Want a good scare?

Go see Drag Me To Hell.

...N'ah it's by that Spider-Man bloke... ...and it's PG-13**...

You are a died in the wool horror fan? Yes?
You loved Saw.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the original) made you shudder delightfully.
In short you like a bit of sickness with your horror-high.

If you don't already know about Sam Raimi's horror chops, I guess you've never seen the Evil Dead films. Shame on you!
(If Evil Dead II changed your life, this is better!)

Next thing you'll be telling me you haven't seen Peter Jackson's early work. *rolls eyes*

Go educate yourself. How can you call yourself a horror fan if you don't know about Sam Raimi?

Drag Me To Hell is one of those films that is packed with scare. Ignore the teen friendly rating, it means nothing. This film made me terrified of a handkerchief for Dog's sake!

It will make you jump - a lot. It will gross you out - yes, even you! You too will be scared of a humble piece of cloth with some nice embroidery on it. It will make you laugh in that sort of "Oh my god that's sick!" kind of way. There are some satisfying visual references to other horror films - - who can forget that house? And generally you'll spend most of the film about a foot above the seat of your chair* - which lets face it, you don't really want to be sitting on anyway because you spilled your coke all over it in the first few minutes, and then accidentally dumped the popcorn on it a few seconds after that.

Okay, so you take my advice, you go to the cinema, get comfy, the film starts, introductory scene shows promise of what's to come, and then it goes to the meet the characters section and for about 5 minutes you are wondering why you came to watch this boring ass film ... that Eleanor doesn't know what the f**k she's talking about.

But don't leave.

Trust me on this.

As soon as the gypsy turns up - and then the action kicks in in the car park, you (like me and my friend) will not be able to take a toilet break (despite a serious need to relieve yourself from drinking too much coke before the film started) for fear of missing something.

I haven't nearly wet myself in the cinema for so many years! Sam Raimi really is the master.

Go see it.

The cinema was half empty when I went on Saturday night to the 7pm showing. I couldn't believe it. Get the word out. This is a film all horror fans need to see!
It uses old school horror methods to grab you by the throat and give you heart-attack after heart-attack, and as a result it gets the teen rating - despite being a film I wouldn't let any teen** in my care go and see. :) Nice one Sam.

*jumping in shock and terror!
**PG-13? They're nuts!!!

TERROR RATING: 9.8
(Most films are lucky to get 7.# from me. I almost never give out scores like this. Films that have rated 8.0+? I can count them on 1 hand.)

Guttering: emotional impact and momentum

A.K.A. BLOOD IN THE GUTTERS*.

Steve posted recently about creating momentum in story by cutting scenes correctly, in late - out early, contrast the scenes to build conflict, and letting the audience fill in the blanks in order to heighten their investment in the story being told because they have become co-creators in the movie/story process.

I definitely agree with all of this. And it is difficult to build these things into the story you are telling - that's why writing is work. It has to be said that this kind of finessing is missing from the majority of scripts that are out there that I've read [mine included, embarrassingly].

Part of our writer's toolbox should be understanding the importance of creating the Off Screen Movie as this can lead to a far more involving movie-going experience for the audience. - - The link goes to Terry Rossio's description of his awakening to that realisation when watching Schindler's List. Follow the link and read it, you'll be glad you did!

I had a similar revelation myself when reading *Black Orchid where the blood in the gutters totally blew my mind. It was like my subconscious screaming at me - -
...story can happen off-screen in a very powerful, emotionally involving way, if you hint at it correctly.

It completely changed the way I look at telling stories, and reinforced exactly how important it is to cut from scene to scene in the right places and how we should hint at our off-screen story in a way that allows it to be a living entity in the background of the unfolding tale. The landscape, if you will.

In short, I believe that in an ideal world the offscreen story should be part of the arena of the film as well as being an intimate part of the viewer's emotional experience of the story being told.

Screenwriter bollocks? Maybe. But IMO that doesn't make it any less true, or any less important to the process of crafting a very satisfying, emotionally moving tale.

... Now all I have to do is work out exactly how to do that....

Steve says that it's all a matter of planning. I think he's right. Annoyingly.

Rejected.

Blimey that was quick! I didn't even have time to catch my breath properly.

Phew!

Well, at least I can move on to targeting the next corporate victim. ;)

Rejection pending...

Sent off the Tarot book to yet another publisher. So won't wait for the rejection letter, I'll get straight back to the writing.

See, I'm learning.

"Don't wait." is rule number# ...? something. According to ... someone or other professional's blog I read ages ago.

Way hey! At least I've learned that much. :)

Have I told you about ... ?

Producer no#3.

Another beautiful, muscular shark sliding silently through the water, swimming by on his way to ... somewhere else.

He seemed very nice, if rather laconic. When he wanted to cross the threshold / take the relationship further, like a good prostitute I requested a conversation about finances and - - he was never heard from again.

I think enough time has passed that I am safe writing / telling you about this. And let's face it I'm not exactly giving you the longitude and latitude of his secret base. ;)


Makes me wonder if I'm blowing opportunities, or being sensible for once in my life.
Hopefully the latter.

Oh well.

Back to writing.

Dead in the trenches...

;) Okay, so I ain't dead - but I may as well be for the amount of life that's speeding past full throttle while I waste my time on day to day crap.

Sooner I can reduce the hours I spend on the day job the better. - - Which means I need to be earning money from my writing so that I can afford to do that.

Which means I need to get the F*** on with it.

...

Apply bum to seat.

Start typing.

Keep typing.


*narrows eyes*

Right.

I'll do some more of that then.