the piss out of anyone who messes with Brigette. We see Ginger’s Boyfriend and he looks roughed because Ginger gave him her werewolf disease by knockin’ boots with him. The Drug Dealer guy figures out that mainlining wolf’s bane will cure Ginger.

The Mean Girl shows up at Brigette’s and Ginger’s home and hilariously slips and dies. Sorry, it was kind of funny. The girls bury her in the cellar. Later, Mimi Rogers finds the body of the Mean Girl and resolves to take the girls far away. Ginger kills a few more people and becomes more wolf-like and decides it’s time to party.

She tries to seduce Drug Dealer guy, but is thwarted by Brigette. Mimi loses track of her girls and is not seen again. Brigette distracts Ginger by mixing their blood with the hope that this will distract Ginger long enough to inject them both, curing them all. Does it work? Not so much. Ginger goes full-on werewolf, Brigette is becoming a werewolf, and …… You’ll just have to watch. I’m not spoiling the 3rd act of the best Metaphorical Horror Movie Ever! NO WAY! Go buy this film!!! It’s really awesome! If you buy Ginger Snaps and you don’t like it, you get to keep it. This film is just purely great! I know many of you like my snark alec a lot, but this movie just wonderful!

Review of Berberian Sound Studio, ALT Title: Huh? I mean, Huh?

Posted on October 2, 2016 by casewright

bsstudio

I was considering posting this review later in the month because I didn’t want to do two negative reviews in a row. I’m starting to feel like an old curmudgeon with a sciatica issue, but here we are. I didn’t write, direct, or produce this steaming pile of shit, but again… here we are. I’m not writing that every film should have three distinct acts that are easily defined and understood, but this film sure could have used some structure or a beginning, a middle, or (if they really felt wild) an ending.

We open with Gilderoy (Tobey Jones) starting a job as a foley artist for a Giallo film. He is immediately shocked at the graphic nature of the film that he will be looping. This is where the movie grinds to a halt – minute 7. Either through a lack of budget or imagination, the film takes place in the sound studio, his apartment, and a hallway – that’s it. You’d think that this would establish tension…nope; no more than sitting in the DMV for 90 minutes establishes tension. There are no subtitles and everyone’s speaking Italian and screaming a lot to loop the spooky film that you never see. Again, you’d think that perhaps this would create tension or alienation because we don’t know what’s being said in 85% of the film….nope; no more than watching Raiuno (Italian Basic Cable). Keep in mind, I’m very proud of my very sexy Italian roots, but not everything we make is a winner- even our towers lean over sometimes.

Gilderoy proceeds to obsess over getting reimbursed for his travel and when he doesn’t get reimbursed, he mopes … a lot and smashes fruit to mimic bludgeoning sounds. At one point he does get upset about it, but then goes back to doing what he does best – moping and fruit smashing. There are two producers Francesco and Santini who spend the majority of the film bullying Gilderoy around and just when you think he’ll snap, he doesn’t because his moping around and fruit smashing won’t get done by itself.

Gilderoy slowly makes a quasi-friendship with Elena a voiceover artist who hints at something sinister being afoot, but it never materializes. Snore. Later in the film, Santini sexually assaults her off-screen and she wrecks the studio this is also off-screen. Since all of the action takes place off-camera, it really makes you wonder if they ever wanted to film a movie. Elena’s departure necessitates the need to hire new voiceover actress to replace her.

This is where the film takes an absurdist left turn – Gilderoy starts speaking Italian. As someone who has taken some formal Italian language instruction- it’s a challenging language, but not for Gilderoy because he just starts spouting it – damn it! Then, Elena’s replacement tries to kill Gilderoy, but he manages to kill her. He then wanders into the sound studio and for some reason he sees the self-defense killing on the screen. This causes the need for yet another voiceover actress to be hired and he uses mild sound torture to get a better performance out of her – it’s both weird and stupid because she could just take the headphones off, but she doesn’t. She does quit and we don’t have to see them go to Central Casting again. Maybe they get a stamp on a card for every voiceover actress they hire? If so, they are all due a free sammich!!! The movie ends. Yep, that’s it.

This film proved that there are two big losers in Giallo pictures: voiceover actresses and fruit! Enjoy the horror month! My next review will be one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME: Ginger Snaps! Ginger Snaps is a werewolf movie that is an allegory for a girl’s menarche! Tagline: They don’t call it the curse for nothing! It’s awesome!

Escape From Tomorrow, ALT Title: It’s a Boring World Afterall

Posted on October 1, 2016 by casewright

escape-from-tomorrow

Welcome to The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!! It’s October- Horror Month!!! I will be reviewing many great and terrible films for your reading pleasure. My advice to you Gentle Readers: decorate your house, turn the lights down low, read my posts, like them, retweet them, tell your friends and family about them BECAUSE if you don’t demons will get you! Here we go!!!

I am watching a man have extreme explosive diarrhea and cough up furballs, when I think, some poor asshole paid to see this.

Escape From Tomorrow is a quasi horror film about a man on vacation with his family to Disneyworld and things go absurdly weird and boring. It’s black and white, which gives it a good eerie feel. It is, in fact, filmed entirely at Disney World and Disney Land. My expectations were raised- too bad for me.

The dad is fired in the first scene over the phone right before he takes his family to tour Disney World. Upon entering the monorail to the park, the dad ogles and passively stalks two girls. One of the ladies he ogles is Annet Mahendru – “Nina” – from The Americans and the other is a REALLY young lady. He ogles them both on the monorail, in line, and pretty much all over the park. His stalking is the only part of the movie that is moderately creepy and scary. At so many points in the show I thought, Dude, your children are right there! Gross!

They arrive at the most wonderful place on Earth to find people coughing. The dad goes on rides and hallucinates. You expect it to get scary and it fizzles out like a damp sparkler. Eventually the mom and dad go to different parts of the park and the Dad is left to stalk the two girls again, but he gets distracted and blacks out and wakes having sex with a woman who looks a lot like a sexy version of the wicked witch in Snow White – It’s weird. The story gets rapidly off the rails and you have to grab at plot points like wet tissue paper. There’s a “Cat Flu, a ridiculous scene inside of Epcot, and redneck in scooter; it’s truly nonsensical and dull. SNORE.

This is why the film fails to do anything but disappoint: he had done it- Randy Moore got into Disney and did pure guerilla filmmaking. However, he forgot to have one thing: a story. OOPS!!! Maybe he left the story at Universal Studios?! I hear the shark can really startle you on the tram! From written accounts, Moore was so worried that he would be sued, he edited the film in South Korea. What a waste of cash! Disney realized quickly what I did- the film sucks and isn’t worth the paper to file suit in Court.

There was ONE and ONLY one part of the film that was compelling. The dad had a drinking problem. He does drink …. A LOT, but the movie strays from that interesting plot point to go off on some boring surreal tangent. If the movie got away from the surreal bullshit and focused on the dad ruining his family and himself at Disney because of alcoholism, it would have been the most moving story about drinking since Leaving Las Vegas. Moore, however, squandered that great opportunity and will either learn from this mistake or go into Real Estate.

He did manage to film in Disney without anyone giving a shit, which is novel and a bit impressive. Also, I have to be stingy with my “As” and “Fs”. Therefore, I give

Escape From Tomorrow a “D”.

escape-from-tomorrow-1

How to Get Ahead in Hollywood by REALLY, REALLY Trying!

Posted on September 25, 2016 by casewright

guy_bee

What allows for some artists to succeed?

I have known many artists and being able to support oneself with one’s art is a rare thing, demanding respect and investigation. A friend told me that even the piano singer at a hotel singing “Summer Winds”, if he is supporting himself solely with his art, he is a rare success in the echelon of the .0001% of artists. It is with that understanding and respect that I bring you Gentle Reader to my discussion with Director – Guy Bee.

Guy Bee’s IMDB page reads like a TV Fan’s dream resume. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0066218/

Guy came to Hollywood via Florida to California in 1987; he obtained a job working for a camera and camera equipment leasing company. As Guy put it, “I came in early and stayed late.” He managed their books, meaning he logged the equipment that was checked in and out, he cleaned an repaired the equipment, and drove the company truck. Guy’s diligence impressed his boss who offered to let him go to a Steadicam workshop because he wanted him to keep track of the equipment that was leant to the workshop, allowing Guy to attend a free Steadicam workshop. As Guy leased this equipment he, would meet more and more Directors and Producers. This led to a string of short projects while he continued to work at the leasing shop, which slowly built up his reel (segments showing his camera work) on VHS TAPE.

Guy states that “You live and die by the reputation that you can handle anything without being rattled.” This philosophy set the stage for Guy’s shot at Directing. By working diligently and establishing relationships with the cast, crew, directors, and producers of “Third Watch”, Guy was given his first professional directing opportunity, which would grow into 13 episodes of directing. His success as a director on “Third Watch” led to “Alias” which led to one of my favorite shows of ALL TIME: “Jericho”. “Jericho”, for the uninitiated, is the story of a Kansas town holding together in the wake of Nuclear War. Guy described the show as – “Every scene was important and the stakes were always high. There was no ‘C Story’.” Guy directed three episodes of this show that was gone too soon.

Protips? Flexibility. “If you’re behind because of lighting or someone’s late, you still have to figure out how to get it done in time”. Why? Budgets! Once you cross 12 hours of shooting, everyone’s rates go up. “It takes seven days prep for eight to nine days of filming.” These principles took him to three of my favorite shows: “Supernatural”, “Arrow”, “The Magicians”, and “iZombie”.

The question I had was how was he able to keep working and have one show feed into the next? “[He] never turned down work.” On “Supernatural”, he met Erik Kripke, Kim Manners, Bob Singer, and Sera Gamble and each of these producers led him to other episodes and new shows.

Where does he do the bulk of his work? Not in Hollywood. Why? “New York is busy because the tax incentives have made it sexy to shoot there.” This dates me a bit, but is there a true hiatus anymore? “Everything has changed. Filming used to be from July through April. Now, with basic cable, it’s year round production.”

Protips: I have an artsy daughter- what have I learned from Guy that I can impart to her to help her support herself in the arts?

Be versatile. Guy has more than one skill. If she were interested in filmmaking, I would advise her to not just be a writer. I’m a writer and it’s fallow … A LOT. If she wanted to be a writer, I would tell her that she should also understand how to put together budgets for stories she’s writing. Similarly, Guy has skills as a camera operator, which led to and helped him as a director- the skills were synergistic.

Build relationships. I would tell my daughter to be totally reliable and pleasant to work with (I apologize for ending with a preposition). Guy worked on every project with diligence, never complained, and never turned down work, enabling him to continue working in the arts without a day job.

How to be a fulfilled artist… A Discussion with Tom Abernathy

Posted on September 24, 2016 by casewright

I’m sitting in my office with the speakerphone on and listening to one of my artistic heroes – Tom Abernathy – speak as his creation The Freak from Destroy All Humans! 2. Yes, this really happened and it was …. awesome.

Our discussion covers how Tom started his career, his past achievements, and what more he wants to give us.

When I first started speaking with him, I didn’t understand him. Where was the angst-ridden melancholy that is so familiar in so many artists? Where was the bitterness? I realized that his artistic process was totally different from that of a TV and movie writer who spends their artistic career in a great deal of isolation punctuated by a team of constructive criticism and clearly defined tasks. His job touches all facets of the creative process, allowing him to fully realize his creative voice and vision.

Tom’s video game narrative career influenced or decided the dialogue, direction, and casting of many of our most beloved games. His career began in Los Angeles doing coverage – summarizing and reviewing scripts to determine if they were worth making. He did this job for twenty-five dollars a script. Through a connection, Joseph Donaldson, Tom was able to get a job writing scripts for Activision Studios. It was not like today. Tom said, “The writing [for games] was terrible then.” The video game writing done by the designers and producers who had little need for professional writers at that time. His first game “Dark Reign 2” did not do well and Tom’s future as a professional game writer was uncertain. However, something occurred in 2004 that made him eagerly look for work in TV, Film, or Games – he had a baby on the way.

Once again, Joseph Donaldson pushed Tom’s name forward as the head writer. This was for Destroy All Humans!, a Mars Attacks set in the 1950s where you played the Alien Invader. Tom had a unique take on both the people who inhabited the world and the Hero of the game – Crypto.

Tom brought the satirical humor to DAH! Tom created the premise that “the 50s were Ward and June Clever and Eisenhower exterior, but everything going on in their minds must be depraved and wild.” Since Crypto was able to read minds, as he leveled towns and harvested human brains, we got to read and hear the unspoken, providing both comic relief and clues to completing missions. He wanted Crypto to be “two parts Jack Nicholson and one part Charlton Heston.”

This was revolutionary because unlike the characters in “Doom” and other FPS, Crypto had a personality and a story. Although Crypto would be insulted to read this, he had real humanity. This will shock many fans, but “the original [Crypto voice] had a stilted tone like the 50s saucer movies”. YIKES! Tom wanted Crypto to be a “cowboy walking id, very American individualist.” Therefore, it was “Jack Nicholson for id and Charlton Heston for cowboy.” He continued. “[Crypto] needed the pomposity of Charlton Heston, [he] needed arrogance/confidence with swagger like Soylent Green. TOUGH!”

What was Tom’s role besides being the writer? Were people lording over him? How much freedom did he have? It turns out that he had A LOT of artistic control. Why? “The [game developers] were in Brisbane and [he] only interacted with them by phone and email.” Therefore, the geographic separation allowed Tom to have immense creative influence that would not have been afforded to him otherwise. For example, Tom knew what he wanted Crypto to sound like and Tom was able to do the casting. Yes, creatives – he got to do the casting.

DAH!2 Crypto was pitched as a James Bond/Austin Powers. There was a pause in the discussion and I had to ask about The Freak and if it was true that he was the voice? Yes!!! “The voice director, Doug Carrigan, and I realized that, in all our months-long work to get the important parts cast and recorded, there was one reasonably significant role we had totally forgotten about: The Freak. [We] were out of money and time, we had no choice but for me to hop in the booth and perform The Freak myself in what was probably the final 15 minutes of the entire series of recording sessions. Apologies to Bobcat Goldthwaite; I had zero time to come up with an original take on the character, so I just decided to commit to the idea of Goldthwaite on a really bad acid trip.” Yes, he did the voice for me and it was …. EPIC!!!

I asked him about the DAH!2 side missions. “Leanne Taylor did a ton of work [assigned] late in production.” Leanne Taylor – from me- THANK YOU!!!

I asked him about getting Anthony Stewart Head to play Ponsonby, who would’ve been a get for the time. This was an interesting story because it not only reflected the creative process for a narrative, but also the limits of their power. Tom had directed and recorded another actor to play Poncenby. “I had cast an older man who brought out the humor and after he was recorded, THQ UK Marketing emails – “We want you to cast a ‘name’ actor from the UK so we can sell more units over here.” I was curious as to Tom’s reaction. “Not great. No one ever bought a game because someone voice acted in it because you don’t see the actors!”

What’s Happening Now?

Infinite-Arms.com

“The story is like Matrix meets Fringe. “There are mechs, known as Metamods, that come in both software and hardware version. The hardware versions are actual 3-D printed action figures as much as ten or twelve inches tall, with 200 coats of paint and more than 20 points of articulation.” I didn’t really understand this until I watched the above video. There are toys and a video game component. In other words, this will be really badass. Most importantly, “you don’t have to pour tons of money into the game to be successful! Jumo the company behind the game- wants players to get value with or without investing money.” There are RPG components, platform, and toy components!

Given Tom’s track record of bringing story and humanity to games, this will be a MUST BUY for the holidays!

Cheers!

Stranger Things: Season 1, Episode 8: The Upside Down, ALT Title: Hop’s Redemption

Posted on September 11, 2016 by casewright

stranger things titles

Cold Open: Evil Modine’s Government Facility: Joyce is screaming and Evil Modine enters. He conveys with cold calm that six people were taken this week and tries to bully Joyce like he did Karen. Joyce isn’t having it. Henchwoman is having people taser Hop … A LOT! He tells them that he knows everything about they did. They propose to have him overdose. He counters that they arm him and let him and Joyce go. How does Hop fit into his pants with balls that big?!

High school: The boys are at the school and restless. They realize that Nancy and Creeper are gone.

Joyce’s House: They set up several booby traps and the xmas lights, which sets up an inconsistency in the storytelling.

Evil Modine comes to Hop. Hop convinces Evil Modine to to arm him, release him AND Joyce, and allow him to pursue the monster. He offers to forget about him and their project and he’ll tell him where El is, if he agrees to his terms.

Hop and Joyce get spacesuited up and enter into the belching gate to the Upside Down.

ROLL CREDITS:

The Upside Down: Hop and Joyce are looking for Will. The respirator noise causes Hop to Flash to happier times.

Hop is in the past… clean-shaven, with his wife and daughter, and happy. His daughter starts to wheeze.

The Upside Down: Nancy and Creeper cut themselves to draw out the Postmodern Vampire. She wonders how she will know when the monster will be coming, which brings us to the story hole: Why would she be screwing the lights back in before if she didn’t know that they had a purpose? Steve bangs at the door and forces himself into the house. They both try to get him to leave and Nancy even pulls a gun on him, but then the lights flicker, the monster appears, and Steve’s brain breaks a little. They run to Will’s room.

The Upside Down: Hop sees the destroyed Castle Byers and a teddy bear causes him to FLASH.

Hospital Room: He is reading to his daughter who is bald from cancer. When he’s done reading, he goes into the hospital stairwell and sobs. Poor Hop.

Joyce’s House: Steve freaks out and runs to his car, but he sees the lights flickering and decides to become a hero. The monster appears behind Nancy and Creeper. Steve jumps in and starts hitting the monster with an upgraded baseball bat. The monster gets trapped in the bear trap. They set the monster on fire and it disappears. There is smoldering monster blood in the trap. My best guess of what smoldering Vampire Monster smells like is anything on the Arby’s menu.

The Upside Down: Hop and Joyce are in her home and they see the blood from the monster. The lights start turning on in Joyce’s house.

High School: Dustin finds pudding. We get it; he’s the fat kid! Mike talks to El about how his family will quasi-adopt her. Jibber Jabber Jibber Jabber, they kiss. Then, Evil Modine and his Goons arrive to retrieve El. The boys and El run. They make it into a hallway and are cutoff with ….Goons to the Left and Goons to the Right and she’s the only El in town! [Sung]

El uses her mojo and melts/explodes the brains and eyes of the Henchwoman and several goons. This brings us to bad ideas: New Coke, The Edsel, Qwikster, The Zune, Grease 2, and cornering a pissed off teenager with lethal mental Superpowers. Hop and Joyce pursue the monster and follow its bloodtrail to the library where Hop has looked for love.

High school: The boys get grabbed by goons and El is passed out from mental exertion. Evil Modine hugs her and promises to make everything better to make her better. The lights flash. Mike sees the blood, the monster breaks through the wall, and envelops Evil Modine. Once again, it’s a monster, who hunts at night, and searches for blood. NOSFERATU!!!!!

The Library: Joyce and Hop are in the public library. They see skulls everywhere and viney gooeyness. Lastly, they see Will with a monster snake attached to his mouth.

Flash to Hop’s daughter’s Hospital Room: We see his daughter intubated and dying. She flatlines. The scene is intercut with Hop watching his daughter dying and him removing Will’s monster snake from him.

High school: The goons are fighting the monster and losing. The monster enters the room where the boys are hiding and Lucas tries to kill the monster with the slingshot for some reason. The monster is flung and pinned against the wall. El is awake with red eyes and is really pissed. She looks back at the one boy she ever loved, says good bye, and then using her mind – she creates a bright LIGHT ….AHEM … A Bright Light like the Sun and destroys the monster by disintegrating both herself and it.

Hop and Joyce: Hop is doing CPR on Will with Joyce’s help to revive Will. In saving Will, he will have also released himself from the prison of his grief. We flash to the Hop’s dying daughter with doctors failing to save her and we see the beginning of his beard. However, in the Upside Down, Hop is able to save Will and, in doing so, himself as well.

High school: Karen arrives and hugs her son.

The Hospital: Will awakens to his family.

The Waiting Room: Everyone is waiting for Will to wake up in the hospital. The tragedy has brought them together as one community, one tribe. When the boys hear that Will is awake, they run in and jibber jabber a bit. Hop goes outside and is picked up by goons, but in a friendly way.

ONE MONTH LATER:

Snow has begun. The boys are playing D&D again. Creeper picks up Will and gets a present from Nancy, but we rapidly see that she isn’t his girlfriend. It’s a camera. HMMMMM, not sure if that will improve Creeper’s prospects of staying out of handcuffs.

Hop Goes to the station and gets some food and makes some wise cracks. He drops off some eggos in a dead drop, which is presumably for El.

Joyce’s House: It’s all fixed up because the town must have pitched in together. Will heads to the bathroom and barfs up a slug monster, flashes into the Upside Down, and doesn’t tell anyone because I guess mash potatoes were all he could think about at that time.

ROLL CREDITS

This has been so much fun! Demand more with all your might!!!

Stranger Things: The Bathtub Season 1, Episode 7; ALT Title: Modine, Evil Modine.

Posted on September 11, 2016 by casewright

stranger things titles

Cold Open: Mike cleans off El’s face. She touches her head where the wig once was; the wig that made her a little normal and not a lab rat. “Still pretty?” She asks. Mike, “Really pretty.” They are about to kiss when Dustin interrupts. At least it wasn’t because he found a unopened box of Twinkies. They hear shouting on the walkie talkie. It’s Lucas. Lucas has decided F-This. How did I end up in this situation?! And, how come we never see my or Dustin’s parents? Did the monster eat them? Lucas is peddling as fast as he can … If he’s smart, to Iowa and away from this horrible situation. Lucas continues to shout into the walkie and finally warns his friends. The boys see the Hawkins vans outside of Mike’s house and decide to flee.

El sees her “Papa” Evil Modine approach Mike’s home. They bike in a hurry to escape and immediately run into Lucas. They are together and cornered- vans in front, vans behind them. Pro tip: Nobody puts El in a corner because she will f#cking kill you. El’s response to being cornered is launching the Hawkings van into the air and hurling it toward the pursuers behind her. They escape to the junkyard and everyone makes up.

Roll Credits:

Hop and Joyce arrive at the station. Joyce is hysterical. The deputies tell Hop that they need to show him something. They show Hop Creeper’s trunk. It is filled with monster hunting stuff. Hop confronts Creeper and Creeper tries to give Hop some lip. Really, Creeper?! Really?! Chief Hopper makes Jason Bourne look like Rick Moranis.

Mike’s House: Karen is looking for Mike and finds what looks like a kid’s nest. Then, she finds a tuft of long blonde hair, which must cause her to wonder- Are all of my kids having sex in my house?! Doorbell rings. It’s Modine, Evil Modine! He proceeds to home invade Karen’s home without a warrant. Henchlady tries to question Karen and fails. Nebish Dad uses this time to call his son a wuss. Evil Modine uses his eeeeeeevil powers of persuasion to get Karen cooperate. When he says, “Will you trust me?” I got the heebie jeebies. Shudders.

At the station, Hop learns from Nancy and Creeper that the creature is drawn by blood. The World Smallest Bully’s mom demands an apology. Hop learns that El is with the boys and is all kinds of superpowered.

Convenience Store: Steve loses his shitty friends and we learn it was his awful guy friend who did the spray painting.

Nancy and Hop are overlooking her home. She wants to confront Evil Modine. Hop shows Nancy that the government hasn’t found the boys yet because helicopters are still circling. Creeper tells them that he might be able to communicate with the boys. They go to Joyce’s house and Nancy is the first to look at the lights and say- WHOA! Yep, we’re in Crazytown, Indiana. Hop gets the boys to give up their location.

The Vandalized Movie Theater: Steve’s heart grows three sizes that day and he tries to make amends by cleaning off the marquee his friend defaced.

Junkyard: Modine’s goons approach the bus that is hiding the boys and El. Hop quickly dispatches them.

Joyce’s house: The Boys, El, Hop, Joyce, and Creeper are all together discussing their next move as one tribe. El tries and fails to use her mojo to find Will. They decide to make a bathtub deprivation tank.

Mr. Clark’s house: He is watching a cinematic masterpiece, The Thing, with a waaaay Hot Asian Lady. Mr. Clark, I tip my hat to you Sir. You be you. Dustin calls Mr. Clark- the most patient man alive- pumps him for DIY sensory deprivation tank information and then hangs up. Dustin, you’re being a dick.

They get the bath ready and El goes into the black world of the Inbetween. She finds a rotting Barb with monster slugs leaving her. Dear Everyone in the World, stop asking about Barb. She’s a rotting incubator for Vampire Monsters. That is all. El finds Castle Byers in the upside down. She comforts Will.

Hop and Joyce go off to Evil Modine’s Government Facility and are rapidly captured.

The Upside Down: The Monster destroys Castle Byers and takes Will to turn him into an incubator for monsters.

ROLL CREDITS!!!! If you enjoy these, please tell my Boss- Lisa Bowman! Also, suggest other shows or movies that you would like me to review. Cheers!