What really attracts us to horror??

While researching some different aspects for my 3rd screenplay, (still trying to decide between comedy, biopic or horror) I have been doing some serious thinking about just what is it that attracts us to horror films; or what it is about them that scares us. Terror is defined as an intense, sharp or overmastering fear. I believe that the true films that stand out in our genre are films that terrorize, horrify, and have the ability to gross you out at least twice during each film.

I found a very interesting article in the Journal of Media Psychology that breaks up horror films into seven different psychological theories of accomplishment.
   - Psychodynamic
   - Catharsis
   - Excitation Transfer
   - Curiosity/ Fascination
   - Sensation Seeking
   - Dispositional Alignment
   - Gender Role Socialization
   - Societal Concern

Each of these attributes when combined correctly influence our decisions on viewing certain horror films over others and in a greater general consensus more successful than others.

Psychodynamic or psychoanalysis is the use of symbolism and other general figures to impact the viewer on several different levels simultaneously. It is important that we view archetypes or primordial images that reside in our collective unconscious as dangerous and fearful. In other words we are genetically programmed to be afraid of the unknown; to be afraid of sharks, aliens, snakes, spiders and more generally the darkness. Many films use this underlying force to excite and strike fear into their audience but few do so in such a way that create a truly terrifying experience. I believe Jaws to be the true champion of this universal theme.

Catharsis is the opportunity to purge oneself of certain negative emotions. By viewing horror films people can get away from the doldrums of everyday life by experiencing fear and utilizing their imaginations to escape. There have been numerous studies on people of the effects of viewing violent media and content and the subsequent acts of aggression that could be triggered by exposure to such images, most of which show a negative correlation, yet we continue to watch horror and action films. I have seen hundreds of horror films and haven't killed anyone. Yet certain themes do seem to resonate in the subconscious and by viewing such acts of violence, and the watcher of such films can purge the negative emotions toward society by mentally exhausting one's self through film... But hey, that's just my two cents.

Excitation Transfer is a variation on the overall views on catharsis and the surrounding emotions. It has been proven that the viewers of horror films can be psychologically aroused and intrigued by the simple viewing of a terrifying movie. People become excited, and during the stressful scenes of a rather effective film, the viewer will experience a wide variety of emotions and physiological effects. Heart rates rise, breathing can accelerate and in extreme cases the brain will actually emit endorphins when the stress of the plot-line is resolved. This is hard to believe, but if a movie really freaks you out.. your brain will reward you when the antagonist is killed at the end.

Horror films can have positive side effects like curiosity/ fascination, which is often triggered by an exploitation of of societal norms and everyday experiences. This effect is especially pronounced when certain "rules" are broken throughout the course of a film and the characters are punished for their actions. We all know that the slutty girl is going to get the ax and the pothead will not make it into the third act. It has been proven that people respond favorably when these type characters, whom are the norm violators, are butchered. When you break it down, it is a little hard to believe that some high school student really deserves to be stabbed with a fire-poker just for smoking some herb, but in the eyes of outstanding society... they deserve it...???

Now I believe I probably fall into the next category of sensation seeking. As far back as I remember I somewhat enjoyed being totally freaked out as a kid after watching scary movies. The move that got to me the worst probably was Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Yea yea, I know... it's not scary whatsoever, but for some reason it really got to me. My family had a cheater PPV box growing up, which I blame for my fascination with movies, but it also gave my the opportunity for multiple viewings of the same movie. When Freddy's Dead came out I was so excited to finally see the film... then I don't think I slept for like three days. But I kept watching the movie whenever it was on. I was a thrill seeking little dude and just couldn't get enough of it even back then. I wish I could resurrect that feeling nowadays but hopefully one of my screenplays will affect America's up and coming youth.

Dispositional alignment is the overall judgement of certain scenes the audience is likely to adopt. People are less likely to give a shit if the girl who sleeps with the jock gets a machete to the face than they would be if an innocent 6 year old boy got it instead. The viewer will actually adapt a positive view of the violence toward the slutty girl and not toward the child, which could make or break an entire film.

Gender Role socialization, just the fact that a psychologist had to point this out and I didn't even think of it makes me laugh. Guys like to watch horror films with girls because they get scared and try to clutch onto them. Girls like it when guys are the master or their domain and show no fear whatsoever. Horror films provide this atmosphere for everyone to enjoy. It is a shame that the lame ass MPAA is slapping R and NC-17 ratings on everything causing half of the largest demographic for horror, 14-34, not to be included. I believe that this does in fact have a significant impact on the financial success of certain films.

You also never really think about it, but horror films seem to mimic the hot button issues of the times. The early creature features of the 1950's reflect a timid society in the shadow of the nuclear era, the slasher's of the 1980's reflect the fear of authority figures and the subtle essence of cold war totalitarianism. An effective horror film will have this subtext and be able to relate to the subtle issues plaguing modern societies.

All in all this blog post is a mere reflection of just how the themes and contexts of our favorite films can be broken down and generalized into a successful venture into the fear and the unknown. My next post will analyze the allure of popular horror cinema and their effectiveness in establishing terror...

Tension, relevance, and unrealism.

-Cjevy

Just what kind of Zombie are you facing??

Nightmare on Elm St. Remake

After just concluding my screenplay for a Hellraiser reboot, I decided that I wanted to go back and revisit "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and try to figure out why it was such an epic fail in my eyes. The point of this is exercise is really to make sure that I have not just made the same mistakes over again. And for the record I am writing this after watching the new NOES on DVD.

Wes Craven's beyond classic 1984 film has everything needed to create masterful horror in my eyes. I can actually remember watching the film by myself, at midnight, in the dark, when I was probably oh six or seven years old. I specifically remember that it was on USA and I had snuck out of my bedroom in order to catch a glimpse of the film. I want to officially say that the original Nightmare probably kickstarted my lifelong obsession with horror movies, for just the sheer thrill of being scared. When you are that age, the adrenaline really flows while watching a film. Now, at 26 I hardly feel like that anymore while watching a movie, it's just not the same. But anyway, the original had EVERYTHING needed to be successful. A terrifying antagonist in Freddy Kruger, likable protagonist,; Nancy, romantic interest; Glen, the "oracle" character in the drunk mom, everything needed to create an amicable ensemble of characters needed to complete the journey into the realm of the dream world. Freddy himself, Robert Englund, just had that on screen presence that made your skin crawl. The fact that anything is capable in the dream is what really makes him terrifying. Anyway, I don't think I really need to go into too deep a detail as to why Nightmare on Elm is an all time classic.

Now the 2010 reboot of Nightmare On Elm is a very interesting ploy and on paper I think could have worked. First... what it did have... A variety of "new" spins and takes on the original story.
    - Freddy is apparently a pedifile
    - The use of "micronebs" or dreams while you are awake
    - Great opening with the knife to the throat suicide.
    - Scenes from  several different Nightmare films, not just the original
    - Unique Flashbacks

These elements should have made for a great new spin on the franchise. Well, they didn't and I don't think I have ever been more pissed off in my life leaving the theater, well except for when I paid to see "Signs", but other than that pretty freakin' angry.  The Nightmare Franchise to the children of the 80's is up there on our nostaglia list with "The Goonies" and Ninja Turtles, so it is pretty goddamn important to be re-launched correctly.

Well first off, Jackie Earl Haley is a terrible conception of Freddy Kruger. His on screen presence just isn't scary. Groundskeeper Willy from that one Treehouse of Horror was more intimidating that JEH. He is just barely 5 ft tall and all the CGI makeup even lessens the case for terror. The decision to re-vamp Freddy's backstory, which on paper sounds great, totally ruins any sort of horror hero quality. People like to root for Jason or Leatherface to crush the pothead, or the annoying girl... but making Freddy belong on "To Catch a Predator" just sort of ruined his persona.

My biggest problem with the film is the pacing and character development. From the get-go I originally thought the hot blonde was Nancy, because the story revolved around her for the first twenty minutes. Then she dies in a lame excuse for the upside down ceiling kill from the original then we pretty much meet Nancy afterwards. She has similar qualities to the original Nancy but she has to talents or drive to defeat Freddy like the original. She just follows the guy from "A Haunting in Connecticut" while he figures out how to defeat Freddy. It's Nancy's battle with Freddy that makes the original awesome.

All in All the third act is decent, but the first two are just so bad that they can't make up for it. I hope in my heart of hearts that I can somehow get my Hellraiser script to Dimension because if it is true, and the guy who wrote Jason X is on the project, that franchise will wind up in the graveyard just like A Nightmare on Elm Street....

The Sixth Sense

So I was doing some research online about some of the most successful screenwriters in the trade today and a surprising number of them named "The Sixth Sense" in their top five scripts they have ever read, so I decided to download it and give it a read. It has been years since I last saw the film, probably in 2000 along with everyone else.

The script is powerful and moving. You really feel for Cole (Haley Joel Osmund) as a poor kid who wants nothing more than to be normal. Dr. Malcolm on the other hand is struggling with his own personal demons throughout the entire screenplay, and plays a great ally/ mentor for young Cole. While reading it I dissected the pacing and structure more than I would any other typical god-awful crap I was required to read. The moment we find out that young Cole "sees dead people" was on page 64. The screenplay is 127 pages long, so pretty much the exact middle of the story. Convenient? More like precise. One thing that Shyamalan does perfectly throughout the entire screenplay is that he sets the mood in each new scene with a short and adequate description. Whether the room is cold, dark, bright, ominous... whatever he uses short descriptive phrases that lay the mood down perfectly.

After being forced to dissect scripts for the tiniest of mistakes I can also say that his script would have been penalized by "reader" standards and forced to have been given a 3 or 4 out of 5 because of it. He often phrased entire paragraphs using ALL CAPS. It works beautifully to draw attention to something important but the reader in me wants to scream out. He even called a silly ancillary character two different names in the same scene. And of course the most noticeable of mistakes is that the script isn't even in Courier font. From the looks of it, it might be Arial, or something similar. It makes me want to yell because he made almost 3 million dollars on selling the script. By "hollywood" standards it is too long, and not properly formatted, so the question is how did he get the bound, three-hole punched paper, past the gatekeepers, and into the hands of powerful executives. But that is another story....

All in All, check it out, it is a good and surprisingly quick read, especially if you haven't seen the movie in a while. (It's on instant Netflix)

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Sixth-Sense,-The.html

Number 2... in the bag

What's up guys.. Happy almost Halloween!! So I have just wrapped up my second full length screenplay, "Hellraiser" and could not be happier with the way it turned out. I have just sent it out to my inner circle of readers for feedback, and plan on going to kinkos this afternoon to print it out so I can start going through it  with a finetooth comb tonight and possibly throughout this entire weekend. After that, register at the WGA then hopefully trying to get it into the hands of someone who can get it into the thick, towering walls of Hollywood. If anything this piece of work is a great "writing sample" and proves to myself that I can improve on this venture into screenwriting. Hit me up if you want to read a sample...

Cjevy

The Savior

What's up guys... been busy the past couple days, seems like I am trying to do a thousand things at once. Anyway, I found a contest on my favorite screenwriting website www.gointothestory.com , asking for short (3 page) scripts for a halloween contest they are having. So I sat down and banged out "The Savior", the only rules of the contest was that it had to be about a girl locked in the basement with a zombie. So, I gave it a shot... let me know what you think.

p.s. It's a wee bit offensive...

Link:
http://scr.bi/9HAZpq

Top 10 Horror Movies You Probably Haven't Seen...

It is upon us once again friends... the holiday of holidays, Halloween/ Samhain/ All Hallows Eve/ The best freakin' time of the year. Celebrating the almost completion of my second full length screenplay, Hellraiser (remake, hey it's worth a shot) I took some time to put together a list of my favorite horror films of the 80's -2000's hardly no one knows about or has seen. Leave a comment if you feel I left one of your favorites off the list or you want to make fun of my selections.

10. Dr. Giggles- Larry Drake (Darkman) stars in this early 90s cheese-fest, as the son of a psychopathic doctor, who has returned to the town his father shocked years ago. There is not much to this film besides the fact that Dr. Giggles kidnaps and performs various "surgeries" on unsuspecting teens and townsfolk. While you may be thinking... lame.. it's actually pretty drop dead hilarious. Like a midget at a urinal, this one will keep you on your toes.

9. Wrong Turn 2-  Starring the immortal Henry Rollins, Wrong Turn II is a fun and brutal film that totally eclipses the original in every possible aspect. Plotwise, filming a reality show has been done (Halloween Ressurection) but WT2 excels here by giving the characters a reason for entering the back-hills of West VA instead of just the typical car break down. Well, I guess since they meant to enter the woods they did not take a "wrong turn" but the characters is what makes this film memorable. Henry Rollins is a bad ass mofo in all possible aspects, if you saw last season of Sons of Anarchy you can tell that the guy can act, wether its protagonist or antagonist I just want to see him on screen. The feel of the film certainly changes during the third act from fun to serious, which can be seen as a positive or negative, but hey it beats watching the same recycled shit on network TV.

8. Leprechaun 2 or 3- Yea... you freakin' heard me, Leprechaun 2 and/ or 3. I don't know about you guys but the Leprechaun movies are money. Not much here to critique here, dialogue is laughable, production value; ehh not too bad for early 90s but there is nothing like Warwick Davis one-liners, and he drops them from downtown like LeBron from behind the arc. The best scene from Leprechaun 2 is when Uncle Morty challenges the Leprechaun to a drinking contest and dominates the little guy. Then, traps the the Lep in a safe to extort the pot o' gold from him. Unluckily, the Leprechaun gives it to him by magically planting the gold into his colon. Yea, constipation deaths should be used more often if you ask me. Now, Leprechaun 3 is a whole different monster. Set in Sin City, a dorky college kid meets the stripper/ magician's assistant with the heart of gold and wins her love by killing the Leprechaun WHILE turning into one himself. Look out Inception, you just got served on that plot line.

7. Castle Freak- This Stuart Gordon film is about a family that move to a village in Italy when they inherit a castle. First off, it is one of my life goals to own/ live in a castle. I don't care if it comes with secret monsters that live in a dungeon, I'm living in a fucking castle. Anyway, strange things start to happen and the Dad of the family bangs a hooker in the dungeon, then the "Castle Freak" kills her making it look like the Dad did it. That is an interesting spin on the usual Frankenstein like story. This film also sports good gore effects and likable characters... well worth a spot on your Netflix que.

6. Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon- Ok, so in all seriousness this one is actually a very well thought out film, with interesting characters and a unique premise; giving a behind the scenes tour of becoming a slasher film hero. Leslie Vernon hires a camera crew to document his training, stalking, and preparation for murdering a group of teens in small town America. Vernon is actually a likable guy; funny, witty, intelligent and in no way an antagonist. This sort of ruins the finale of the film but I do not want to ruin that for anyone.

5. Demons (1985)- Overdubbed in English from Italian, Bava's Demons, is an interesting 80's giallo film revolving around a movie theatre full of different types of characters that start getting eaten by demons emerging from the screen. Imagine "Last Action Hero" with a less epic soundtrack and more story-line and much more gore... much more. I've got a special place in my heart for the 80's Italian shock cinema that the majority of people in this world seem to lack. So I say, go out there, pick up Cannibal Holocaust or Demons or Zombi and enjoy something DIFFERENT.

4. Maniac (1980)- So I am going to go out on a limb and say that most people probably have not seen Joe Spinell and William Lustig's Maniac. This movie is no joke whatsoever. From the very onset, Joe Spinell's character is scary. Not Jason, I've got a mask on and I walk fast scary, but real life I scalp women and keep mannequins in my bedroom scary. Tom Savini played a significant role developing the special effects for this film and produces some truly disturbing imagery. My favorite has to be when he actually blows his own head off a dummy of himself with a double barrel shotgun. If that makes any sense... The film stalls a little toward the third act, but if you are in the mood for disturbing and not fun horror, check out Maniac for a different taste.

3. Phantasm II- Universal stepped up and finally released the stepchild of the Phantasm series earlier this year and I definitely grabbed this bad boy first time I saw it in the store. Phantasm II picks up a few years after the original, with Reggie and Mike tracking "the Tall Man" across the country and the towns he has ruined. This film does not quite have the low-budget feel of the original but I enjoy it because it's just a fun movie. Reggie makes a quad-barrel shotgun and kills the shit out of little midgets in brown robes like he was born to do so. 80's cheese at its finest.

2. Dead Alive aka. Braindead- An early work from connoisseur Peter Jackson, Dead Alive is chock full of gore, cheese, and lovable characters most of which make no sense. Most horror fans have probably seen this flick but I am going to go and say that the majority of everyday Americans have not had the pleasure. A few reasons to check out this film: Rat monkeys, Zombie on Zombie sex, baby zombies, a ninja priest and the infamous lawnmower scene too iconic to describe accurately in this post. I recommend you check this one out on an empty stomach with a few alcoholic beverages already in your system for the full effect.

1. Waxwork- My absolute favorite 80's horror film of all time. A group of teens stumble upon a random waxwork in suburbia, and upon entering, get trapped in a series of classic horror waxwork stories. If that isn't an interesting logline, I guess I don't know what I am talking about then. If I actually wanted a classic film from my childhood remade it would be this one, and Hellraiser :) What makes this movie so spectacular is the fact that there are like 6 mini-movies inside a single film. The climax occurs when the waxworks come to life and have an all out melee with the random townsfolk that storm inside. The actors can act (for the most part), the story is interesting, plot is well paced, and I bet you have not seen this movie.  So pull up Netflix, and get this bad boy mailed to you... I recommend a good six or seven beers in your system for full affect of the film.

So, all in all I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween, enjoy some different scary movies this year instead of the same Friday the 13th ones that are going to be on AMC, and subscribe to my blog, I'll owe ya one.

Update

So I have been doing some serious writing lately, I just can't seem to get the story out of my head and new ideas are constantly flowing. Hellraiser is approximately 80 pages deep so far and I am just entering the third act (timed out perfectly I must add). I really want to just get this rough draft done so I can start reviewing it ASAP. I just read that Dimension Films has hired a new President of Production and he has listed Hellraiser as one of his projects on the "to do" list. Goal to have this bad boy done by the end of next week, reviewed and ready to try and get into their hands by Halloween. What?! Hey it's worth a shot right? What have I got to lose... it is my finest writing to date.

http://www.morehorror.com/New-Dimension-Films-President-Assures-More-Horror-Movies214105

Wes Craven on Character Creation...

http://www.fearnet.com/videos/b20511_my_soul_take_interviews.html

Interesting quick video from the Horror Master himself... ehh still not excited to see this one though

Disappointment

Well, Eerie Horror Fest has come and gone and to my disappointment the bitter taste of defeat. I was happy for the winner though, we chatted over a few beers after the awards and he seemed like a nice guy. Still a little puzzled why a sci-fi script won a horror competition but whatever. As for the festival, I don't think I will be attending that one again. Erie, PA is a scary freakin' town, and not in a good way. The theatre was in the middle of the city and I pretty much thought I could get stabbed at any moment walking to the hotel across the street. There were not that many vendors and the "celebrities" were D-list at best. But the part I had enjoyed most was watching the films... Some of them were pretty unique and powerful, some so laughable I can't believe people invested time and/ or money into them. My favorite short of the festival was called "Patient" and was done by the film program at York University. For only being 13 minutes long, the tension builds from the onset and cascades from start to finish. As for feature length films, my fav was "Ghosts don't exist" from Virginia. The cinematography and script were superior to all it's peers and surprisingly Chris Cooley from the Redskins was the Exec producer. So if you see that one on Netflix check it out. All in all I am thankful for being able to attend the event and nominated for an award. This defeat only fuels my inner fire for success in this business and I am determined...

It's October...

With the greatest month of the year upon us (my birthday+ Halloween) a plethora of horror films are slated to be released in the upcoming weeks. This week "Let me In" ,"Case 39", "Hatchet II" were among the titles set upon the horror community. All of which I would rather just hang out and watch football than spend 30 bucks on seeing at the movies. I do not understand why the major film studios dump their reject horror films in October. Fans of the genre are not stupid. I can smell garbage just like anyone else can.

Other films slated for release this month...
"My Soul to Take": Wes Craven's return to the genre since his PG-13 snooze Red Eye. Honestly I can't tell what the premise of the film is from the trailer and am 90% sure I am not spending the 15 bucks to see it in 3D either.

"Saw 7": Ehh maybe... I am thinking about seeing this pretty much for the sole purpose of the finale to the franchise. The original Saw was the perfect combination of horror elements combined into one film. Scary doll, clever twist, popular antagonist. I personally don't give a shit that it is in 3D either.

And without opening up Imdb to check out a specific list, I can't think of any other good movies releasing in October. Yup, zero... This guy is not exciting for anything coming out... Oh yeah, just remembered Paranormal Activity 2, hopefully it is better than Blair Witch 2 because it is going to be compared to that dud in every form, by every critic.

Eerie Film Festival

The trip has been booked and it looks like my wonderful girlfriend, MK and I are making the trip up to Erie, PA this year to take part in the Eerie Horror Film Festival. I must say that has to be one the the kindest , awesomest birthday presents I have ever gotten. We are getting up there on Friday night and I am pretty psyched to start seeing some of the films. Slime City Massacre sounds promising for that friday. The awards are set for 6:30 Saturday evening, and I will probably be a nervous wreck, but what the hell it was my first screenplay right...

www.eeriehorrorfilmfestival.com

Hellraiser is still coming along well, I am about 25 pages in and my good friend Austin is reading through it for me. I should start writing the second act this week... will keep you guys posted...

What a day...

So I am chillin out on my deck, reading some god knows terrible screenplay, (10 left to go until I am done with them) and I get a nice little email from the fine people at 38 studios that they had recieved my resume and the Marketing chairmen would like to interview me for a possible position.... I'm thinking hell yeah I would love to work at a video game company... then I get an email from the fine people at the Eerie Horror movie festival and.... I made the FINALS!!!! Kick ass... I guess someone out there liked Tissue(s), after reading it so many times I kept thinking it blew, but maybe I am just my own worst critic....

Hellraiser update: so I am about fifteen pages in and I think it is my best work to date. Somehow the right words just seem to pop into my head... here's an excerpt

"Each pore of his sweating skin becomes aroused. Every tiny pupillae of hair erect. He grows hard with passion as seen through his tight boxer briefs.


Frank falls against the wall, almost through the window... which could have been his saving grace.


The smell of burning fills his nostrils, followed by a dozen other scents he has yet to experience. Vanilla seems to overpower them all.


He cluches his mouth to stop from vomitting but a strange forbearance has disabled this bodily function.


A cacophony of noise in the room pounds in his ears, a thousand voices calling out to him at once.


And the visuals... each cell inside his eyelid magnified and alive, flowing through his thin capillaries like traffic below a busy city."

Not bad right? I thought it sounds pretty good so far... I'll keep posting here and maybe the right person will stumble along my lowly blog...

It has begun...

Well its about that time again, my pen has been scratching away at the yellow legal pad enough for me to start typing away on my next project. Research has been done, books read, and read, and read... ready to rock. The first 5 pages I wrote today took me about 3 hours.... Which is both good and bad. I felt as if every word I put on the page really means something. I have nowhere to go but up from here... I will try to keep you guys posted on my progress as I continue the process.

Eerie Horror Film Festival

Well I have officially been named a SEMI-FINALIST at the Eerie Horror Film Festival!!! Tissue(s) has come to life and apparently someone else out that shares my vision as well. They said they received a couple hundred entries and what do ya know... I am in the top 10... Still have Shriekfest in LA and International Horror Festival in AZ to hear from this week, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you to everyone for your feedback on my screenplay.

Also on another note I got a great book in the mail from Amazon today, "The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy" by Paul Kane. I could not stop reading it earlier today until I got the good news. In depth analysis and behind the scene stories that are helping me imagine what I would like to accomplish with this next feature.

NEXT

So I have been throwing around alot of ideas for what I want to start writing next. I am still in the eaaaarly stages of what I want to do... but as of now I keep coming back to wanting to write an adaptation of Clive Barker's amazing The Hellbound Heart. Or we may better know as Hellraiser. I know I know remakes? I freaking hate remakes. Nightmare on Elm Street made me want to break down and cry afterward it was so terrible... But after reading the Hellbound Heart twice in a week there is a vast universe to explore on the screen that never made it to the original Hellraiser. More to come on this topic once I do some more research into the realm of Hellraiser...

Competitions

So after wrapping up the 3rd draft of Tissue(s) I have decided to go ahead and try and get some recognition and feedback on my project. So far I have entered Tissue(s) into Slamdance, Eerie Horror Festival, Shriekfest, Washington D.C Horror Festival, International Horror Festival and the LA Screamfest. I am hoping to at least just place in one of these competitions and maybe somehow the right person can get ahold of it.

I am also starting to bounce around some ideas in my head for my next project. I'll keep you guys posted on what I decide to start mapping out when it happens.

DONE!

I am officially DONE with this bad ass mofo... 4 months, 3 drafts, 2 endings, and one awesome freaking screenplay. I could not be more happy with the way the story crafted itself inside my head. This has always been something I wanted to do one day and I finally did it. As of now I have submitted it to one competition so far and am trolling the web for more. Hopefully I can at least get an honorable mention in one of them so I can send out an accolade with my query letters. Here's the final synopsis... if you want to read the finished product, hit me up...

Synopsis

Tissue(s) is a dark tale about what the desperate are willing to do, in order to get what they need. Utilizing the most basic of human emotions, the story revolves around JAKE McADAMS (22) and his experiences at the Eternal Serenity Mortuary.

Fresh out of college, Jake is having a rough time. His girlfriend April (22) shouts out another guys name in bed, he gets a DUI, his father, STANLEY (50’s), is a drunk who cancelled his apartment lease and he can not find a job.

Out of desperation, Jake accepts a position as an Assistant at the Eternal Serenity Mortuary. Jake is familiar with this particular Mortuary, his mother was buried there a year prior. He starts as a working gravedigger, breaking his back alongside JOHN BROWN (50’s), who has been at the Mortuary since the beginning. Jake only does manual labor for a short period, he is promoted by Dr. LUCAS HARRINGTON (owner, 70’s) to be LIZ’s (30) personal assistant. Liz quickly introduces Jake into the lucrative world of tissue harvesting. She explains that it is perfectly legal under California’s Presumed Consent law that if an autopsy is ordered, she can take whatever she needs.

After Jake starts to get his hands dirty, strange things begin to happen. He is having vivid dreams of a gravestone statue peering over him as he sleeps. Soon after, Liz forces Jake to travel to a local hospital for some on-site gathering. After an exciting chain of events the two end up shooting and kidnapping a Detective and a hospital employee for a “live” harvesting, but things do not go according to plan.

Trust begins to break down between Liz and Jake. Stanley is found dead from an apparent suicide and April goes missing just days later. After Stanley’s funeral at Eternal Serenity, all the cards are revealed as Jake confronts Liz in a showdown that will test him mentally and physically.

Editing

Ugh I am not a fan of this process whatsoever... I am about 50 pages in and I feel like I am ripping my self a new one with every page that I write. I guess it is all apart of the process but I am ready to submit this one  to all the horror competitions and start a new one...

The Day of Redemption is At HAND...

The beast that was is now done... or at least the first draft is until I read it 20 times over to make sure it doesnt suck.... If you are my friend email me at cdrzewie@yahoo.com and I will email you what I got so far... honest opinions are certainly warranted and much appreciated.

Crossed the 100 page mark!

Getting shit done and it feels pretty good. This time next week the first draft will be finished, and onto editing. I can't wait to share it with you guys... its epic

Sooo...

So I am currently about 70 pages deep in the script. I keep thinking about the story and how I want to fix the beginning before I finish but that also sounds like a bad idea. If I want to have it done in time for the annual Eerie Horror Screenplay contest it needs to be done soon. Having until wednesday off with no schoolwork may just be the perfect opportunity to push through and finish this bad boy up...

Starting to get good...

I have officially entered the parts of the screenplay that are starting to get into the story, the awesome, gory, action picking up parts of my epic tale. Downside... I just got a script reading internship this week and have to read two scripts per week and provide extensive reports.... Yes this will affect my writing time, but I think it will also improve my ability to write  a solid screenplay.

Wanted to give you guys a taste of what I am actually writing as well, Its about a college grad who cant get a job until he finds one at the mortuary his mother is buried at. Until the script is done and copy-written I dont want to say much more, but I will drop hints along the way. Thanks for reading my blog, more to come...

Funerals...

We have all been to at least one, they are trying and times of high flying emotions. But what if you worked at a funeral home and no one showed up for someone's final moments before being put into the ground. Would that make you angry, sad, emotional in any way? I am trying to create this imagery in my head but something just isn't clicking yet...

So I found this earlier today...

So I was looking for a real menacing gravestone to describe and pretty much be a character. I dont know about you guys but this is pretty much the scariest one I could find, disregard the pretty leaves and shit... If anyone finds anything better let me know...

Been a few days...

Whats up... it has been a few days since my last post but I have been hard at work on the screenplay. A solid forty pages and I am starting to break into Act II. A scene in act one I could use some help on would be a party montage. A chose DMX's rough riders anthem as the montage background song, but what would you chose?

Happy cinco de mayo...

Id like to wish mexico a happy independence day by celebrating with margaritas and burritos. On a directly related note... the new trailer for Machete was released today and fuck me does it look awesome. There is a goddamn machete fight betweeen Danny Trejo and Steven Segal!! WTF!! I hope this does so much better at the box office than grindhouse did because I could certainly use more of these types of flicks.... and could prolly write one too...

Dialogue... keepin it real

Dialogue is one of the most important aspects of creating a movie everyone will remember watching. If the dialogue is not genuine and does not reflect the way society interacts with each other it is utterly useless. I feel like the majority of films fall into this category. People remember and memorize for that matter, word for word, great dialogue. Horror especially lacks the in depth human interactions that become memorable and worth quoting. Army of Darkness, has some amazing one liners, American Psycho, Hellraiser, and even Scream provides some memorable dialogue, quotable pieces of art that will live on in horror culture.

Welcome my friends!!!

Hey what's up everybody... My name is Chris Drzewiecki and I am in the process of writing my first screenplay. My first, as fucked up as possible, hope you pee your pants, the dialogue will make you realize the meaning of life... type HORROR screenplay.

The document as of right now is officially 12 pages long. The opening scene will hopefully pull any reader into the world that is Tissue(s). I have scoured the internet and read countless forums on writing the perfect screenplay and I know that the first ten pages will make or break any screenplay. Hell, people have attention spans that can be measured in nano-seconds... I hope they will at least read the first ten pages.

This blog will document my process, hopefully acquire some followers I can bounce ideas off of, and will follow my screenplay... from my mind, to an agent and to a theatre near you.