Near Dark

Haven't seen this in ages, but I stumbled across it on IFC last week. First, I have to say, the trailer is god-awful, but surprisingly, the film still holds up -- save for some cheesy 80s synth music. Near Dark suffers the unfortunate fate of being overshadowed by that *other* vampire flick released earlier in 1987, The Lost Boys. Who could compete with the power of The Coreys back then?! The similar boy-meets-alluring-girl plot didn't help matters either. But once you get past that, there's a much more compelling story here. One uninterested in slick special effects or romanticizing vampirism. They're desperate, immortal junkies who sleep during the day, on the move at night, looking for their next fix. Their drug of choice just happens to be the blood of some poor, unfortunate soul. The vampires in Near Dark don't sparkle in sunlight, they catch fire and burn.


Really strong cast here. Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton are the standouts.

Kathryn Bigelow's gritty and unpleasant take on bloodsuckers was a turn-off to moviegoers looking for cool escapism. Grossed a little over $3 million at the box office. 30 Days of Night tried the same feral vampire route and had some modest success, but audiences (tween girls) went gaga for the sparkly stuff. If you didn't know, there's a remake in the works... *shudder*

I've written scripts with ghosts, werewolves, zombies, etc. but nothing with vampires. Guess it goes on 2010 to-do list -- just what Hollywood's looking for, another vampire spec script!

Now I have to pick up the 2 disc DVD for Bigelow's commentary and the making-of documentary. Probably gonna check out The Hurt Locker as well...

Thoughts on Franklyn

Been busy doing (attempting) screenwritery stuff, but I found time to throw up a few thoughts on one of the most challenging films ever to cross the path of marketing department, Franklyn. It's not hard to see why this wasn't released theatrically in the States. A weird hybrid with many masters: fantasy, quirky indie romance, psychological thriller, etc. I'm not even going to try explaining the plot. I will say that the one sheets play up fantasy element far too much. They look cool, but totally misrepresent the film. Nice character-driven, low-budget story. Don't pop in the DVD and expect to see a Stardust meets Edward Scissorhands fantasy/romance with elaborate sets and flashy effects.

Listen Up!

Remember when I trashed Jumper (film, not the script) a while back? Well, here's an excellent podcast from Creative Screenwriting Magazine with its co-writers, Simon Kinberg and Jim Uhls. It's fascinating to hear about all the changes the story went through. Quite a bit can happen to a script from sale to shoot (I owe them a huge apology) -- kind of ties into the recent debate that's set the scribosphere ablaze.


Geek Syndicate has a great interview with Howard Overman, the creator of the Heroish UK series, Mifits. Even though it's not yet available in the States, there's an online graphic novel that you can check out here.

Write on!

Two weeks since my last post?! I almost feel like apologizing. A couple of recent (and not so recent) thoughts....


V and Flash Forward are both done until March, but I can't say that I'll miss them terribly. After a shaky start, V has settled into guilty pleasure viewing, nothing more. Flash Forward has always felt like a blatant attempt by ABC to catch lightning in a bottle. There's been a lot of flailing around in the last couple of weeks. Characters with inconsistent behavior, dumb plotting, and the overload of soap opera elements -- who really cares about the Doc's quest to find his Japanese true love? Lots of retooling during hiatus, but will viewers return to see the results? I still can't believe the network doesn't have supplemental content to keep fans engaged during that long of a break.



Better than Twilight -- yeah, I know, that's not saying much, but still.. Occasionally, more often than we'd like to admit, bad/cheesy stories sell. But don't just dismiss it as dumb luck. Understand that these stories are bypassing the head and speaking directly to the hearts of their intended audience. Can your stories do the same?


So I (finally) settled on my procedural and I'm getting there. Made some huge strides a few days ago. Early on, I promised myself that I wouldn't hastily throw something together just for the sake of a contest. No need to add another ill conceived idea to my unfinished spec graveyard. If this contest doesn't work out, I still have a pretty good start for a feature. The details for the first act are almost fleshed out. My biggest adversary is time. I suspect the contest will reach 1500 entries well before the January deadline. A productive weekend is a must.

Crazy

In search of inspiration, I revisited Raines on Hulu, the short-lived Jeff Goldblum series from a couple years ago about a detective who interacts with hallucinations of murder victims as he works their cases. More grounded than something like Ghost Whisperer, it's an intriguing premise that doesn't quite take off. Goldblum's great as a man battling to maintain his sanity, but too many of the episodes were hit or miss.



I also caught Mad Detective on Sundance's Asia Extreme. A brilliant-but-not-all-there former cop (there was an "incident" involving an ear) who claims he can see people's inner personalities, as well as the ghost of his wife. Think an insane Asian Columbo. A young detective enlists his help with a baffling case. Surprised this hasn't been remade for the States, probably just a matter of time... *googling* ... which will be sooner than later, according to this blurb in Variety.

I got bored with straight procedurals like Law & Order and C.S.I. years ago, but audiences still can't seem to get enough of them. The challenge for me is to find a happy medium -- hey, that's a thought...

Picture This!

Finally, a decent one sheet. Still, the recent loss of Danny Elfman for the score, all the talk about reshoots and the questionable release date makes me less and less interested in The Wolfman with each passing day.



Not so crazy about this new one for Daybreakers. Seems a little bland....

Tick, Tick

The Trackingb.com late deadline is slowly creeping up on me, only few days away. Aside from the occasional tweak, my script has been done for a while. Only thing left to do is hit send. Moving along, even though I've settled on a idea for the ION TV-movie contest, some of the nuts and bolts still manage to elude me. I've got the structure figured out, but I haven't found an interesting enough protagonist. And unlike my last pilot attempt, I'm trying not to go overboard with the supernatural/fantasy stuff...