Rewriting blues . . .

I realized about a week ago that my draft for Walks Like A Man just wasn't working.

It wasn't a good story. And, even worse, it wasn't scary. It's a horror movie. If it ain't scary, it ain't nothing.

Then, I realized something--my characters were entirely too reasonable, entirely too willing to do whatever was needed to resolve the situation. While this may be ideal in real life, it makes for one helluva boring movie. Especially a horror movie.

So, I've made one of my characters a stalker and the other consumed with grief and confusion about her feelings. Considering the weirdness of the situation, that's enough to trigger all sorts of complications for them. Which makes for a much more interesting movie. Many of the problems I was having with it straightened themselves out. The harder things are for the characters, the easier things are for the writer.

Of course, this also screws up a lot of stuff in the draft that I need to change, but that's why it's called rewriting, isn't it?

So, I'm hammering away on the rewrite, and I feel pretty good about it as an idea. I just need to tighten up the story.

On an unrelated matter, I got the Blu Ray of Alien: Covenant this week. I've already rewatched it three or four times. I saw it in the theater twice and would have seen it a third time if I could have found the time to get out there.

I guess that's my way of saying I dug the movie. Is it perfect? No. I think the script could have used another one or two passes because some things didn't look to be blended in with the whole. They were obviously late additions. It looks like some story lines that were initially intended to be a big part of the film were later dropped but the script wasn't rewritten to account for them. I also get a bit tired of all the unsubtle reminders that all of the crew are couples--we get it, they're married. Just one or two "my wife" references would have been sufficient.

All said, though, I enjoy it. I do like the characters. Since it's a Ridley Scott film it is a visual treat. Dariusz Wolski's lighting is amazing--gorgeous and evocative. Jed Kurzel's score borrows a lot from the first film, but when it needs to become something in it's own right it is more than adequate to the task. Get the Blu Ray and watch all the extras, and listen to Ridley Scott's commentary.

For those who say the story is unsatisfying, I'd have to say that the story is not complete. There will (hopefully) be at least one more film. I'd like to give the series a chance to finish before evaluating the whole thing. I guess as a writer I can see what they're setting up for the next one, and trust me, it's going to be epic. You will not want to miss it.

One thing I'll add here, and I may be totally off my rocker--I think the Blade Runner film coming out soon will tie in with this series somehow. Maybe I'm completely crazy, but I think the story-line in Alien involving the synthetics will somehow create a tie-in with it.

I think a lot of people who were so disappointed in the film were expecting it to be like Alien. Guess what? It won't be. It can't be. That can never happen again. That's the nature of horror films. If you want to see Alien, then see Alien. It's on Amazon Prime. In the mean time see this as a series of films on their own merits.

One suggestion I'd have for the filmmakers for the next one, if I may--cut the budget in half. One of the things that made the first film so urgent and interesting was the fact that they didn't have an adequate budget to do the things one normally does for something like that, like fabricating sets and the like. They had to make do and improvise. Which created a fascinating setting that had never been seen before and added so much believability to the film. Which, in turn, made it that much more terrifying--the Nostromo looks like an aging bucket of bolts that people have been living and working in for years. In Prometheus and Covenant I think Ridley Scott had a lot more money to play around with and it shows, in good ways with the excellent production values, but also in bad ways, where the sense of urgency is missing.

I'll admit, though, that I'm a die-hard Alien fan. It'll take an awful lot for me to turn against these movies.

Now, back to rewriting my own horror movie.

Favorite movie rewatching event!

I've decided it's time to watch my top five favorite movies again this weekend.

This time, though, I've decided to be logged onto Twitter while I do so, sharing any thoughts I may have as I watch. Feel free to follow along and offer your opinions or wiseass remarks as you see fit--my Twitter handle is @jfranklinevans.

I'll start sometime Saturday afternoon, watching two movies, then I'll finish with the other three on Sunday afternoon. I can't give specific times because I have other stuff to do and also I want to get some work done on this horror script. I'll send out a Tweet about twenty minutes or so before I start watching, to give a heads up.

Movies I'm going to watch, in the order I'm going to watch them:

Saturday

5. John Carpenter's The Thing (#TheThingRewatch)
4. Citizen Kane (#CitizenKaneRewatch)

Sunday

3. Casablanca (#CasablancaRewatch)
2. The Sixth Sense (#TheSixthSenseRewatch)
1. Alien (#AlienRewatch)

The version of Alien I'm going to watch is the original 1979 release, not the 2003 director's cut. I love them both, but I think I prefer the original slightly ahead of Ridley Scott's recut.

Anyways, if you're interested, feel free to follow along and chime in!

What I've been doing lately

I know it's been a while. For the one or two of you who maybe care, this is what I've been doing over the past few weeks:

I finished a preliminary draft for a horror movie called Walks Like A Man. If you're interested, it was inspired by one of my own songs of the same title--you can hear it by visiting my ReverbNation page. Feel free to listen to any other tunes while you're there.

Anyway, the story in my little song is a part of the bigger story I'm trying to tell in the script, and actually I'm pretty excited about it. More excited now, actually, than I was when I began this project.

Why, you may ask? Because the final image in the movie came to me yesterday while I was sitting here struggling with the rewrite.

In horror movies the ending is all important. Think about the horror movies that disappointed you. Think about your reaction when the end credits rolled. That's it? That's all? That's my most common reaction to a movie that I wind up not caring for. It's because, in the end, there is no lasting image, no impression, nothing at all to haunt you after the movie is over.

This is something a lot of newer horror movies struggle with. I've seen some where the movie just . . . stopped. There was no attempt at any kind of ending. My guess is the writer is hoping to finish the story with a sequel, but unless you've got a deal in pocket already for something like that, chances are you won't ever get it made.

Why?

Because the audience for the first movie was disappointed.

Why?

Because of the ending. Or lack thereof.

Or we are left with an image of the monster/serial killer/whatever who is not actually dead, though our cast went through a great deal of trouble killing him/her/it and thought they had succeeded. This may have worked for Halloween but it probably won't work for many other films. Don't assume that you have reached that level. I certainly don't.

The ending has to make sense in the context of the story you just told, but it also should reveal that the horror is still ongoing--maybe there's a dimension to the creature or person or whatever that was hinted at in the film but nobody paid enough attention to it and now it's allowing the story to continue.

So, it has to make sense. It can't just come completely out of the blue. It also has to be surprising, or horrifying. You can make do with satisfying but that's the least preferable of the alternatives--see Jordan Peele's otherwise excellent Get Out.

Anyway, all that is a way of saying that the image my little script will leave the audience with excites me and encourages me to hone this baby down to a razor's edge. The image I'm working on makes sense in the context of the movie, but now the plan is to get it to make even more sense, make it even more significant. Even more horrifying.

Yes. This is why we do what we do, ain't it?

It Comes At Night (spoiler free)

I just saw this film at the theater today.

I've wanted to see this since I first heard about it, some months ago, and one reason is because of the studio, A24, which has put out a string of interesting, quirky, and effective movies (like least year's Best Picture winner, Moonlight, as well as The Witch--both of which I have in my personal Blu Ray collection and can recommend to you as excellent films).

A word of warning--it's not quite the movie the ad campaign makes it out to be. It's not a typical horror film. It's much more subtle than that, but at the same time, a lot more brutal in the emotions it conveys. It's the darkest movie, tonally, I've seen in a long time.

The basic plot involves a family of good people--not ex-military special ops, not law enforcement, nothing particularly bad ass--trying to survive in a terrible situation. They do what they feel like they have to do, to survive. Some decisions they make aren't good but, again, they do what they think is best. Society as we know it is dead and they're left on their own.

The rumor is the screenwriter/director Trey Edward Shults was grieving the loss of his father when he wrote the screenplay, and it shows. Grief permeates this film. Not the scarred over, still achy on rainy days kind of grief. This is the bleeding, raw, fresh, throbbing, exposed kind grief of someone who has just recently experienced a loss that, to them, makes going on living seem to be the worst possible fate. This film is personal to Shults--he ripped the freshly-applied bandage off the wound to show it to the world. I think it was cathartic for him to make it, and it's cathartic for us to watch it.

The cast is dead-solid perfect, especially Joel Edgerton (Paul). Edgerton also has an executive producer credit.

I'm glad I saw this movie. Having said that, it's not the kind of movie I'll see again. I recommend it to you after reminding you one more time--it's really dark. Not the usual horror movie kind of dark, either. Dark in an existential way that may be a little too effective at conveying the emotion the filmmakers want to convey.

I give it a solid A. Go see it. And go see any other A24 movies that you can find, too. You will not regret it.

On getting older and analysis paralysis

I'm having trouble deciding on a new project.

That's not the only thing I'm having problems with, but everything else seems to have, at its root, the same cause.

As I get older I become keenly aware of the passage of time, and I begrudge any wasting of it. Which, paradoxically, results in me wasting more time. For example--I don't want to start on a project, spend months hammering away on it, only to abandon it because it's not going anywhere. So, I spend more and more time trying to decide what to work on next instead of actually working on something.

This wasn't an issue when I was younger because I felt like I was going to live for eons. Now, I really doubt I'll be alive ten years from now. As a consequence, I don't want to spend the time I have remaining spinning my wheels. Which means I'm spending a lot of time indulging in wheel spinning.

When I was younger, ten years was an eternity. Now, it's nothing. A blink of an eye. Up and gone before you know it.

Ten years isn't a lot of time when it comes to making movies. Even if funding isn't an issue it still takes a good two years to put something out. Which means if I get busy now and get successful now I may leave this world with five movies to my credit.

Of course, I'll be lucky to get one movie made. It's the thought that counts, and there's nothing like putting something in perspective to scare the crap out of yourself.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I guess I'm just talking to myself, especially since nobody reads these things anyway.

At the moment I have an idea for a drama that I'm pretty excited about, and I think it'll result in a thoughtful, provocative movie that people would want to see, if I can get it made. But I haven't committed to it yet. I'm still toying with the basic idea and trying to decide on the specifics, especially for the ending. I don't even have a title.

We'll see if it amounts to anything. Hopefully it won't take very long for me to make up my mind about it and get started writing it. Or, you know, not.

Time is wasting, you know.

New video! Quick update

I just uploaded a new video to You Tube.

This one features the vocal talents of my goddaughter, Talyan, in addition to yours truly. It also gave me a chance to fool around with CGI. I hope you get a chuckle out of it.

I finally saw Alien: Covenant (spoilers) . . .

Life has been kind of hectic over the past couple of weeks and it's been difficult to find a couple of hours to sneak out to my local theater to catch the latest entry in the Alien franchise.

That changed today. I've now seen it, and my thoughts are below. It'll contain spoilers. You have been warned.

A bit like Prometheus, Covenant started out with some genre identity issues, but, unlike Prometheus, those were settled by the end of the first act. Yes, this is a horror movie, even though it started out as a straight action/adventure scifi flick.

Fans of the Alien and Aliens will spot many callbacks to the previous films, and there are several musical cues taken directly from Jerry Goldsmith's score for the first one. There are also quite a few callbacks to Prometheus in the score, which I thought were nicely done.

There isn't a sense of foreboding that the first movie evoked, a feeling that we are venturing into the unknown. Instead, it begins with a sense of optimism, then panic as the accident that begins the whole sequence of events occurs.

Covenant is a colonial vessel on its way to settle a world that is suspected to be habitable. She carries a crew of fifteen, as well as two thousand colonists asleep in stasis, and another fifteen hundred or so embryos frozen for the trip. A random stream of neutrinos from a nearby star hits the ship while the sails she uses to recharge her power supply are deployed, causing an overload in some of her systems. In the ensuing power surge forty-seven colonists are killed in their stasis pods, as well as the mission's captain, Branson (James Franco). He dies horribly, awake in his pod but unable to escape, as he's burned to death while his wife, Daniels (Katherine Waterson) watches.

I've heard a bit of stir about casting Franco in this role instead of a relatively unknown actor, since he's only actually in the movie for less than a minute. However, I disagree, and think it was a wise choice--using a recognizable actor gives his death more heft, making Daniels's grief more palpable and real.

As they make their repairs they intercept a signal from a nearby system--it's a woman singing John Denver's "Country Roads." When they pinpoint the source of the signal it turns out to be a world that is an even better candidate for colonization than their original destination. The new captain, Oram (Billy Cruddup), decides to change their mission to investigate.

A bit is made in the script that Oram is devoutly religious, though it doesn't go into details as to what his faith actually is. Not much more is made of his beliefs beyond the mention near the beginning, and at first I thought that was an oversight. Now that I've thought about it, though, I don't think so--I think the actual specifics of Oram's beliefs are not really necessary to the plot, it's only necessary that he has them. 

This ties into the themes the new series of movies has been exploring, of creation. This is brought into clear focus when Covenant arrives at the source of the transmission and discovers the sole survivor of the Prometheus mission there--the android David. David has been busy while he's been stuck on this world for the last ten years, experimenting with the black goo that first appeared in Prometheus. And what happened to Noomi Rapace's character, Shaw, who was with David on the Engineer's ship they used to escape at the end of the previous movie?

Shaw repaired David, reattaching his head to his body after it had been ripped apart in the earlier movie. For her pains David used her as source material in his black goo experiments, eventually creating the face huggers we all know so well.  With her DNA he was able to create an organism that was fully capable of infesting and gestating in human hosts.

A complaint with the movie has been the scientists and security people act, well, stupid, and I can't refute that. Landing on an alien world, even one with a breathable atmosphere and what appear to be earth-type flora, would still require one to wear a hazmat suit, at least initially. And exposure to alien spores--another way the goo works to infect a host--would result in immediate quarantine.

The gestation period for (what I'm calling) the prexenomorphs is out of whack, too--it'd take longer than a few minutes for something to grow from a collection of spores or even an implanted embryo to something large enough to emerge from the host body at the size of these creatures.  But I'm willing to let that one go, just so the story can move along.

I've also encountered many complaints about the ending being "predictable." Well, yes, it was. However, there's going to be at least one more of these movies. Think about that ending again, and remember that the next one is going to be called Alien: Awakening.

That promises, in light of where this one wound up, to be horrifying and epic and well worth the wait.

Overall, I'll give it a B+. The stupidity of the scientists was a little too convenient, and the editing was a little choppy in a couple of places, but overall I found it to be quite watchable and interesting. I'll be getting the DVD when it's available and I'm looking forward to the next one more than ever.