KING'S X

I caught King's X live (again) in Charlotte, NC last week. Simply put: they're one of the most criminally underrated and grossly underappreciated bands of all time. They're musican's musicians, sounding like what The Beatles would probably be today, if they played straight-out rock.

In time, I hope history gives them their due, because they're certainly due for some duly recognition.

King's X Myspace

"BANDSLAM"

The marketing people at Summit in charge of promoting this should be fired. The TV spots, trailers and posters presented the movie as a cheesy, cornball piece of "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL" fluff aimed squarely at thirteen year old girls, when it's actually one of the best movies of the year. "BANDSLAM" is smart, real, amiable, warm-hearted and funny, following in the tradition of "SAY ANYTHING," "ALMOST FAMOUS"-mode Cameron Crowe and John Hughes. In fact, Gaelan Connell, the awkward, geeky male lead character, is straight from the Hughes universe, while the intelligent, musician chicks Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka would be right at home in a Crowe's "SAY ANYTHING" or "ALMOST FAMOUS." Hopefully, this gem will be discovered on DVD and those responsible for tanking it will pay a hefty karmic price as they look for work elsewhere.

"INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS"

Like most film geeks in the 90's, I revered Quentin Tarantino as the second coming of cinema. He earned his geek street cred by being just like us - people spending hours, days, weeks, months, years devouring movies. His first two, "RESERVOIR DOGS" and "PULP FICTION," reflected that - a former video store clerk finally getting to share with the world his love, passion and knowledge of film. (Especially, "PULP FICTION" which is probably still the best American movie made since it came out.)

"INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS" is far and away his best work since "PULP FICTION," and a reminder that this guy is one of the best screenwriters who has ever lived. Visually, it's his most accomplished and cinematic work to date. It's also Brad Pitt's best performance. (Of course, a mention must be made for Christoph Waltz, too. Melanie Laurent was also very good.) This might be my favorite movie so far this year. ("BANDSLAM" and "PUBLIC ENEMIES" right up there, too.)

Rewatching Rob Zombie's "HALLOWEEN" To Get Ready For "H2"

(Written in 2007 on my Myspace page. Moved here.)

When it was announced that Rob was doing "HALLOWEEN," most horror fans went into Defcon-Six. I wasn't one of them. (I saved that for the remake of "APRIL FOOL'S DAY.")

Sure, the original "HALLOWEEN," along with the original "THE EXORCIST" and the original "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE" make up the Holy Trinity of 70's American horror, but this isn't a studio hired gun or a video/commercial hack dashing off a pale replica of the original just to cash in on opening weekend. (See the new versions of "THE OMEN" and "THE HITCHER.")

This is Rob Zombie.

"HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES" was a solid debut. "THE DEVIL'S REJECTS" is one of the best films and best directed films in the past few years.

Let's face it, "HALLOWEEN," along with "FRIDAY THE 13TH" has taken a sharp turn into Huh?-ville. Jason vs. Carrie? Jason in space? Jason vs. Freddy Krueger? He even took Manhattan. (I'm just glad The Muppets got out in time.)

The last good "HALLOWEEN" film was "4." Director Dwight Little did an admirable job of trying to capture the original movie without imitating it. Then, came part five and six. Even the most hardcore "HALLOWEEN" fans have to bend into pretzels defending these. Truly terrible movies. Even the famed "producer's cut" of part six. It's not better, it's just longer.

Then came "HALLOWEEN" Water. Sorry, "H20." Not a bad slasher flick, but it's not a "HALLOWEEN" movie. Take out Laurie Strode and Michael Myers and put in Amy Steel and Jason Vorhees and you have "FRIDAY THE 13TH 10: JASON GOES TO COLLEGE."

"HALLOWEEN RESSURECTION" doesn't even deserve to be spoken about. Moving on.

Now comes Zombie's "HALLOWEEN." The initial outrage was, "he's going to trying to explain evil! He can't explain evil! Michael Myers is just evil to the core!" That he is. And that he still is. Just because you show the early years of a serial killer (I guess Mike is more a mass murderer) doesn't mean you're explaining anything.

Instead of the 'burbs in the Carpenter's original movie, Zombie places Michael in White Trash America. His mother, in a very fine performance by the director's wife, Sherri Moon Zombie, is a stripper who also loves her kids. Especially Michael who wears homemade masks most of the time. Michael is abused by his mother's drunken lout of a boyfriend, terrorized at school, and his sister is a 'ho.

What is interesting, while all of this had probably been taking place long before we entered the movie, our first encounter with Michael killing a pet mouse with a scalpel.

This scene says it all - a point missed by everyone who hates this movie. The drunken lout of a stepfather, the bullies at school, the promiscuous sister only seem, on the surface, like the usual trappings for a kid to grow up to be a serial killer or mass murderer, but we don't see that first. We see Michael killing a rat.

He has been a monster from square one. He wasn't a product of his environment. It only served as spring training.

Young Michael is sent to a sanitarium and is more talkative with Dr. Loomis than he was at home. You get the sense this is the only father figure Michael has had since his real father died, if he's had any father figure at all. When Michael finally realizes Dr. Loomis is just doing his job, getting paid either way, and goes home at the end of the day while Michael is going to be there for the rest of his life, Michael shuts down.

And does a lot of push-ups in his room.

Eventually, gloryhound Dr. Loomis leaves to write his tell-all book and hit the publicity circuit. Obviously, he planned on cutting Michael out of his percentage of the royalties and told him, because Michael breaks out after killing forty-five people with his bare hands.

The last hour is the Cliff Notes of the original "HALLOWEEN", and this is where Rob goes wrong. By referencing moments in the original, even if to add a twist, just brings John Carpenter to mind. If Rob had stayed the course, completely reinventing Laurie Strode and Haddonfield from the ground up, like he did for the first ninety minutes of the movie, he would've had a very good horror film.

What Rob does right he does very right. Michael Myers, in the original, was The Shape - evil incarnate. Like John Ryder in the original "THE HITCHER," is he a man or a phantom? The Boogeyman. The "inhuman" killing machine.

Zombie's Michael Myers is a human inhuman killing machine.

This isn't your part 5-8 Michael Myers. He's not killing for the camera. He's going through drywall, tearing through wooden railing, killing brutally- strangulations, stabbings - because that is what he is. "You keep referring to him as 'it," someone tells Dr. Loomis in the original. "This is not a man," Loomis responds. In the original, Myers was a spectre, not a man. In this one, Michael is a not a man; he's a deranged animal.

This also isn't Michael Myers "HALLOWEEN," "2," and "4." There were complaints that Michael Myers is supposed to be stealthy, like a phantom; not a brutalizing battering ram. My response, you have three movies where he's like a ghost. Can we have one where he's something else?

All in all, a flawed effort, stopping short when it should've went all the way with the re-imagining, but it's the best "HALLOWEEN" since "4."

French Horror Movies

Each decade has a horror brand that influences other horror films of the time and in the future: Italian horror in the 60's and 70's lead to the American slasher films of the 80's. American grindhouse/drive-in movies of the 70's lead to the indie exploitation and "torture porn" (I prefer "gore-nography") films today. The last fad-slash-craze was Asian Horror, primarily Japanese and Korean: RINGU (remade as "THE RING"), "ONE MISSED CALL," "SHUTTER," "DARK WATER," and "THE EYE." The best J-horror flick was also the best remake, "JU ON" and "THE GRUDGE" respectively. The second best J-horror movie, "TALE OF TWO SISTERS," was remade very well as "THE UNINVITED. The third best, "PULSE," had a remake of its own which should've been re-titled "THEY 2." (The fourth best J-horror flick, "SUICIDE CLUB," was never remade, which isn't surprising as most Asian Horror movies are usually the same - first half of the movie, great; second half, "huh?")

Now comes a new trend, French Horror, but I don't see Hollywood remaking any of these ultraviolent and terminally bleak movies. My first French Horror movie (naming it would give it too much credit) was one of the most overhyped and overrated horror movies I've seen. Shamelessly stealing from the classic Dean Koontz novel Intensity, this wasn't a movie as much as it was an exercise in horror movie mechanics.

Unlike Asian Horror, which wasn't always successful but never uninteresting, I wasn't rushing to see my next French Horror movie. Then, I saw the spooky ghost story, "SAINT ANGE." What came after are four of the best horror films in the past twenty years:

"ILS" (THEM) is creepy and psychologically claustrophobic - a home invasion movie by invaders who are seen as just shadows in the hallway, sounds in the other room, blurs outside. "ILS" is a great companion piece to the underrated "THE STRANGERS," both harrowing home invasion flicks, for different reasons.

"INSIDE" is one of the most gruesome movies ever made. Also a home invasion flick,
"INSIDE," unlike "ILS," is not implied and understated. It is unrelentingly violent, one of the bloodiest movies I've seen. It's also the best horror movie since "THE DESCENT," and one of the best slasher movies.

"FRONTIER(S)" is the French's answer to the America's horror subgenre of locals, usually hillbillies, terrorizing unsuspecting visitors or people "just passing through." Here, the sadistic family is lead by a deranged, creepy grandfather, who's a former Nazi war criminal. Taking more than a few cues from "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE," "FRONTIER(S)" is intensely suspenseful and gory. The skincrawling twist of a Nazi war criminal leading the clan is brilliant.

"MARTYRS" is haunting, harrowing and ultimately jaw-dropping with its final revelation. It's the most intellectual, in its ideas, of the four, and the most disturbing when its overall purpose is stated.

I've since seen "SHEITAN," which I despised. And I've yet to see "CAVALAIRE." Others are in the pipeline.

While I don't particularly like the unrelenting nihilism of French horror flicks - these movie are as pessimistic and bleak as it gets - I appreciate the fearlessness of the filmmakers and their willingness to try to truly frighten and disturb you.

"THE DARK KNIGHT," "INSIDE" And Smoking The Big Cigar Of Life

The parents are on vacation this week, so I'm shuttling out and back housesitting. I'm taking full advantage of Dad's top-of-the-line plasma TV and Blu-Ray DVD player with two of my favorite films of the past few years - "THE DARK KNIGHT," and the wonderful French gorefest "INSIDE" - and the swimming pool. I'm very blessed. God is great, life is good, and I'm smoking that big, fat cigar of life, enjoying every minute of it.

R.I.P. John Hughes

He may not ever be canonized like Hitchcock or Scorsese as one of the greatest directors of all time, but John Hughes achieved what all legends do - an imitable style. "SIXTEEN CANDLES" and "FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF" are two of the best films of the 80's, and two of my favorite comedies. The John Hughes-penned "PRETTY IN PINK" is also one of the best 80's films, but is often overlooked. (Honestly, I admire "THE BREAKFAST CLUB" more than I like it.) Not to mention, writing "NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION," another top-ten 80's comedy classic. And many of his other written or produced films are in regular rotation on TBS. The list goes on.

Sadly, John Hughes' most popular film is the waking nightmare that is "HOME ALONE." For true film fans, however, he's best known for his wildy popular 80's teen movies. Not only was Mr. Hughes able to find the universal comic absurdity of everyone's teenage years, but also its heart, treating it all with warmth and respect. Whether his teen characters were idealized fantasies or painfully realistic, everyone was relatable. That's no small feat and no one has duplicated it since.

God Bless You Mr. Hughes.

Jackson Browne

I caught Jackson Browne in Atlanta last Thursday evening. I grew up listening to Jackson Browne, so it was quite special seeing an artist who's been part of my life all of my life finally perform live. It was a fantastic show. Vocally and instrumentally, he was spot-on. I loved that his backing band was scaled down and not loaded down with four guitar players, two keyboard player, a percussion guy along with the drummer, etc. It was just a basic set up, which let Jackson Browne, ever the consumate professional, shine. He played his hits, some new stuff. My lone complaint of an otherwise satisfying show - no "These Days."

Kidnapping Horror Thrillers And Katie Stuart

Before the first "SAW" film was released in 2004, my kidnapping horror thriller (I don't use titles because I don't want them stolen. They're my titles. Get your own) was making the rounds around town, and was generally well received. However, after "SAW" hit, and depressingly became a hit, my screenplay was suddenly and roundly dismissed as "that 'SAW' knock off." Though my screenplay had elements of what would come to be known as "torture porn," it had a smart, plucky heroine, and an overall interest in thrilling the audience, not disgusting them with various forms of torture. (Watching "SAW" is a form of torture all its own for how amateur-hour it was. But, before you start yelling "SOUR GRAPES!" at me - I really liked James Wan's "DEAD SILENCE.")

My kidnapping horror thriller (or, "KHT" from now on) was deemed to similar to "SAW," and too soon to be used to cash in on its success. So, like a little piece of my soul while watching "SAW," it died.

Flash forward to 2007, I dust off "KHT," and my steadfast manager sends a copy to the terrific Katie Stuart, of whom I'm a big fan. (I think SAW 34 was released during this year, too.) Katie loved it. Lanny loved that Katie loved it. Long story short, we get close to getting it made with "Stu" but it doesn't materializes, once again killing my script. (During this time, Katie and I strike up a brief e-friendship. A very nice, smart and talented gal.)

Last week, a new ending to "KHT" randomly occurrs to me that's the ending the script should've had all along. This week I'm going to change it and send it back out. Maybe this is why it hasn't sold - it's had the wrong ending. I'm hopeful the ending of all of this is Katie doing the movie, and it becomes a classic in the genre. (Meanwhile, "SAW 318" will be opening this fall.)

HENRY: Portrait Of Finishing A Small Town Dramedy

I've decided to take August and finish out the small town dramedy. I like to write to certain seasons: horror movies and dark thrillers are great to work on during winter; breezy comedies and action films during spring and summer; romantic comedies during fall. Since this screenplay is set in spring/early summer, August is a great month to go ahead and put this baby to bed.

The script is 124 pages long. Each week my writing days each are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (Friday through Sunday is work. Monday is recovering from work.) So, three writing days per week, multiplied by four weeks in August. That's twelve writing days for the month, divided by 124 pages. That's about ten pages per writing day, or thirty pages a week.

I'm doing something extra-sneaky...I mean, "smart." I'm printing out the thirty pages for that week and taking them to work, polishing/rewriting them on my breaks. This amounts to an extra pass over the screenplay, on top of the "official" polish/rewrite I'm doing on my "official" writing days. It's like having two polish/pass/rewrites in one. I know, it's a stellar plan. I'm impressed myself.

But, that's tomorrow. Tonight, I'm grilling fish and watching one of my favorite horror movies - a recently-bought copy of the 2-disc special edition of HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. This movie is utterly disturbing. In 1985, a couple of indie producers in Chicago wanted to cash in on the HALLOWEEN/FRIDAY THE 13TH popcorn horror movie craze, so they hired director John McNaughton to deliver one. Instead, he made real-life horror movie - a cold, brutal, unflinching look at the life of a serial killer. This movie is as unsettling as it gets, with an the ending that punches you in the stomach. There's also a making-of documentary. Can't wait. After, I'll need watch dvr-ed How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory to balance out the evening.