The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Just 2 weeks I attended an advance screening of "Sweeney Todd". Later that night I got it in my head that I'd like to do a review of the film, hey I'd got the jump on most people by seeing it so early, why not tell the world. Well it's taken me a while to sit down and write, and a lot has happened in two weeks...

NEVER FORGIVE. NEVER FORGET.

Sweeney Todd is a fictitious character that has become a British urban legend. The first known appearance of the murderous barber was in 1846 in the British Penny dreadful, The People's Periodical. The story was called "The String of Pearls: A Romance."



Todd's story was one of serial murder and cannibalism. You see Sweeney would often use his straight razor for more than just a shave and plunge it into the necks of his victims in order to drink their blood. He would then bring the corpses home to his friend and sometimes lover, Mrs. Lovett, a baker. They'd become the filling for her famous meat pies. Their boy servant, Tobias Ragg (who remained oblivious to the secrets of the meat pies, often assisted these two infamous characters.

Oh yah, there are these two lovers, a sailor named Mark Ingesterie (also known as Anthony Hope) and Johanna. Depending on the tale Todd either aides the lovers or hinders their plans.



But that was back in the mid 1800's. A lot's happened to the old fox, Sweeney Todd. There have been novels and melodramas, plays and movies all singing the song of Sweeney. Then in 1979 a man named Stephen Sondheim adapted a 1973 stage play and turned the whole damn tale of Sweeney Todd into a musical, "and it was beautiful." And it was a hit. A huge one. It also left it's mark on a certain film director, who delights in the ghastly. And so, today, on the 21st of December, Tim Burton's take on Sweeney Todd the musical will hit theatre's here in North America, just in time for Christmas.


TIM BURTON'S NEW NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

I'll start by letting you know I went into the film cold. I'd seen a trailer and that's about it. I've heard of the musical, or at least was aware of it, however I hadn't seen or heard anything from the stage production, nor any of its incarnations. Even the basic premise of Todd's story was unclear to me. I was a Sweeney Todd virgin.



My one sentence review and first impression?

"Burton's Sweeney Todd had too much singing and took to long to get engaging."

But that would be a very unfair review give, because although I had some problems with the film, I have to say I walked away enjoying it, maybe too much. I had some questions and confusion about what I had seen.

This is a musical, but its dark and brooding like a Saw picture and has buckets of gore and blood, maybe even more than any other Burton picture so far (Sleepy Hollow does come close). But, the music! This is not a musical with light catchy pop tunes; it's a Stephen Sondheim musical. The music is dense, complicated and operatic. It'll be interesting to see how the film does with general audiences because it's a strange blending of horror and musical and I just don't see the two audiences mixing, except for a select few. I know that Evil Dead: the musical has been doing well, but it's a comedy and Sweeney Todd has few moments of comedy (and even many of those light moments in the Broadway version are downplayed by Burton).

Tim Burton's direction for me has become hit and miss lately. I've enjoyed many of his films, most in fact, but his last few haven't been as strong as his earlier flights into fancy. But one film I did enjoy was Sleepy Hollow, most likely because I, like Burton am a fan of many of the films that influenced the Ichabod Crane legend. I must have seen the animated Legend of Sleepy Hollow ten years in a row each Halloween when it would make its appearance on The Wonderful World of Disney. Then there's the influence of the gothic horror film on Sleepy Hollow's art direction and overall esthetic, including the cinematography. So it can be considered a companion film to Sweeney Todd, because in his new film Burton again draws upon gothic horror films for his aesthetic. Films like the Universal Monster cycle, which includes Dracula and Frankenstein, and the later revamps by Hammer that began in the late 50's and continued to the 70's. The Hammer take on Dracula made Christopher Lee a horror icon. It's coincidence that he shows up in Sleepy Hollow and The Corpse Bride. Then there are the Roger Corman Poe films that elevated Vincent Price to horror superstar. It's no secret that Burton was a fan. He made an animated tribute at Disney called Vincent (starring Price, himself, as the narrator) and Price's last role was in Burton's Edward Scissor hands. The works of Mario Bava were likely an influence.

Aesthetically the film is what you'd expect from Burton, dark almost monochromatic and very stylish. I found it a bit too much so. My overall impression is that the film was blue, almost entirely, with some moments of orange warmth and one very colourful dream sequence. I had watched Roger Corman's Poe picture The Premature Burial the night before and fell in love with it's limited color plate of reds, browns and greens. It had the feeling of a monochromatic film but with very vibrant colours. So I was disappointed with the blue skew in Sweeney Todd. It's a look that's been around for years and worked wonderfully in Sleepy Hollow, but is becoming tiresome. Maybe it's because this was likely achieved by digital colour timing and Sleepy Hollow was still using a film process to achieve its look. But there's something weird about the trailer that could make my entire complaint pointless. The trailer is beautiful and filled with varying color schemes, and is also much brighter that what I remember. Could it be the notorious practice of theatre dimming their bulbs to save on money that sucked the vibrancy from the film for me? Only another viewing will tell me for sure.

But if the film is engaging something shot with a DV camera will feel exciting (look at the Blair Witch Project, 13 Days Later and The Celebration). Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in goth gear are pretty to look at suit the characters well, at least visually, so we'll move past the look and onto the experience, of which the music plays a huge part.

Now I did find the film a bit dull in spots, particularly the first half, maybe even more. Sitting in the theatre watching, or listening, to our leads singing I found myself fidgeting, that kind of restless annoyed type of fidget. The music was driving me a little crazy. I began to suspect that it might be voices of our leads. After all I can name two musical films that Johnny Depp has been in-- Cry Baby and his voice in the Corpse Bride-and he was dubbed in both films for the music.

Just listen to this example...



Gotcha'. So the music isn't that bad, but it seems weak. So I had to ask myself "Why would these actors start singing now?" My guess is that if they hadn't their performances wouldn't be much more than mime. There is a lot of music in the film. Not a good sign when you consider that the trailer shows almost none of it.
Now I don't want to fault Depp and Bonham Carter for not rising to the occasion but, it doesn't take a musical genius to deduce that this is powerful music and powerful voices are called for, singers that have been at it for a while.

"A Little Priest", the song that introduces the idea of turning Sweeney's victims into meat pies garners laughs, but there is suggestion in it that it should be a lot more fun. There's been a bit of cutting in the music so that the film could run closer to 2 hours than the 3 it takes up on Broadway. Here are some lyrics that ended up on the cutting room floor:

LOVETT:
Now then, this might be a little bit stringy, but then of course it's... fiddle player!

TODD: No, this isn't fiddle player -- it's piccolo player!

LOVETT: 'Ow can you tell?

TODD: It's piping hot!

LOVETT: Then blow on it first!
(spoken)
Since marine doesn't appeal to you, 'ow about... rear admiral?

TODD: Too salty. I prefer general.

LOVETT: With, or without his privates? "With" is extra.


Alan Rickman gives a great performance, but he too is weak on the vocal libations. Sacha Baron Cohen a.k.a Borat is one of the strongest of the cast, but he does have the luxury of singing under an intentionally thick Italian accent.

I suspect the vocal performances might turn off some of the Broadway fans and won't likely win over Burton fans.

Another thing that could turn off the Broadway crown is the blood, or more aptly put "gore". That's when I finally became engaged in the film. Not because of the gore, but I suspect because this is where Burton finally gets to flex his directing muscles and work with material that he's more suited to. There definitely are some very entertaining and engaging moments in the film, unfortunately most come in the final third. The film only started to deliver when Sweeney starts wielding his razors. Once he does I have to admit I became hooked.

Not a simple review is this?

After walking out of the theatre, I began wondering; "was there this much gore in the Broadway version?" and "is the music more engrossing in the musical?"



ATTEND THE TALE
If you made it through this far in the review I can now promise to kick things up a notch because now I have some insight. What have I been doing for the last few weeks that have keep me from writing this review? Research.

I tend to obsess, at least for a bit, with things I discover and am curious about. Sweeney Todd has been one of those obsessions.

The day after the screening of Sweeney Todd I dug up a recording of the 2005 Broadway Revival Cast. Sweeney Todd was after all a hit on Broadway, and Stephen Sondheim isn't considered a slouch when it comes to writing musical theatre. I was curious. I wanted to know what all the fuss had been about.

I stuck it on my ipod and lived with it for a day. I've fallen in love with it. And I was right, powerful voices make all the difference in the world. The music isn't easy, it's complicated and it is operatic. At this point I still had Burton's cast in my head as visuals, and I have to admit that they work very well. It's too bad that the cast didn't have those years of vocal training and strong singing voices (that really you only have or don't) that the many cast members of the Broadway incarnations had.

What about the gore? You have to love the internet and all it can provide. YouTube provided me a chance to watch the original cast (which includes Angela Landsbury) production. The blood is there but it barely reads on stage (Burton had it gushing). The video also gave me insight into what Tim Burton might have seen when he first discovered it. Indeed, "A Little Priest" is indeed much more comic in the Broadway version due likely to it's more melodramatic and theatrical presentation. There is a little Brecht in this musical. Burton's sensibilities are much more brooding and dark.

Being a neophyte Sweeney Todd fan (post-film) I made a few discoveries. The reoccurring "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" has been all but cut from the film. It's still there in the opening and closing credits, but Burton's dropped the vocals altogether. And the characters of Anthony Hope and Johanna have been downplayed, to the point of dropping one of my favorite songs "Kiss Me". It's a great bit of character development for the two lovers and is quite humorous.

"Johanna", I discovered is the point in the film where things hooked me. During the piece Todd begins his slaughter, disposing of his victims on his barber's chair that also dumps the bodies into the basement where Mrs. Lovett can grind them up for her pies. Sung very well it's chilling. It's a beautiful longing melody juxtaposed against Sweeney's slaughter. Depp's voice isn't powerful enough, or deep enough, to give it full strength, but Burton handles the visuals and flow very well.

In this age of fan edits, I'm looking forward to seeing a version of the film with an alternate musical audio track.

In the end I find Burton's take on the film a bit disappointing, but I doubt I'd have ever bothered to discover the musical. Who knows, the next viewing might bring with it some nostalgia.


AT LAST MY RIGHT ARM IS COMPLETE AGAIN.

There has been a production of Sweeney Todd playing here in Toronto. It closed on the 16th. I looked into tickets on the 15th. I managed to attend the last performance. I just wanted to see it live.

Well I wasn't prepared for what I stumbled into. A new take on the musical. It was a smaller production, nine cast members, and they also doubled as the orchestra. It was pretty amazing. The cast also being tied to instruments limited the staging but it was outstanding. The cast was wonderful (a few pedestrian performances but they were juggling a lot of things) and Judy Kaye was a stand out as Mrs. Lovett.

Some side notes.

When listening to the score of Sweeney Todd you can hear where Burton and Elfman borrowed for A Nightmare Before Christmas.

If you want to read the original tale:

http://www.victorianlondon.org/mysteries/sweeney_todd-01.htm

Thanks for sticking with this post. As a bit of a treat, here's a 1946 CBC production of a Sweeney Todd melodrama based on the original "String of Pearls".

Many Happy Returns

You may wonder gentle reader where I've been. Okay, both of you.
As I mentioned in my last post over a month ago, I was in Edmonton.
Well, I stayed. I had a gig shooting a behind the scenes video / potential reality television series for a film called "Freezer Burn". To make things even stranger a large chunk of it was shot in my home stomping grounds, Thorsby, Alberta.

I can't say too much about it, but I can let its stars tell you a thing or to...

or show you.

Back in the Saddle Again!

Back in the saddle again? Well I'm not really, because I don't really ride horses, but I am back in Alberta, the place it all started, as far as the Zombie film is concerned.

On September 30th we had our world premiere of "8 1/2 Short films About Zombies" at the Edmonton International Film Festival. My wife and I were in attendance and I have to say we were treated royally. The screening was exceptional. The audience was very responsive. For 43 minutes we entertained them with our bizarre zombie art/comedy film. I'm proud to say that they laughed and squirmed in all the places I'd hoped they would, allowing me to experience the film with new eyes. I really enjoyed it.

My short "Dear & Departed" also screened earlier that day. Again a wonderful response. Harder to gage then the zombie films since "Dear & Departed" is not a comedy or a horror film. It's much more internal.

As a bit of a side note, I shook hands with Mr. Stuart Gordon, the director of "Re-animator" and screened his film, "Stuck" with a very enthusiastic crowd.

Local alternative radio station CJSR interviewed me a few days before the screening for a program called Moving Radio. Thanks to Christian Zyp for that. It helps when you've put him in the film of course.

And I'm pleased to include an mp3 of the interview below:

Adventures in the Forbin Project

DISCLAIMER: This is a multimedia post and is best read as such.

From Wikipedia
“Colossus: The Forbin Project is a science fiction film based upon the 1966 novel Colossus, by Dennis Feltham Jones, about the massive, eponymous American defense computer becoming sentient and deciding to assume control of the world. Although unsuccessful when released, it is well respected by science fiction aficionados and critics. Imagine Entertainment and Universal studios have confirmed that a remake titled Colossus, to be directed by Ron Howard, is in production.”



I guess I get to call myself a science fiction aficionado, since today’s post is on the enigmatic story of Colossus. To start I have to go on record as having never read the book. My introduction to the story is from the 60’s CBC radio adaptation of the novel.



I found the radio play while tripping over the web. I’m a bit of a radio play zombie, gobbling up weird stories faster that most television junkies watch TV (it helps that I can do other things while I listen). I don’t know where I found it, likely at the zombie astronaut’s site, but really I can’t remember. That night I put it on my ipod. The audio was lo-fi but the story fascinated me. A bit stuck in the cold war, but a story that delivered what good science fiction should, an intelligent story to reflect the socieity in which it was created.



Here’s the weird part. Within a week, days really, The 1966 feature was aired on Drive-in, a specialty channel here in Canada. I was orgasmic. I had to see it. I pulled out my VHS VCR for the first time in 6 years and taped it. I needed a record that it even existed. Well exist it does. I’ve since found out that there is a region 1 pan and scan DVD of the film.
The book was written by author Dennis Feltham Jones a British science fiction writer who wrote under the byline D.F. Jones. He was a naval commander in World War II and lived in Cornwall. As I’ve said, I haven’t read the original novel, but my eye is now on the lookout.



Now onto the adaptations:

What interests me is the Canadian connections to the adaptations.

I believe the CBC radio play came first. So lets start there. CBC radio is our national broadcaster. Think BBC or NPR and you have a good idea about what it is all about. Funded by public money.

I don’t know a lot of details but I do have some clues from the program itself. From the credits I can glean two things about the actors.



Donald Harron is the actor noted as Charles Forbin. Could this be Canadian actor / comedian Don Harron? Well on a second listen it sure sounds like it. He is best know for his Charlie Farquharson character who was seen on the Red Green show, but originated in 1952. The character was showcased on HeeHaw and Harron has also published 9 books as Charlie. He could be said to have made a career out of Farquharson except I remember him hosting a national Canadian talk show on CTV in the mid eighties as himself. It aired in the afternoons and I believe it was called “the Don Harron Show”.

Paul Kligman played the president. He was a well know Canadian actor, best remembered as a regular on "The Wayne and Shuster Hour" (1952). He went on to do voice work, mostly in cartoons. He was the voice of J. Jonah Jameson in the 60’s Spiderman cartoon series. It is this persona that I will always think of when I hear his voice.

Here’s a clip of Paul in Colossus: The Forbin Project as I hear him:


He passed on in 1985.

Courtesy Trailers from Hell, here’s a look at the 1966 film:

More Canadian connections. The president is played by famed Canadian actor, Gordon Pinsent. I had the plesure of working with him on a seldom seen feature entitled “Blood Clan”. I was a lowly production assistant at the time (one of the crew under the guy in charge of getting things done). He was, I can gladly report, a very delightful man to drive to set everyday. He also has been seen in The Red Green Show, The Thomas Crown Affair, Blacula, and The Rowdyman.

Non-Canadian. The voice of Colossus was played by Paul Frees, the ubervoice of Old Time Radio, going back to Suspense and Escape.


Charles Forbin is played by Eric Braeden best known as Victor Newman on daytime soap "The Young and the Restless"


Now, if you have an hour. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s adaptation of Colossus: The Forbin Project.

ANIMOSITY off-line

Well, if you started reading my blog from the beginning, you'd know that one of the zombie films has been available for viewing at the "ON THE LOT" website. That's right I entered it into the TV during the second round of submissions. If you haven't seen it yet, you're too late. Within weeks of the show wrapping up the powers at FOX decided to shut down the website. Now this isn't a great loss to the show features etc, but they did develop a large community of film-makers and enthusiasts who used the forums and posted video to exchange ideas. What sucks is that FOX was fostering this in the early days, but once the show turned out to be a ratings bomb, POOF no more website, you're out of luck film-makers.
Now I don't exactly mourn this passing. From day one I found the website clunky and difficult to navigate. There were too many you-tubers posting films as well (but that's alright, since there were a lot of higher quality films too). I do feel that FOX did a horrific job with all things connected to the show and this is the spit in the face to all those people who bolstered and rallied behind it and the website.
And on that note. Animosity will not be going up on youtube or divShare anytime soon. If you want to see it, you’ll need to get to a screening. Any that it has will be posted up here, and I’ll be working on a DVD.

Our First Festival Screening

That's right, "8 1/2 Short Films About Zombies" will be playing in Edmonton at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

On Sunday, September 30th, starting at noon in Metro Cinema, EIFF will screen ten (10) 45-minute packages of shorts titled ‘In Our Own Backyard’. Following each package, Mark Scholz will moderate an audience Q&A with attending filmmakers. Tickets are just $10 and allow you to come and go throughout the day.

My wife and I will be flying out to attend. It should be a hoot. It'll be great to have a screening in the town where the whole film started. If you're in town I hope to see you there.

On the Frederator Blog

Don't know why it's taken me so long to get this little piece of news up, but in addition to the Channel Frederator Podcast, I've also made it to their blog. You can read the Q&A with me over here:


http://www.frederatorblogs.com/post/4376

The interview was done via e-mail, so all the typos in my answers are my own. I guess I really should've had someone read it over before I submitted it.

Harris and the Mare

This is a radio play from an early 80's CBC radio program called Nightfall. They take Newfoundland song writer Stan Rogers' song and craft a radio drama from it. I enjoy Nightfall, but the initial few minutes of this piece made me roll my eyes. Big time. However, by the end of the play I was completely hooked. Not your usual bizarre fair, which was the staple of Nightfall. It tended to be horror suspense type stories. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Labours of Leraje on Channel Frederator

I subscribed to the Channel Frederator video podcast back in its beginnings, and back when I was just starting to play around with animation. I'd watch these cartoons for tips on animating hoping one day I could be good enough to get one of my films on the podcast. Now it's 2007 and my latest short cartoon has made it to frederator.



Hope they weren't lowering their standards. Very cool. And to think it started out as a walk test for a four legged creature that just grew. You can see the 2 day one shot test that inspired the other 3 shots in the film a few bloggs ago.

8 1/2 Shorts: The Trailer

Alright. Here we go, finally. A trailer for the zombie film!



This is actually based on one of the shorts in the film, but it's been shortened and changed. It's pretty much set-up. An for those who don't know about "Hinterland Who's Who" (I've changed the spelling), it was a series of PSA's about our northern wildlife here in Canada. It originally ran in the 70's.

Let me know what you think.

The Wizard of Oz?

My wife teaches high school and every year she gets involved in their plays. Somehow I got dragged into it. My involvement was the video design for the Wizard. It was concieved when the director and I saw a documentary on a video installation artist. He was shooting eyes and a mouth then projecting it on this globby scultures. So this is our interpretation of it. I guess the kids in the art class wanted to put a nose on the Wizard's head, so he got a nose. I think it would've been cooler without the nose, but it was still pretty entertaining to watch.

Perils of a Demonous Incurus

Here's the animation mentioned below. It's the original :18 sec and it's a bit of a test piece. I've expanded it and tweaked it since. It's been submitted to Atom Films and hopefully we'll see it there soon.

Hope you like it, even if it's a bit "Cute"!

Animation

So the 18 sec animation from my previous post has become a 48 sec animation. I've submitted it to Atom Films. Here's hoping.

I'm working on a stereocopic version 'cause I love 3d. That to is almost done.

I'll wait a bit to see what happens with atomfilms and the like. If there are no takers then you'll get to see it here. If there are takers, well, maybe I'll through up an anaglyphic version here (red and blue glasses kind). We'll see.

It was a lot of fun to do though.

Here's a pic of the title:

It's pronounced Larry by the way.

i couldn't resist posting a 3d pic. Get out you glasses...

Existence

Existence is nearing completion. It would seem that this is the closing short to the film. I'd always planned two more, a musical set in a NOTLD senario with the Guy from animosity and then a piece call Karma Coda. Which is aptly named. I won't give any details on that just now, because I haven't given up on it yet. It would require the return of some cast members, which is really tough now, but I'm considering going anime with it. That's a bit more doable. I'm confident that I can get them on board for the voice work.

I just made and 18sec animation over the last 24hrs. It started as a test. No Zombies but it's got a demon from hell.

The trailer's coming. I'll likely through it up on YouTube and OnTheLot. Give me a week or two to shoot some new elements. It's gonna be a short in the film as well. Kinda.

And don't be shy with comments. I wanna' know what you think of things here, and "is it worth continuing this blog?"

No Trailer Yet! But A Treat

This is the TV show opening for one of the short zombie films. We've been calling it Lore for a long time now, but I guess the actual name would have to be "Beneath the Myth: The Strange Disappearence of Daniel Skoda" or Daniel Honda, really can't settle on that name either. This episode is kinda' a Blair Witch / In Search of.. / Reality TV show idea.

HINTERLAND WHO'S WHO

Just thought I'd try posting a picture.

Here's a little bit of press from 1999.

Just about finished a trailer. Which is infact a whole new short based on the 70's era "Hinterland who's who".

Grindhouse trailer

Welcome to the Grindhouse!

First, I need to say “Go see it, go see it in a theatre before its gone and you have to watch a DVD copy”. Grindhouse is an experience in retro cinema, a retro cinema that I still reveal in today.
Grindhouse refers to a type of theatre and not so much to a genre of film. But the Grindhouses of the seventies and early eighties did specialize in genre pics. Films of all kinds that likely could be referred to as exploitation film. Lots of sex, violence and shock. Much of the fare that played at a grindhouse also made it’s way to the drive-in, and the experience would be similar. Trailers, ads for the concession, homegrown horror and hippy culture and repackaged euro shock cinema.
“Grindhouse” reproduces this experience, at least as best as I can imagine. I took in a few Drive-in pictures in the late eighties, when the drive-in was on the decline. But a kid from the prairies never had a chance to get to the urban grindhouse. The closest I got was a double bill of “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back”.

So with out much more ado about nothing here’s my experience with “Grindhouse” the double feature.

We get a trailer for “Machette”. The tones right, the scratching and film dirt is heavy and artificial, because under that the picture still feels clean. But it’s entertaining. I hear Robert Rodriguez plans to release a feature (straight to DVD). Funny because the plot resembles “The Shooter” with Mark Walberg only with a Mexican flair. I think I’d rather see “Machette”.

PLANET TERROR

It’s a zombie film. You’d think I’d love it. Well truth be told, the zombie film as a genre is pretty hit and miss and “Planet Terror’s zombies are akin to Bruno Mattei’s “Hell of the Living Dead”; bio-zombies, not very Romero –esque. Rodriguez does deliver an entertaining over-the-top film. Written like a Robert McKee study is screen plotting, Rodriguez puts a band of outsiders into and incredible situation. All the setups are there and they all pay off later in act three. The plots in Grindhouse films are paint by number (as are most films. “Back to the Future” is ridiculously over constructed, and I should know I’ve seen it a billion times). And this one is so formulaic that when Rodriguez pulls a reel out of the film, it still works from a plot perspective.
So I liked “Planet Terror”, but I don’t need to watch it again (actually I have and it’s aging better for me), but I always have mixed reactions to Rodriguez. He makes Hollywood-style films as an independent. There is little complexity to his films, and more than a hint of juvenility to them. Maybe that’s why I think “Spy Kids” is one of his better works. His segment in “Four Rooms” is another highlight in his career for me. I thin his influx of Hispanic culture and experience is what really makes his films a cut above other low budget action fair.

In “Planet Terror” the well aged film, idea is utilized well. The spliced film and scratching occur during heightened moments, much as most old film prints are. Projectionists watch the gore and sex over and over. It’s pretty pronounced and played for effect. My biggest issue with it is it feels contrived. The “film gunk” is there for effect. The rest of the film, and the stuff under the film gunk, is to clean. Likely this is because Rodriguez tends to his films digitally and adds to them. I felt it. Most people in the audience won’t.

I hate Robert Rodriguez too!!! But that’s strictly out of jealousy. He pens, shots, edits and directs his films in a very auteur-style. It’s what I’d like to be doing.

MORE TRAILERS FOLLOW

Rob Zombie’s “Werewolf Women of the S.S.” kinda' blows, even though he’s got Udo Kier, werewolves and T’n’A. Maybe it’s because he stuck Nicolas Cage in there?

Edgar Wright’s “Don’t” is a very funny concept but it goes on just a bit to long. It does get to the too long funny stage though. I saw a trailer on TV the other day for a straight horror film and they used the “Don’t” campaign.

Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving” hit the 80’s American slasher flick on the head. Best of the bunch.


On to…


THUNDERBOLT

Er—I mean “Death Proof”. Everything’s been so “hit you over the head”, “over the Top”, “Blammo!!!” that the first 10 minutes of “Death Proof” take you completely off guard. Four girls in a car talking ‘bout stuff Quentin Tarantino thinks girls talk about. I had to hit the lil’boy’s room, but didn’t want to miss anything, so I was a bit distracted.

But that how double feature’s go. The films weren’t always paired well. You weren’t watching a sequel to the first (well I was in the Star Wars double bill). And Tarantino’s film is a very different beast. While Rodriguez was riffing on the action/horror films of the eighties, Tarantino was sampling the seventies.

“Death Proof” spends a lot of its running time setting up its action. The rehearsal to the lap dance proposal is where I stopped fidgeting and clicked into the flow of the film. And what a film it is. The Tarantino dialogue is as good as any thing he’s done. All eight lead women in the film deliver enthralling performances (with the exception of the ninth Rose McGowan, she was far more captivating in “Planet Terror). And a huge kudos goes to stuntwoman Zoë Bell for her performance. I was transfixed by the featured. They were all gorgeous women in there ways sure, and Tarantino fetishizes then, but they were very well realized characters.
Kurt Russell is perfect as Stuntman Mike. I saw an interview clip with Russell before I saw the film. He was talking some crap about Tarantino being real and kinda’ down playing “Planet Terror”. I though it was crap talk at the time. I think I agree with him now.

Loved it. Loved this film. This was a bit of a filmic religious experience for me. I haven’t been this charged up by a film for quite a while.

Tarantino is stuck in the films he loves, and if you don’t have a fondness for those films, you won’t get it. I think that’s why there have been so many reviews that dislike “Death Proof”. But I think this is one of Tarantino’s best films. It, unlike Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, is his most cohesive and uniform films. I think it’s a constraint that helps Tarantino.

Now he still messes with form. Delivering a film that is real cut straight down the middle. The first half could be delivered in ten minutes in another film. But it’s the setup that makes the first car crash impact the audience so strongly.

He’s also melding genres. “Death Proof” is a slasher film / car flick / rape’n’revenge film, without the rape (Tarantino delivers that in “Planet Terror”).

Tarantino also dispenses with a lot of the scratches and junk, but delivers the film in an over-exposed, low saturation imagery. A sharp contrast to “Planet Terror”.

The biggest let down for me is the finale. It just ends, like a Jackie Chan film. I wanted some denouement.

Just 'cause I learnt how.

I now know how to embed video in my blogs. So here is the trailer for "the Eyes of Edward James". It's the directorial debut of Rod Gudino, publisher of Rue Morgue Magazine.

I also edited the film, and the trailer...

Jason Pichonsky's X Minus One trailer

Okay, if you're coming form Zombie Astronaut's blog you've already seen this, if not enjoy!

Just a reminder, post some comments in the... uhum comments section. Film-makers love an audience. Really.

So some background. About 2 years ago I discovered a program called Poser (rediscovered might be a better term, but 2 yrs ago it started to make sense to me). I also discovered radio theatre, and more specificly a sci-fi program called X-Minus One. Always a project oriented person, I started to teach myself 3-d animation utilizing Poser (version 5). I thought then and still do, that this series (or it's cousins Dimension X and Future Tense) would make an excellent animated series. So I started to experiment with that.

I never truely finished my experiments at least not to a point that would truely be satisfying-- a complete episode of X Minus One animated.

So the trailer you've seen is rough and not very polished, missing some lipsync and fully rendered material. Still there are moments I love about the piece. I really like the style of animation in "The Moon is Green" The original radio play doesn't pan out the way it should but I was infatuated with the opening scenario .

In "Chain of Command" I always envisioned a Looney Tune approach to the animation (the one where the mouse is playing the piano).

The Martian really works for me.

And I actually have a 3-d version of "How To" sitting on my drives. If I can find it I think I'll post it. Get out your red and blue glasses!!!

post script: If you didn't get here from the zombie austronaut go there and check out his offerings.

http://z0mbieastronaut.livejournal.com/

AWAKENINGS

Well, zombie film number two is about to leave the gate. She’s all locked and loaded, except…

I just need to replace some of the screaming.

I did a temp scream for one of the main characters of the segment and I just don’t cut it as a voice actor. I’ve talked to the original actor and he’s set to do it, so now we just need to find the time.

I’m also a bit disappointed with the quality of my image. We shot it in 16mm and transferred it to a 16:9 anamorphic frame. But there is a lot of grain in the image, which I hadn’t expected because I used a slower stock and exposed it well. My guess to the increased grain is that the film we shot on had been in the freezer a bit too long. It’s okay on a small screen letterboxed, but on my HDTV it really bugs me.

So taking a queue from Rodrigez and Tarrantino, I’m going to run with that and add a few extra film artifacts a la Grindhouse. Which is OK since the film is really inspired from that era and type of film. So adding some scratches is just icing on the cake.

I've also started a sound mix on EXISTENCE. It's coming along nicely. Mostly colour graded as well.

I plan to put up a review of "Grindhouse" in the next day or so. "Death Proof" blew me away. And oddly enough "Vanishing Point" was on the tube the other night (It's heavily influenced "Death Proof"). I just want to try and get to the film again before I post that.

SONOFA--

Just listening to the Rue Morgue Radio Podcast with George Romero. "Diary of the Dead" seems to share some similarities with our short "Lore" which in turn was started out as a "Blair Witch" "In Search of.." parody. It's a bit disheartening isn't it. "8 1/2 Short Films about Zombies" started before the rise of this wave of zombies films. There's a bit of "Shaun of the Dead" in it, soon "Fido" too. Of course some of these films may share the same inspirations. And I wouldn't for a second declare the Zombie Collective shorts as masterpieces. They we never meant to be. We had almost no budget or resources, and they're shorts for God's sake. You can only go so deep in a short.

Current news:
"Animosity" is online at http://films.thelot.com/films/20832 . Watch it and give it a review.
"Awakenings" is nearing completion. "Existence" is next. I lost my sound files so I need to do a resync of the audio. It's a bit overwhelming, so I'm taking my time. Lore needs a few pick-ups before it reaches completion. What's been shot is pretty much polished. And "Spring, Sprang, Sprung" is cut and awaiting music.

And those are the shorts in the can. "April, May and June" an animated short, is being written and designed.

That's it for today.

INTRODUCTIONS

Welcome to my blog, “8 1/2 Short Films about Zombies”. This blog is about filmmaking, and more specific, making zombie films. I’m at about 5 1/2 short films about zombies currently, with another 3 charted out and a radio play script in development. I’m not obsessed with zombies, but I am with these films. They are my bastard children, which is the only thing a zombie film could be. Don’t cha think?

I need to start out with an explanation of just what 8 1/2 Short Films About Zombies is, or at least the original intention. They are for me experiments in style, and practice filmmaking. They were always intended to be my film school. And they started back in 1999.

I was living in Edmonton, Alberta, working as freelance shooter (mostly in TV) and just hanging out. A group of friends, the Zombie Collective, shot a zombie spoof on VHS tape called Blood Red Canada Dead. It was a, try to guess now, collection of short films about zombies. I got asked to edit the thing. It was a fun venture.

Some of the material in BRCD really attracted me. I was also at a stage in my life that I was moving away from art house film and back to grindhouse and drive-in films. When I was a kid King Kong and Frankenstein were the impedious of my fascination with movies. I wanted to play around with a monster film and here was some great stuff that I could work with. And zombies really hadn’t been done at that point (That was eight years ago remember).

I’ve always been a fan of zombie films, but never very hard core. Now I’ve acquired quite a taste for them, preferring the seventies era European films, with a special affection for the 40’s White Zombie and of course Romero’s ghouls.

So I sat down with Rob and Jay and we charted out a zombie film in 3 acts, comprised of short films with characters that overlapped. We had a basic structure, and only really wrote the shorts as we came up to shooting them. It’s a hell of a way to build a railroad. Start with a strong script kiddies. Since 1999 we’ve shot 5 1/2 films. They’ve been rough-cut for years, but now I’ve made the push to finalize them a do something with these films.

So this brings us back to the blog. It’s a chronicle of what I’m up to with the zombie films, and maybe I’ll get some input from readers. We haven’t spent a lot of money on these films, but we have spent a bit. I’d like to get them seen, and in some ways I need to exorcize them so I can move on.

The blog won’t just be me rambling along. Over time I’ll include some first looks and insight into this rambling, crawling zombie thing.

So the first look; I entered the Steven Spielberg/ Mark Burnett Production On The Lot. Looks like they’ve made their choices and I’m out. But here’s a link to an earlier zombie film, Awakenings. Love some feedback! Thanks.

http://films.thelot.com/films/20832