Haunts (1977) Review

Haunts opens to a run of the mill throwaway kill, just like any schlocky slasher flick would. After all, the supposed plot is “a woman is stalked by a mysterious killer wielding a pair of sewing scissors”. It’s predictable, straightforward, and yet, how could you go wrong with it?

But at about the five minute mark the film’s tone switches drastically. It becomes a slow drama told in a lot of flashbacks and shots of the protagonist staring out rainy windows. More kills are still thrown in about every ten or so minutes, but they only distract from the slow melodrama that takes center stage.

The plot is all over the place, but from what I gather, a woman's dealing with some trauma from her past. She goes to church every day to cope, but one night, on the walk home, she's attacked by a mysterious man who tries to stab her with a pair of large scissors. She gets away, and this raises some questions: why was he after her? Who was it? She becomes convinced it's her uncle, whom she's currently living with. But perhaps it's someone else.

This film is hard to judge because overall it's an inconsistent mess-- like I said, dull drama one minute, nasty slasher the next-- but at the same time, it has moments where it teeters on brilliance. For example, there's a totally bizarre goat milking scene near the beginning that, to me, bumps the film's score up a whole extra star. Same thing goes for a remarkably-shot death scene outside a bar, about halfway through.

But unfortunately, solid death scenes like this didn't seem to belong with the rest of the film. It's a psychological drama, first and foremost. The brutal killing doesn't ring true. It stands out, like it's not meant to be there. It’s almost like the exec at the production company told the filmmakers they needed to make it more marketable. Obviously this means adding some good ol’ hacking and slashing. It’s happened before.

Which, if this was true, would explain a lot. The film is for the most part a quiet drama, but every ten or so minutes an ugly, oftentimes unimaginative kill scene is thrown in. These scenes barely ever effect the plot, and stand out most of the time as things that were thrown in as an afterthought.

Overall it's a slow, kind of boring film with a lot of extra padding to fill its 90 minute runtime. But it does have some good ideas, and it wants to be better than it is. It's an ambitious film made by people who weren't exactly sure what they were doing. That's made clear by the ending, which attempts to pull a huge plot twist but fails and just gets plain confusing.

I think this proves that having a unique idea is one of the most important things about writing. A bad movie with a unique vision, and something to say is interesting, more so than an average by-the-books Hollywood movie that has no idea behind it. You can hit all the bases-- proper format, good dialogue, neat story structure-- but it doesn't matter unless your story has something to say.

Screenwriting Influences

One of my favorite movies is An American Werewolf in London. While it may not be the greatest film ever, no film has had more influence on my writing than this. It's a very uneven, odd film. It opens to a slightly corny gothic horror sequence, then spends the next 45 minutes on the main character recovering from a werewolf attack in a hospital. From here it's almost a romance film, until the next full moon, when all hell breaks loose. My only issue with it is that there isn't really an ending at all, but you could argue it just adds to the style.

Almost everything I've written since has been influenced by the style of John Landis's script. The odd, anything-goes vibe is always what I'm shooting for, whether romantic comedy or slasher.

More films that influenced me are Breathless (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and Pulp Fiction. Though when it comes to Pulp Fiction, it's not in the way you would expect.

I don't write pages and pages of worthless dialogue like most Tarantino copycats. The film influenced my writing in other ways: focusing on creating memorable characters over plot. It's more of a novel than a conventional movie. Just characters going through their days.

Breathless is important to me because it's relatable.

Jean-Luc Godard got together a couple actors and a camera and went out and shot his movie. It's something I could do. Whether or not I end up making one of the best films ever is something we'll have to wait and see, but it's nice to know that it's something basically in reach. You don't need a budget to make a great film people still watch fifty years later.

I also admire the story of Breathless, if there even is one. It's 90 minutes following an interesting car thief around town, getting into deeper trouble. It's an anything-goes, poetic story, exactly what I'd love to make someday.

And lastly, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Every film I've mentioned so far is in my top ten, including this one. Yes. My top ten. Many people discount it as a cheap gore flick, but they're the ones that haven't seen it. It's a very effective film, and has stood the test of time better than almost any other horror film. It's been copied countless times. And like Breathless, it is a film made without many things at their disposal. It's just some filmmakers with a cool idea, a few thousand dollars, and a farmhouse.

When I write horror, I try to channel the feeling of dread this film uses so well. If you want to learn how to write horror, this film is perfect. It masterfully executes dread, suspense, shock, disgust, and pure tension. With what? A van, a farmhouse, less than a dozen actors and barely any blood... oh yeah, and a chainsaw. Copycats over the years have slightly stained this film's reputation, but anyone who's actually seen it knows how effective it can be.

That's my list. Other notable films are Goodfellas, Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Signs, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Battle Royale and Back to the Future.

If you're a writer, which films or books-- maybe even music-- have influenced your work the most?

Natalie Nun - short script

If you haven't heard, I've recently started a film club. And while it got off to a rocky start, we're gradually getting a nice group.

Our first project, Natalie Nun, is a short action/comedy similar in ways to Disposing Dwight, except here we're tackling the harsh, serious subject of hitman nuns, rather than mustached teenage gangsters.

"Dillon is troubled, to say the least. But when a hitman nun begins stalking him, it looks like the trouble has just begun... For his stalker."

It's a pretty far-fetched story to say the least. Me and about three others worked out an idea during one meeting, and I was in charge of putting it to paper. I pounded out a 16 page rough draft for today's meeting, where we did a table read.

I was relieved when the script seemed to go over pretty well, even got a few laughs. To be honest I was a bit worried about the reaction to my numerous monk puns and jokes about priests... high priests.

I'm posting the whole thing here for your reading pleasure. We start filming next month.

Natalie Nun - Revised first draft (2/28/13)

Time Flies Like an Arrow

So much for new years resolutions, huh? But everybody says that. I said I'd update this blog weekly, but... Yeah... I figured I had to post something, so here's a rambling mishmash of what's been going on lately.

Honestly there isn't much to say. I know I've made a lot of these kinds of posts lately, but really... there's not much to tell. The new top-secret screenplay is, uh... making some progress, I guess. It's gone through a lot of plot changes lately, but we're still not ready to get it on paper.

It takes time to get dialogue this good!

On a somewhat related note, Malcolm is definitely moving forward. After pretty much shelving the idea completely, I recently revisited the script and found it was much better than I thought. It still need a lot of work though... rewrites, some big changes... and I'm even considering changing the whole direction of the story. But I'm planning on shooting whenever Disposing Dwight is done.

Editing on Disposing Dwight is... coming along. I was making some progress originally (the first two scenes were pretty much done) but I recently upgraded to Mac (Christmas) which means I'll have to re-edit the film on my new software.

If you're wondering (probably not), I was originally using Avid Studio on HP with Windows 7. Now I'm trying to decide on Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X. Either way, I'll have to re-edit those few completed scenes.

Swaaaag

Also, an html-programming-tech-magic-wizard-guru friend of mine is developing an official site for Screenriff Productions (if that's the name we stick with). Now I just need some completed films!

The site isn't online yet, but it's gonna be cool when it is. I'll probably keep this blog for updates/reviews/life (everything I normally do) and use the other site for posting my work and contact info.

Lotta work ahead... but hey, the sooner Disposing Dwight is in the can, the sooner I can start on whatever next project I decide on. I've got some ideas, but nothing close to completion. Lots of really promising beginnings of stories, if I do say so myself. Now I just need to get around to finishing one.

I'm planning on shooting whatever it is by June (Disposing Dwight's one-year anniversary! Dang!!), as well as another short by fall. That'll be three "real" short films under my belt, which means I'll be ready to move on to bigger projects (I hope). I'm not promising anything, but 2014 will (hopefully) bring a feature film. Yeah, man!!

Disposing Dwight update, part deux

Just an update on Disposing Dwight. I'm editing as I write this, and so far I'm about 3 minutes in. I know, not much progress, but I'm liking how it's turning out so far.

For now, here's a teaser trailer for the film. It started with me throwing a bunch of clips together to play around with color correction, then I found it had this interesting rhythm to it. Thus was born the greatest trailer of all time!

Please spread the word and tell everyone you know who might or might not be interested. (Basically, give me free advertising.)

On a related note, I started writing The Making of Disposing Dwight last night. It's a short book chronicling the story of Disposing Dwight, from when our first script fell through and we were forced to make Dwight instead, to completion of the film... or at least, as complete as it is right now. I'll also include the complete 28-page screenplay in the back of the book, for those of you who are just dying to read it.

I'm planning on self-publishing some copies and including a disc of the finished film. I'll give them out to family and friends who are interested, but you'll probably have to chance to order copies online as well.

Also, I'm currently co-developing a feature film, currently titled Adan Cobos Must Die until Mr. Coauthor and I can agree on a final title. (I'm actually kind of digging the current title. What's not to like?)

ACMD is best described as an all-out horror/thriller, with a healthy dose of old school camp, abundant slasher movie tropes, and aliens. Check out the first poster!

We really went all out with it.

Anyway, I don't want to get ahead of myself. We probably won't make much progress on this project until Dwight is complete, but I wanted to bring it up anyway. This is an update, after all.

More to come. I think I might make an effort to update this blog weekly, whether it be a review or  just me rambling about my numerous writing projects.

(Continue to) stay tuned!

Day 1 on set

Above: Our only set photo

Like the title says--today was day one on the set of my first real short film. (We're actually using a script this time!)

Due to lack of actors available for Malcolm, I decided to write something else that I could film and only cast family members.

Thus was born "Disposing Dwight," a comedy/thriller about four kids who (accidentally) murder their friend, and set out to hide the body. On the way they run into two hit men and get mixed up in a chase to recover lost treasure. Oh yeah-- and the hit men wear fake mustaches and hair extensions.

We'll be filming for the rest of the week and then probably a few more days in July, and I thought I'd try to keep updating our progress.

So far it's going well, but hopefully we'll get better at holding a boom pole as the shoot progresses.

Today we filmed two-and-a-half scenes, and I hope to film another full scene tomorrow (plus finish our incomplete scene from today.)

Updates coming soon, as well as set photos and hopefully a teaser trailer.

For now, here's a (brief) excerpt from the screenplay:

Read it here

Also, Malcolm has not been forgotten. I'm plan to start production sometime in a few months, once I get some people together. A Halloween release would be cool.

Malcolm - short film

Just finished the first draft of a short script, currently titled Malcolm, though that's definitely subject to change. I collaborated on it, and it took a long time to write due to the many plot holes that arose. That, and my procrastination.

Anyway, we're currently in the pre-production stage: rewriting the script, getting some funding, and looking into assembling a cast and crew. It'll be a slow start, mainly because I'm new to many aspects of film making that were never relevant when I was making improvised slasher movies with my brothers.

I've decided to post a page of the script here, like a teaser trailer or something:

There you go. Hope it was okay. Again, it's a rough draft, so don't judge.

Hopefully it'll be done by the end of summer/early fall, so stay tuned.