Friday the 13th Take Two (this one's verbose)

Full disclosure: For all of my love of horror, I'm not a big fan of the slasher subgenre in general. I find them to be puerile and unimaginative, again, generally. That said, I do like the original Friday the 13th and a couple of the sequels that follow, but my heart belongs to A Nightmare on Elm Street which is actually a huge reason why I decided to go ahead and watch the Friday the 13th remake. Platinum Dunes and Warner Bros / New Line, the people behind this flick, will be tackling one of the main reasons I write and direct horror. They already remade The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I rather liked in spite of quite a few issues with their plot additions. Marcus Nispel, the director of both of the TCM and F13 remakes, will not be directing the Nightmare redux; music video director Samuel Bayer will be making his feature directing debut with ANoES...and if you think I'm rough on the Friday the 13th redux, you haven't seen anything yet.

Also, while I have strong opinions about these movies, I'm not a "Freddy's better than Jason!" type person. It's all about personal preference. I prefer the Nightmare series to Friday the 13th, but I do like a couple of the F13 movies.

Friday the 13th was helmed by Marcus Nispel, director of other such fare as Pathfinder, the teevee movie Frankenstein, and lots of music videos. That might sound dismissive, but while I haven't seen Pathfinder (and I strain to admit to the "yet") or his Franenstein, he's really quite good in the action and tension departments which is good for a horror flick.

In this pre-sequel, no one's trying to reopen Camp Blood; all of the victims are just out looking for a good time and all that sex and all those drugs make Jason a sad boy. He goes from the burlap sack of Part 2 right into a well-aged hockey mask whilst wielding the family heirloom, a machete. While I know that the machete is inextricably linked to Jason as His Weapon, from what I remember of the sequels (and it's been a while since I saw them), he rarely used one. He's the type of slasher who'll use whatever's at hand, and he does so here, but the first group of horny teens specifically point out the machete in a painful bit of exposition telling exactly what the viewer saw not even ten minutes previous.

This film was written by the guys who wrote the mostly abysmal Freddy vs. Jason, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. That, right there, explains everything that's wrong with the Friday redux. It's obvious that these guys are fanboys. It's also obvious that they barely have an original bone in their bodies. They stole at least three plot devices / kills / sequences from Friday sequels, stole the ending of the original film for the initial hook and the final scare and stole the ending of another sequel for the initial part of the ending. The worst part is that what was original in the script was painfully predictable. Not to mention all of the predictable jump scares.

In another irritating script issue, there was an awful lot of talking in this flick and I mean useless, wasted dialogue. Sheep separated from the flock talking to themselves about what they were doing or were going to do and a lot of repetitious exposition as previously mentioned.

The score. Oh dear God, the score. Not good. Jarring, brought me right out of the flick several times.

Most of the actors were really there to be pretty and die in "inventive" ways which is typical of slasher flicks. Some of them could have been good if the writers had maybe pulled back on the tropes a little. However, high marks have to be given to leads Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker. They were much better than the majority of their co-stars, and were believable in every way that counts, a breath of fresh air in the flick.

Other highlights include the cinematography and lighting (although, I'm not aware of a light bulb that can continue to burn when broken; the filament burns itself out once the glass is breached and CFLs are just gas-filled glass tubes) and the editing was ace. When I have to pick something I normally don't notice unless it's bad in order to say something positive about a flick, you know that I was pretty annoyed.

But, let's look at it another way. As I wrote in the booth log that I'd previewed it, I asked myself, "If I were a Jason fan, would I be satisfied?" and "If I were just looking for a rollicking good time at the horror show, would I be satisfied?" The short answer is yes. Generally, Jason fans aren't watching for the story, they want to see pretty people get killed for having premarital sex and smoking pot then the villain get his or her comeuppance. The first film, at least, had a semblance of a plot.

Now, before you point out the shortcomings of the Nightmare series, let me say that I know them. I know them very, very well. Part 2 sucked, I never watch it (though I have to say that the effects and the score were excellent), and while it's dramatic, Nancy should never have been killed in part 3. From there, it's all downhill, but at least they had really great actors throughout from Heather Langenkamp on down. Wise-cracking Freddy, while funny, isn't scary in the least. I often wonder if Freddy fans have forgotten that their "hero" is a paedophiliac child murderer who wouldn't care that they thought he was awesome. See? This is part of the reason why I'm so dubious about the Nightmare remake...

In summary: This remake feels just like any other sequel in the F13 pantheon offering nothing new or unique to the series. If you don't mind that, you'll like it. If you're me and would like to see something more in a horror flick, even a remake, you're going to be disappointed, or indifferent at the very least. I can't be too disappointed, though. I knew what I was watching when I decided to preview it.

"Donuts don't wear alligator shoes..."

Every once in a while, as a public service, I will post trailers for some upcoming movies that seem to be made of awesome, things that the general public may miss because they're too cool for colour teevee. This is one of those posts. These trailers are generally not safe for work mostly because the awesome may in fact singe your eyebrows and possibly set off the fire alarm.

First up is Black Dynamite:


Next is a trailer for which there are no words except Chocolate:


Finally, Bitch Slap:

Sukiyaki Western Django among other things...

Okay, so the movie's done and will be sent out to cast and festivals starting tomorrow. I finished a day after the last deadline for the Sarasota Film Festival. Ah well. There's always next year depending on how well this year goes. The sound mix went well. Basically, my brother and I realized that whatever he would do to make the songs flow together, I'd already done so we decided to just keep the music edits I did. :D So, out it goes and where it stops I'll post here.

Anyway, as today is sort of a day off, I've decided to watch movies. The other day, I picked up a newer film from one of my favourite directors, Takashi Miike; he was behind such intense, amazing, bizarre fare as Audition, Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris, and Visitor Q (the only one of his flicks thus far that I haven't liked.)

The flick I picked up was Sukiyaki Western Django and it is the best Japanese Western ever made. Unfortunately, the American DVD had something like twenty minutes cut from the original film. Normally, I don't buy cut versions, and there is one part in particular where you feel it, but apparently the Malaysian subtitles for the looped track (the film was made with Japanese actors speaking English) are terrible. Since it was never released here theatrically, I really wonder why First Look cut it up, but whatever.

The flick is awesome...so long as you don't mind that it's really weird and sometimes a little hard to understand; I had to turn on the subtitles a couple of times. Since I don't mind that in the least, I freaking loved it.

I hate Westerns, but lately I find myself drawn to a few modern interpretations of the classic tropes in the genre: Stephen King's Gunslinger, Joss Whedon's Firefly, and now this. It was beautifully shot, the music was awesome, the performances were fantastic, and the direction superb. I LOVED it, but it's definitely not for everyone.

~~~~~

I hate doing the review dumps so here's a quick round-up of the flick's I've watched during post:

I saw My Bloody Valentine 3D and hated it, though the 3D was great. I saw Coraline and loved it. Last Chance Harvey was wonderful; I love Emma Thompson so so so much. The Life Before Her Eyes was good, but the ending was a little "eh."

Repo! The Genetic Opera -- I hated the lyrics and Paris Hilton makes me vomit a little, but all else was awesome. Too bad the lyrics are EVERYTHING in a rock opera. I think I'm the only Goth who doesn't think this flick is the Bee's Knees.

Ghost Town -- Much better than I thought it was going to be.

I Vampiri -- Cinematography by Mario Bava. Beautifully shot, pretty good story having very little to do with vampires.

Superstar in a Housedress -- A documentary about Jackie Curtis, one of Andy Warhol's entourage. It was good. I had no idea who Jackie Curtis was before I saw this. Never heard the name before, haven't heard the name since. You learn something new every day.

I think that's everything. I'm slowly trying to break out of my production cocoon, too... :D I've had enough of sitting in front of this computer for one night, I'mo go watch a movie.

A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema teaser!

I just did a quick teaser for the film.



And the poster art as well, because I'm a benevolent and loving Gan:

"I must not fear. Fear is the Mind-Killer..."

Well, as I wait for the export to finish for the second video test of my film, I thought I'd finish the production round-up. When I opened up my mail programme to start the post, I received a note from Schmap: Denver that a photo I took in the Denver Airport on the way to Shockerfest is on the shortlist for inclusion in their travel guide. (Click here to see the photo they want to use.) Neat! Okay...where was I?

SUNDAY, 28 DECEMBER, 2008 -- the Holy Crap day:

We had a lot to do this day to make up for Saturday so we were hustling. Luckily, I have some really kick ass actors on my docket and not only did we get everything done that I had on my list, we even got a few things done that weren't scheduled until the following Sunday.

Howzabout THEM apples!

It was yet another early day. I'm a night owl so writing something that took place mainly in the day was really stupid of me, but only in that personal mumbled-grumble sort of way. We saved by not needing a lot of electricity, except for our one night shoot (which went splendedly though I discovered, as I edited the footage, that more light would have been better. The footage still looks great, it just doesn't quite have the kick of the rest of the stuff.)

We reshot the stuff we filmed of Rick on the first day since I wouldn't have his tailor-made costume which then lead to the hours upon hours of rotoscoping work, but I've finished that and it all looks beautiful considering my unskilled hand at this digital effects gig. We also had the first shoot out at the railroad tracks (such a beautiful location), our Payne Park shoot, and the stuff in the house back at Marguerite's wonderful and versatile property where we met Tom Noel Smith, who was playing Abner. I got the same reaction from him that Eon gave me when she realized that the film was silent. That really seems to trip people up that I would want to make a silent film! To be honest, I can't imagine trying to make this a talkie with my miniscule budget. When I have backing then it'll have sound. He was just about word perfect in his performance, too, but I think he got into the spirit of the project. It's not often actors these days get to use their entire body to tell a story or show an emotion and I wanted to experiment a little.

Anyway, we finished three hours ahead of schedule -- you read that right THREE HOURS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, even with all that we had to do that day -- so I got to go home and relax a little before having to go to bed.

We had one more week off before the final day of the shoot, SUNDAY, 4 JANUARY, 2009. This was the greenscreen and fight scene day with the majority of the day's work shot on Marguerite's property with one teeny tiny shot left to do on the railroad tracks, something I forgot the previous Sunday. I wasn't concerned. If we didn't get it that day, the only people needed for the shot were Chris and myself and we're both local.

Shawn set up the greenscreen frame and I started filming David's parts from the reschedule. Poor Michael was stuck in Orlando and couldn't make it until after David had to be at rehearsals so I went ahead and shot them separately deciding to fix it in post (if I never hear that phrase again, it'll be too soon...I just know I'll end up using it again sooner or later, however...) and then I took photographs of my assembled cast. Alana couldn't make it that day either, but I figured, "Well, if I shoot a little dark it won't matter and since Chris and Rick will be fighting and getting sweaty, there's no way to keep up on that so I'll just shoot anyway."

Worked out for the best since I didn't have to worry about their make-up and we could just plow through the sword fight. Yep, you read that right. Sword fight. I shot it with them going 1/3 speed and then fixed it in post. I think it looks great! I'm EXTREMELY happy with how the fight turned out as choreographed by Rick. And there were no flesh wounds!

Once we were done with the fight scene, we packed up and headed out for the final martini shot, the one by the railroad tracks where I kept thinking of the movie Stand By Me as Chris and I went to get the shot. It took a minute, was one take, no covering angles, and then we were done! Woohoo!

Now, it's time for post...

POST-PRODUCTION

Me, being smart, actually started editing during the first break in the shoot. That's why the rough cut was done pretty quickly. I knew that the special effects were going to be hell for me and I wanted to be done in time for the final deadline of the Sarasota Film Festival, but I don't think I'll make it. It's the 21st now and while I'm done with all of the special effects (I'm still deciding if I want to add sparks to the swordfight), I still have to tighten the cut, adjust timing on the title cards, and edit together the music. Now that the special effects are done, I can focus on communicating with my brother what I'd like to hear for the soundtrack. We're already off to a good start, though, so that's something. Assuming the festival doesn't implode this year, I can always enter it next year! This time, however, I can add that my first short film, which was rejected by my hometown, won an award in California...haha!

The special effects, which are way beyond my ken, took so bloody long because I ended up having to move every control point by hand for each frame. I'm calling this rotoscoping even though that might not be technically accurate, but I don't know what else to call it. There tended to be between 60 and 100 control points and between 40 and 228 frames. It took hours for what amounted to two seconds of screen time. (I shot at 24 frames per second, video is usually 30 frames a second.) I think it looks really pretty, though, so I can't complain too much. ;)

I think that tomorrow or the next day I'll start cutting the teaser and then we'll go from there. I'll post it when I'm done.

Thank y'all for your well-wishes! They have not gone unheard or without my gratitude!

"Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man / A knight without armour in a savage land..."

Well, I've decided that after losing five hours of tedious, backbreaking rotoscoping work on a shot that I would start all over, get a couple of frames done, then take a break and finally write about filming my new flick. :D

I whistled the tune to the above theme song lyric as Chris Cline and I trudged down a bit of disused train tracks by Payne Park for the final martini shot for "A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema." If one didn't notice the palm fronds, one would absolutely think they were on their way to see a dead body with three of their closest friends outside of Castle Rock, Maine... It was a simple shot and was to be done in one take, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Our first day's shooting was on SUNDAY, 21 DECEMBER, 2008 -- the garage and the alley. it was also the first time I was meeting three of my actors: Eon Song (who played Laurel), David Walker (who played Tango), and Michael P. Miller (who was Milton). I found them / they found me through an advert I posted on the Sarasota Craigslist which was then reposted to various talent agencies and actor's sites in Florida. Eon drove down from Tallahassee and Michael came from Orlando. David is a local. Also joining us was Rick Sharpe (as Batraal), but his stuff this day was filmed in a green hoodie as I was going to do some funky special effects and had to try and make it match a costume that was coming for him later in the week.

Shawn McBee and I met everyone outside the theatre and immediately went to our first location, a nearby alley, for the first shots of the day. There's a certain sense of freedom in knowing you don't have to worry about sound: it's a silent fantasy movie (no dragons, none of that stuff, but I don't know of any other genre it really fits in) and though I shot it in colour, the final output will be in black and white.



Those are just screen caps taken as I was editing, not truly indicative of the final product. :D

Our wonderful and patient hairdresser and make-up person, Miss Alana Goldman (who was recommended to me by Kick Ass Hair for Kick Ass People's Summer Daniels), came out and hooked us up with some fantastic make-up. Make-up for black and white output is hard, but she was fantastic.

The first day went extremely well and we were done well ahead of schedule, which was nice. We couldn't exactly use it to our advantage as the other actors weren't available, but it was nice to feel that sense of accomplishment. After the shoot, we all ate lunch at Applebee's (close and open on a Sunday afternoon) and then Rick and Eon came back to my house to check out some of the footage and talk about their characters. I had a sore throat by the end of the day; I'm not a particularly social person, I don't talk very much, so I'd spoken more that day (and really every day of the shoot) than I have since middle school.

MONDAY, 22 DECEMBER, 2008 -- at the Cock and Bull:

Frank, Dawn, and Howie of the Cock and Bull need a special thank you here as they allowed us to come in before they opened to shoot our scene. Thank you, guys!!

We only had one scene to film this day and a very limited amount of time on the location in which to film it so the night before I made absolutely sure I had all the notes and shot lists and storyboards I could have before walking on set and got to filming as soon as I possibly could. This was Chris Cline's first day on set, he's playing the Priest and he's bloody perfect for the role.

Again, we were extremely fortunate and got everything in the can with about an hour to spare! Then we went to Sugar and Spice for dinner - a good local Amish restaurant. I hope we didn't frighten the customers and staff too much, this ragtag group of guerilla filmmakers. :D

SATURDAY, 27 DECEMBER, 2008 -- on the private property of Dr. Marguerite Barnett:

This day started off badly with the seamstress being unable to make the costume in time and Michael had car troubles and wouldn't be able to get into town until after David needed to head to rehearsals. I postponed their scenes until the following Sunday and shot the parts of scene 19 that we could get, which were parts with Chris and Eon. The fake blood wasn't co-operating and I hadn't considered how to mount the half-knife to Chris' chest -- Shawn rigged something up that I'm happy with, but I would've have been just as happy with my other idea, too.

On the whole, while we got a lot of stuff in the can that I'm happy with, I was not so happy with the day on the whole. It wasn't the actors or anything, it just wasn't a good day. I was pretty depressed when we went to dinner, but I started cheering up immensely and was absolutely positive that the next day's shoot would be spectacular even though we had a LOT of work ahead of us.

~~~~~

I need to stop here so I can get ready to go to work. The final two days and post-production will follow in the next couple of days. :D

I know...I know...

I promised a filming report once we wrapped (which was Sunday, by the
way, at around 3:30 in the afternoon.) I spent all of today making the
poster and am about to go to bed. I'll show off the poster when I have
the film done.

For now, just know that the final day was fully awesome and I will
have a report up soon-ish. :D