Sarasota Fringe Hallowscreen Film Festival presents: NOSFERATU (1922)

O hai guyz!

So, going along with my post about being the Program Director for the Fringe Hallowscreen this year, I'm finally able to announce one of the things I've planned for the festival. Feast your eyes upon the poster I made whilst I lay out the details. That way, when you're done feasting, you can read the rest of the post. See? I'm thinking ahead.



That's right! We're hosting a screening of F.W. Murnau's original, classic Nosferatu from 1922 with a new soundtrack performed LIVE by World Collision, my brother's band. Since this is my blog, I can be completely honest. I chose my brother's band for three reasons: (one) They really are freakin' good. I'm not just saying that as a sister, I'm saying that as a person with ears. (two) I don't know the local music scene any more. Once Neurotica hit back in the day, I no longer went to events. (three) Because I don't want to have to worry about the band. I know my brother will get it done, I know where he lives, I know how to track him down. I don't have to rely on a friend of a friend to get me information or anything like that.

I hope that Hallowscreen (or whatever they want to call it next year if I'm not involved - I like my wordplay) is a yearly festival and that they run a silent film every year scored by a local band. If no rock bands step up (right), maybe get the orchestra from a high school or something. Get more community involvement.

I'll have another sidebar-type event to announce soon, too! Something that's wonderfully goofy and that honours one of my favourite Scream Queens. OHNO! I've said too much... :D

Keep an eye on THIS SPACE RIGHT HERE for more announcements. :D

From Fangoria.com: Nightbreed: The Director's Cut?

Over on Fango.com, there's a news story about the possibility of a Nightbreed director's cut, but only if the studio sees that there is enough call for it. The film was written and directed by Clive Barker from his own novella, Cabal.

From the Wikipedia entry:

The movie centers around Aaron Boone (portrayed by Craig Sheffer), a young man plagued by dreams of a city called Midian, populated by bizarre creatures and deviants of all types who refer to themselves as the "Nightbreed". Aaron is framed for several murders by his psychopathic therapist, subsequently killed by police and resurrected by the magic of Midian. Boone joins forces with the other monsters to defend themselves from the true monsters of the story: humankind.

If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it or borrow it from a friend. After you've seen it and said "WTF?", read the article to find out how you can help get Clive Barker's original vision out to the masses. And, after you've done that, go read the novella if you haven't already.

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead.

Full disclosure: I am a fan of George A. Romero. I love him. I love his work. As I sit here at six in the morning typing all of this out, I'm wearing my Land of the Dead t-shirt.

 

I love ALL of the Dead cycle, including Day of the Dead (possibly my favourite of the sequels) and Land of the Dead, but I also love Knightriders (possibly my favourite of the non-zombie stuff), Creepshow, Martin, The Dark Half, and The Crazies. I liked Bruiser, but I wouldn't own it and I'm not sure I'd watch it again, and it's been so long since I've seen Two Evil Eyes and Monkey Shines that I can't really give an honest remark about them.

 

If I were to want to emulate a filmmaker, he would be one of them. Not his mistakes, of course *cyber-kicks Richard P. Rubinstein repeatedly and forcefully*, but Romero's movies are slices of fried gold.

 

That said, let's move on to the review:

 

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (released on DVD this past Tuesday) is about a crew of filmmakers, students at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh), who begin shooting a documentary (called The Death of Death) when reports come in that the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. It's first-person, like many films these days, with the footage coming from the camera of the film's director Jason Creed (played by Josh Close) and various other cameras throughout the movie.

 

Diary is the master's attempt to reboot his franchise, if you will. If this film were to be shoehorned into the Dead cycle's timeline, it would be at the very beginning; this would be around Night and the first hour or so of Dawn (GAR's version, please, not Zach Snyder's.) While we've been inundated with first-person movies, this one rises above the rest of the "Found Footage" lot for two reasons: no motion sickness and it's George A. Romero.

 

The script is a little heavy-handed. Romero has so much to say, and I agree with pretty much everything he's said, but in this film he's done it without the subtlety found in his other Dead flicks...yet, somehow the message will still go flying over some fans' heads. Whatever. 

 

I also found the film a bit hard to get into at first, but that was probably my excitement at watching a new Romero movie, one that's he's so proud of, and the hour -- I watched it around two thirty in the morning, after work.

 

Though I've called attention to those problems, they're very minor when held against how really spectacular the film is. It grabs you and whips you around and around. The characters are all relatively intelligent -- the director's smart and yet isn't at the same time, but he's my only character problem -- the effects (by a Canadian company called Gaslight under Greg Nicotero, who had the credit of "Special Effects Make-Up Producer" as well as "Zombie Surgeon") were great, the cinematography was fantastic (I have to stress this because it didn't feel like I was watching Blair Witch or Cloverfield, those flicks had nauseating camerawork), and the acting was pretty near top notch. The lead actress, Michelle Morgan, who played the director's girlfriend, seemed a bit self-conscious at times, but otherwise she was spot on.

 

If you're a fan of Romero's Dead cycle, you'll hear some familiar voice overs to help tie the film into Night and there are at least two on-camera cameos that will bring joy to a fan's heart.

 

Also, I'm pretty good with voices, but I could not pick out the voices of Simon Pegg, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Craven, Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, and Tom Savini who were all newsreaders in the film. Luckily, three of them are replayed in the Familiar Voices part of the special features, but not the others...and so far I think Stephen King's is the best.

 

I highly recommend this flick, but not if it's your first Romero movie or you haven't seen the rest of the Dead cycle. If either of those things apply to you, stop reading and go watch the '68 version of Night of the Living Dead, the '78 version of Dawn of the Dead, the '85 version of Day of the Dead, then the '89 version of Night of the Living Dead (it's one of the few remakes I've seen that lives up to its predecessor), and lastly Land of the Dead. It's a lot of movie watching, but well worth it.

It's a shame about Cage...

Obviously, I like movies. I like to talk about movies that interest me, I like to watch movies, and I like to make them. Occasionally, when I find a bit of movie news that sparks my interest, I'll talk about it and this is one of those times.

Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow...I, Robot) has a new movie coming out called Knowing. You can find some information here, courtesy Coming-Soon.net. Unfortunately, it stars Nicholas Cage, who has gotten increasingly cheesy since Leaving Las Vegas. However, the power of Proyas will compel me to watch the movie anyway.
 
*****

I don't know what most writers do when they have a sit down to do what they do, but I tend to put Ferris Bueller's Day Off on in the background. I look up every once in a while, of course, and catch some of my favouritest bits, but
it really does help me write. I transcribed eight typed 12 pt courier pages tonight in an hour and a half. Don't know what that's all about because I LOVE Ferris Bueller and look up often even though I can recite some parts from memory. Guess I'm some sort of super fast typist or something.

If you're wondering where this is coming from, I'm currently reading Stephen King's On Writing and it's got me thinking about my processes and such. He and I already have quite a few things in common as far as how I approach writing my stories, but I think I should wait until I'm finished before I delve into all of that TOO much further.