LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

In the script Jason was found in the
lake where he had been left
at the conclusion of The New Blood.

In the 1970s and 1980s when someone cleaned out a basement, attic, or under a bed there was undoubtedly the anticipation and inevitable joy of discovery as some long forgotten, or presumed lost, item was unearthed.

In 2014 that joy of discovery often happens on a computer hard drive.  So, I was sitting down working on my next book when an errant click on a folder revealed a subfolder that I had not viewed since (according to the records) 2006!  Inside this folder were two - TWO - screenplays that I had written back in 2002.  Now, both of these screenplays were originally meant solely as practice as I honed my craft.  In order to learn the proper technique and writing style when shifting from prose to a script I decided to write two sequels for franchises of which I was a fan.  I never had any expectations that they would be sold, made, or even see the light of day beyond my computer.  In fact, I wrongfully assumed that both had been deleted.  Nope.  THEY LIVE!

In the script Michael Myers was a serial killer
who the Halloween movies were
based upon.

So, let's talk about the first one with this entry.  This was my attempt at a horror screenplay that would have inter-mixed Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers.  The script was written shortly after the theatrical release of Halloween H2O where Jamie Lee Curtis returned to that series...and, at the time, presumably killed Michael.  It was a decent movie, but nothing stellar or memorable.

In a nutshell I wanted to see something SPECTACUAR!  I wanted a movie with a plot, with a body count, and where the two lead killing machines battled not only themselves, but also a black-ops mercenary team.

So I set out to write...
JASON VS. MICHAEL: THE ULTIMATE EVIL!

Now, anyone who knows me (and if you don't listen to the podcast - www.donandhisamazingfriend.com) knows that I demand that all sequels play fair and straight with the audience and with the history that has been presented in previous entries.  So, when I wrote my story I was sure to include both the ending to Halloween H2O as well as all the key elements from Friday the 13th Parts 1-7.  I had "outs" to explain the lesser entries in each series.  I introduced new characters and populated the town of Forest Green (formerly Crystal Lake) with enough characters/victims to build a solid body count.

In rereading the story several stand-out scenes in the script jumped out:
*Jason kills two scuba divers in Crystal Lake
*Michael kills an ambulance crew and an unfortunate homeowner (with a riding lawn mower)
*Jason battles a heavily armed squad of soldiers in a hardware store
*Michael Myers and Jason destroy a bar and the entire patronage during their battle


My simple Photoshop image that I printed and
had on my desk for inspiration.

*Michael meets not one, not two, but three awesome "death scenes" as Jason truly unleashes on him
*There is a HUGE EXPLOSION!

Considering I haven't seen this script in almost a decade, I was amazed at how well it read and how evenly paced it was.  Frankly, and selfishly, I wish someone would call and offer to make this movie because even though Freddy vs. Jason was fun...it still wasn't as perfect a movie as Michael vs. Jason (or Jason vs. Michael) could have been.

Here's a small sampling of the script.  This scene is the beginning of Act 2 where I've basically set in place that Jason is on the loose and a well-armed science team has purposely set loose Michael Myers in the area in the hopes that they'll be able to have not one but two regenerating beings that may lead them towards the development of a true undying Super Soldier.

Please keep in mind this was a first draft and the formatting may be off as I switched from Final Draft to Blogger.

*****

EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
Rebecca and Paulson are cutting through the dense trees as best they can in the sheer darkness.

OFFICER PAULSON
Are you sure you know where you’re going?  Besides, it may not even be there

REBECCA
Keep your voice down.

They hear radio communications farther off in the forest.

REBECCA (cont’d)
But right now that’s our only shot at putting some serious distance between us and them.
 

They walk a ways further, ducking low to avoid some flashlight beams.

REBECCA (cont’d)
There.

Rebecca points ahead to a ditch, her bike is laying in it.

OFFICER PAULSON
I don’t see the ambulance, or my squad car.

REBECCA
Well we got lucky here.  Apparently they didn’t feel like messing with my bike.
 

She walks over, rolls it out of the ditch, and examines it.

REBECCA (cont’d)
The only problem is the starter.  It’s been acting up on me.  Everybody within walking distance of us is going to hear this thing turn over.
 

OFFICER PAULSON
So I guess we hope it starts on the first try.

REBECCA
I guess.  Keep your fingers crossed.
 

She kick starts the cycle...and nothing happens.  She tries a second time.  Nothing.

MERCENARY #3
Hold it!

Rebecca and Paulson look over to see a merc with his machine gun pointed right at them.

MERCENARY #3 (cont’d)
Don’t move.
(into his comm)
I have them sir.  At the original acquisition site.

CAPTAIN FLENNA (o.s.)
Keep them there.  We’re on the way.
 

Mercenary #3 as his full attention on Rebecca and Paulson.  He does not notice a shadow moving through the treeline next to him.

Jason is the "eviler" of the killers!
He easily chalks up a body count rivaling
Arnold's from Commando!

MERCENARY #3
We’re all going to just stay right here and -

JASON EXPLODES FROM THE DARKNESS AND THRUSTS A MACHETE INTO THE MERCENARY!  HE IS LIFTED OFF OF THE GROUND SCREAMING!  HIS GUN SWINGS AND FIRES AS HIS FINGERS CLENCH!

Rebecca ducks a hail of bullets but two strike Officer Paulson in the chest.  He goes down - HARD.

REBECCA
Tom!

She moves away from her bike to help him.

OFFICER PAULSON
No!  Get out of here!

Their voices draw Jason’s attention.  He swings his machete and the dead mercenary flies off of it, landing in the woods.  Jason then moves towards them.

OFFICER PAULSON (cont’d)
Go Rebecca!  Get your father!
 

She can see the blood coming from Paulson’s mouth and chest.  It’s clearly a fatal shot.  She struggles with the decision for a moment but then finally Rebecca turns and tries to start her bike.  It doesn’t catch.

Jason moves forward and thrusts his machete down into Paulson.  Officer Paulson doesn’t scream.
Jason marches forward.  He is only a few feet from Rebecca.

The motorcycle starts!  Rebecca kicks it into gear and speeds away just as Jason swings his machete at where she was standing a moment before.  He gets nothing but air.
Rebecca races through the forest!

EXT. THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE TOWN OF CRYSTAL LAKE - NIGHT
A patrol car is stopped in the road, lights still flashing.

CLOSE UP: CRYSTAL LAKE BILLBOARD
Officer Drew is slammed face first against the billboard, his feet dangling above the ground. Jason keeps him pinned there with one arm while the other arm brings an axe into view. Drew is screaming until the axe CHOPS into his back.

A BLAST OF BLOOD SMEARS ACROSS THE SMILING FAMILY ON THE SIGN.
Jason looks at the sign and then his gaze drifts towards the lights of the town below.  He turns and walks away, leaving behind the car, the axe, and Officer Drew still held in place on the billboard.

Michael racks up a good body count
but also is the more sympathetic
of the twin killing machines.

EXT. THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE TOWN OF CRYSTAL LAKE - LATER
The welcome to Crystal Lake billboard still holds Officer Drew in place.

CLOSE UP: A hand reaches up and pulls the axe from the dead officer.  Drew’s corpse PLOPS to the ground.

Carrying the axe, Michael Myers walks towards the Forest Green town square.

*****

It's worth noting that Michael had already had his ass handed to him once by Jason.  The two are on their way to clash in the town bar and begin the total destruction of Forest Green.

Maybe one day I'll visit one of the "money" scenes.

Flash Fiction Web Site Sampling!

Been a decent month for writing.  Two projects are moving along nicely and I have hopes that both will see availability before 2012 is over.

Where the character from Adjusted begins his bad journey.

First up, I am 80% finished with another 100+-page collection of horror short stories and flash fiction.  Straying away from merely locking myself in to 666-words...but I found a new number that works well.  Currently 30 flash fiction stories finished and I am working on the final two full length shorts that are part of a fun little vampire-werewolf-mummy trilogy that I've always wanted to nod my head in appreciation to.  The cover design for this collection of scary yarns is already finished, so if I can knock out these last twenty pages or so before August is done, I'll be able to move things along to the editing and formatting stages (both of which thankfully take the book out of my hands).

Give Teddy a hug!

At the same time I needed to branch away from sole horror stories for a bit.  It's hard to focus on death and grim tidings when it's 90 degrees and sunny outside.  So, I have managed 200-pages and counting on a unique novel (in presentation) in a genre that is much beloved to me - Superheroes.  This book is a real labor of love for me and based on my initial outlines and notes, and based on the percentage of the story that has been told so far, I'm projecting it to come in around 500 pages when complete.  The "bible" alone was 40-pages.  Something I really needed in order to keep all the various masked crimefighters, and their stories, sorted as I wrote.  No cover yet for this project, but I'm pricing out offers and will hopefully have a visual idea handed to me in a month or two.

In the meantime, a few of my stories have been published on a couple of great horror fiction websites.  If you enjoy reading some short tales while browsing the web, both sites are well worth your time.

First up, THRILLERS, KILLERS, N' CHILLERS just placed my story ADJUSTED up at their site.  It's one of my favorites from my first collection IN 666 WORDS.

You can read my story ADJUSTED by clicking here, and stick around on their site and check out some other great spooky contributions from a wide assortment of authors.

The great flash-fiction website MICROHORROR has also accepted a number of my stories.  TEDDY is one from my future project that I think gets the job done in a short amount of space.  It was obviously inspired by the movie TED...although there probably won't be any laughing Thunder Buddies for the characters in my Teddy's world.  Go check out Teddy and some of my other short offerings by clicking here.

BOO!

eBook Goals from 2011-2012

My first ebook went on sale yesterday.  It was a process that began in February 2011.  While reading some horror stories that I had downloaded on my Kindle during a snow storm, I began to get the urge to write again.  Now, from 1988-1994 I really wanted to have a novel published.  File cabinet drawers were overflowing with ideas, notes, and drafts.  Then, life and my career (which is not in writing) interfered.

In 1995 my love for movies took over and I spent the next five or six years toiling away on several screenplays.  My proto-type script for BATMAN TRIUMPHANT (which could have been the fourth Batman movie) still reads like a blockbuster…but alas the studio went with Batman & Robin…and we know how that turned out for them.  Breaking into Hollywood as a writer is pretty damn tough when you live in the Midwest.  Eventually I felt like I was writing more for my own enjoyment, and as less spec scripts were being purchased I shelved my work and pretty much gave up on writing (unless it was checks to pay bills).

As I said, 2011 hits and thanks to the ever expanding ebook market I was exposed to writers like Michael Crane and J.A. Konrath who both showed that the days of needing a publisher were over.  Thanks to technology writers could seemingly get a good idea uploaded onto the infinite space of the Internet where it would be available forever.  Well, that sounded easy so I returned to the keyboard.  During those first three months I toiled away on numerous horror short stories that would make up a collection I planned to call SIMPLE EVIL.  I was pleased that for the most part my speed in taking ideas and putting them to word hadn’t diminished too much.  My characterization and dialogue were also strong.  Grammar and use of commas…lacking.

The plan was to write a collection of 25 horror short stories.  Then the plan changed.

While writing, I came up with a flash-fiction (or flash fright as I prefer) tale called IN 5OO WORDS which dealt with a pretty foul-tempered piece of white trash who meets the Devil.  The tale would unfold in exactly 500 words.  The first problem was that 500 words wasn’t enough so eventually it expanded to 666 words…seeming to be a natural fit.

Creativity is a tricky thing.  For me inspiration is 99% of the battle.  If I’m inspired then I work to achieve my goal.  SIMPLE EVIL eventually morphed into the much better sounding LATE NIGHT HORRORS.  And with 15 stories complete and over 200 pages written I did what any maniac would do…I set it all aside to tackle a new project.

My inspiration drew me to the story IN 500 WORDS…now titled IN 666 WORDS.  In August 2011 I decided that an entire novella could be devoted to horror short stories that each neatly fit into exactly 666 words.

One year later and my goal was complete.  IN 666 WORDS is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smash Words.  And before I return to my original project of LATE NIGHT HORRORS, there’s probably a lesson to teach regarding the important steps for anyone who wants to publish an ebook and thinks (as I did) that it will be an easy process.

That will be our next entry but until then...if you're interested in reading my first offering...links below...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077DR4PM

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1108785364

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/131218

THE WOLFMAN (an "I Saw It" Review)

GRADE: B

“I will kill all of you!” – Lawrence Talbot

So, I caught The Wolfman last weekend. I’ll save the typical synopsis and Hollywood jargon which you can find on plenty of other websites. For my two cents I’ll just try and focus on what worked for me. And, YES I enjoyed the movie.

The Wolfman was an entertaining horror movie that made no allusions to being anything except a horror movie set in historical times. The sets and pacing feel very much like the classic Universal monster movies of the 1940’s. I loved this. No quick edits, modern music, insider jokes, changes to the legend, etc…the movie stays simple to the premise…man is cursed and changes into a monster when the moon is full and if you’re going to kill it – think silver. Another bonus is that when The Wolfman does show up on screen it’s a fair exchange between CGI, practical F/X, and Benicio Del Toro (who I am not a fan of but did connect with in this movie) in full make-up. That alone gets a huge thumbs up from me! Too many movies toss CGI monsters at the viewer which clearly live in a world separate from the actors. There’s Gollum (which worked) and then there’s pretty much every other CGI-offering that Hollywood has produced…which don’t resonate with 100% realism. There’s something to be said about the simplicity of an actual made-up monster stalking characters. It adds a sense of true physical danger to the proceedings.

Speaking of the danger, violence is another avenue to the movie that I enjoyed and appreciated. If a man turns into a monster then you’d assume that there is no bargaining or reasoning with the beast. In this movie you’d be assuming correctly. Limbs and heads are severed faster than you can blink. I know I saw one disemboweling and one liver being eaten. And I saw lots of characters screaming and begging for their lives. Fat chance…you’d have better luck trying to broker a deal with the shark in Jaws. This Wolfman is all about the fast hunt and the blood kill…as an animal should be.

I’m a huge fan of the original Lon Chaney, Jr. Wolfman movies so it was also a pleasant surprise that the makers of the new movie didn’t try for too much of a remake and also didn’t err on the side of being too different. The key elements all are here: father-son dynamic, romance, prodigal son returning home, gypsies, curse, wolf, transformation, opening poem, and plenty of monster to behold. The changes incorporated all add a strong new life to the movie and concept. Of particular note is: the asylum transformation which takes place in front of a crowded viewing room, a chase through and over London, and a third act swerve that provides some motivation for Lawrence Talbot beyond, “I need to rid myself of this curse.”

I had read a lot about The Wolfman over the past several years. Normally this amount of production trouble results in a real stinker of a final movie. I was amazed that the end film came out as thrilling and entertaining as it did. For only being the second movie I have seen in 2010 (the first was Avatar)…the year’s looking real good.