Scream and Scream Again
I managed to get to the top of page 38 on the Script Frenzy script yesterday, so it is going pretty well. Sometimes it does go really well, but there are days when it feels like trying to complete a complex jigsaw puzzle with no picture and no pieces.
Last night I watched a new episode of Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf was a British science-fiction sitcom set on a spaceship in deep space which ran for eight seasons between 1988 and 1999. It was cancelled and is returning, for the first time in ten years, as a three part Easter special. I watched the show regularly when it was on, and I really liked it a lot. It was fun to see it again, and it was good to see that they had gone back to basics with the show. It also brought back a lot of memories of watching it during it's original run, when I was twelve and thirteen and permitted to stay up later on Thursday nights to watch the show.
Later on I watched a 1970 film called Scream and Scream Again. It was a truly bizarre film in which the police are investigating a vampire serial killer (who looks a lot like a demented David Bowie) who may or may not have something to do with a sinister doctor (played by Vincent Price) who is conducting strange experiments at the behest of a group of fascists (led by Peter Cushing). Thrown into the mix is a spy (played by Christopher Lee as a cross between James Bond and Dracula) and a man in hospital who wakes up every morning to discover yet another limb is mysteriously missing. It's a blend of horror, science-fiction, police procedural and spy thriller. It's almost as if the film-makers decided to throw in anything they could think of that was quite popular at the time, including the band Amen Corner who turn up at one point to play a couple of songs. If the film made any kind of sense at all, it might have been quite good. In the end it doesn't and it isn't. However it does feature a good car chase, and a hilariously over the top performance from Vincent Price.
Late at night I did watch a genuinely good horror film, Night of the Demon, directed by Jacques Tourneur, and based on the short story "Casting the Runes" by MR James. The story involves an American academic (Dana Andrews) who has made a living debunking paranormal phenomena. He is due to present a paper at a conference exposing the activities of sinister occultist Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). However Karswell secretly gives him a scrap of paper with Runic symbols written on it, which basically means that in three days time he will be made off with by a giant firey horned demon. Tourneur originally didn't want to show the demon at all, and leave the film more ambiguous, but the film's producer took the movie away from him and included footage of the monster in all it's rubbery, puppet glory in the first scenes of the film, as well as in the climax. However the film remains a classic despite this due to Tourneur's talent as a director and a clever script. The movie manages to be scary without including any blood or gore, because Tourneur was very skilled at using the interplay between light and shadows, often making it feel as if the real threat was looming over the characters in the deep shadows or just outside the frame. The original story is brilliant as well. Apparently a props man working on the film was asked to supply a set of Runic symbols. He came back the next day holding a couple of orchestral cymbals and said "I couldn't find any Runic. Will brass do?"
Today I went out and got some groceries for the coming week. Also it is quiet around here today, which makes a change. I was woken up early yesterday by the people living upstairs doing DIY, and I could hear the hammering throughout most of the day. They seem to not be doing it today, but my kitchen still reeks of paint. They are the same people who are in the habit of blasting out the Rolling Stones at about 1000 decibels at eight o'clock on Sunday mornings when I am trying to sleep! Another thing that annoys me is the people next door throwing parties every weekend and having sex very loudly, which I can hear very clearly through the wall (although that only lasts a few seconds so it's not too bad). I don't complain, I just try and ignore it, but I do feel like I've skipped forward twenty years and become like a grouchy, reclusive old man.
Last night I watched a new episode of Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf was a British science-fiction sitcom set on a spaceship in deep space which ran for eight seasons between 1988 and 1999. It was cancelled and is returning, for the first time in ten years, as a three part Easter special. I watched the show regularly when it was on, and I really liked it a lot. It was fun to see it again, and it was good to see that they had gone back to basics with the show. It also brought back a lot of memories of watching it during it's original run, when I was twelve and thirteen and permitted to stay up later on Thursday nights to watch the show.
Later on I watched a 1970 film called Scream and Scream Again. It was a truly bizarre film in which the police are investigating a vampire serial killer (who looks a lot like a demented David Bowie) who may or may not have something to do with a sinister doctor (played by Vincent Price) who is conducting strange experiments at the behest of a group of fascists (led by Peter Cushing). Thrown into the mix is a spy (played by Christopher Lee as a cross between James Bond and Dracula) and a man in hospital who wakes up every morning to discover yet another limb is mysteriously missing. It's a blend of horror, science-fiction, police procedural and spy thriller. It's almost as if the film-makers decided to throw in anything they could think of that was quite popular at the time, including the band Amen Corner who turn up at one point to play a couple of songs. If the film made any kind of sense at all, it might have been quite good. In the end it doesn't and it isn't. However it does feature a good car chase, and a hilariously over the top performance from Vincent Price.
Late at night I did watch a genuinely good horror film, Night of the Demon, directed by Jacques Tourneur, and based on the short story "Casting the Runes" by MR James. The story involves an American academic (Dana Andrews) who has made a living debunking paranormal phenomena. He is due to present a paper at a conference exposing the activities of sinister occultist Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). However Karswell secretly gives him a scrap of paper with Runic symbols written on it, which basically means that in three days time he will be made off with by a giant firey horned demon. Tourneur originally didn't want to show the demon at all, and leave the film more ambiguous, but the film's producer took the movie away from him and included footage of the monster in all it's rubbery, puppet glory in the first scenes of the film, as well as in the climax. However the film remains a classic despite this due to Tourneur's talent as a director and a clever script. The movie manages to be scary without including any blood or gore, because Tourneur was very skilled at using the interplay between light and shadows, often making it feel as if the real threat was looming over the characters in the deep shadows or just outside the frame. The original story is brilliant as well. Apparently a props man working on the film was asked to supply a set of Runic symbols. He came back the next day holding a couple of orchestral cymbals and said "I couldn't find any Runic. Will brass do?"
Today I went out and got some groceries for the coming week. Also it is quiet around here today, which makes a change. I was woken up early yesterday by the people living upstairs doing DIY, and I could hear the hammering throughout most of the day. They seem to not be doing it today, but my kitchen still reeks of paint. They are the same people who are in the habit of blasting out the Rolling Stones at about 1000 decibels at eight o'clock on Sunday mornings when I am trying to sleep! Another thing that annoys me is the people next door throwing parties every weekend and having sex very loudly, which I can hear very clearly through the wall (although that only lasts a few seconds so it's not too bad). I don't complain, I just try and ignore it, but I do feel like I've skipped forward twenty years and become like a grouchy, reclusive old man.
Labels: comedy, horror, movie, Red Dwarf, script, TV, writing
posted by WildatHeart87 at 8:37 AM
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